I believe there has been some confusion to why golf course has been closed previously. The week of November 10th we received 4'' of snow. By Friday November 15th we had a large portion of the golf course still covered with snow. Temperatures Friday morning were in the 20's by noon the temps were climbing into the 40's. Some members thought course was closed because greens were thawing or frozen. Course was not closed for thawing greens it was closed because of snow cover. We opened the course around 12:30 pm.
I believe some people think I am closing the course when greens are frozen. I have never closed the course when greens were frozen. Limited play on frozen greens is acceptable. I have a problem with thawing greens, the top is thawed or thawing but the underlying soil is frozen. I like to see the freeze line down to 2.0'' to 3'' deep. If we do get root shearing at that depth I can get our roots back to normal lengths by summer. If play is allowed when freeze line is shallow 1/2'' to 1.5'' and we get root shearing. I will have a harder time growing the roots back down to the desired depth we need for summer. In severe cases we could actually lose turf from wear and winter desiccation.
Here we are again with 4'' - 5'' of snow covering the golf course. Temperatures will be in the 50's by this weekend. Play will be allowed if greens are completely frozen, thawed down to 2'' and the majority of snow cover is gone. You can get updates from the proshop. If you are on twitter you can follow me at @ed_wachter for course updates.
Root shearing can be very detrimental to our greens. The illustration below will help you visualize what can happen.
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