Llanerch Golf Course and External Activities

We were pleasantly surprised by a quick half inch of snow this morning on the course but it won't last long. As the sun comes out, we have already seen close to half of it melt away. As for us, we are spending the day cleaning up stump grindings and filling the cavity with soil. We will continue to trim trees starting tomorrow.

Today, we spent the morning "grooming" greens. It is process where we use motorized circular knives to cut lightly through the turf canopy. It helps "stand up" the turf. We than mow the "standing" turf. This make the surface more smooth and consistent. Afterward, we apply a dusting of sand to fill the grooves in. As you can see in the above picture, the grooves are very thin and almost hard to see.

Just when you thought the weather could not get any weirder, we have a half inch of snow on the ground! This picture was taken at 7:20am today of #1. We are hoping the bright sun will begin to melt the snow soon. We also need the temperature to keep rising. We are currently 34 degrees with almost no wind. We will continue to communicate with the Golf Shop so they can notify you as soon as the snow melts. 

We started the first mow of the year on greens today. The greens are still very brown looking but they should start to "green up" over the next week if the weather stays so warm. This mow will help make the greens much smoother than yesterday.

As the snow falls here at Llanerch, warm weather awaits us next week. This dusting of snow should melt quickly. We do have a small chance of less than an inch of snow between Saturday night/Sunday morning. After that, the temperature will be in the 60's for most of the week. I do not foresee us mowing the greens next week but I do plan to roll them to provide a smoother surface. We will be busy preparing to put water in the irrigation system, cleaning up the course and finishing some tree work. We hope to see you next week!

After months of unseasonably warm weather, we finally had some snow! We only measured 1/2 an inch but with it being so cold, it is sticking around so far. We will concentrate on salting the lots and refurbishing the equipment. We are also keeping an eye on a potential snow storm late this week. It is too early to tell but worth watching for.

It is normal for poa annual to seed in late April and in late September but NOT late December. This observation is another first for me. The abnormally warm temperatures continue to confuse plant life (and greenkeepers too). We are out mowing fairways and the intermediate cut today because the grass has grown so much in the past week. We are hoping the temperatures go back to normal later this week after what looks like some heavy rain tonight into tomorrow.  

Today, we are taking time to sod some areas in the intermediate cut surrounding fairways. Over the years, the bentgrass in the fairways creep into small section of the intermediate cut. In this case, the bentgrass was more than 40% . We prefer to have a stand of bluegrass with some rye grass. Once we are done, it will provide a more consistent lie and be more visually appealing.

As we end August, we have had 29 days of 90 degrees temperatures or higher which is two more days than the average summer in Philadelphia. It has not seemed very hot to most people because the humidity is been way below average. I can not remember the humidity being so low for so long in the summer. It feels great but can make for some challenging times for the management of plants. The combination of the current weather pattern and the lack of rain is forcing us to rely on the irrigation system. We are hoping that some rain will fall by Friday!?!? As for the aerification, the greens seem to be healing at a healthy pace. Thanks for your patience. 

Th first 12 days of July have been an extension of June. Warm, muggy and periods of intense rain. It has not had an adverse effect on the course so far. We have been concentrating our efforts almost completely towards tournament preparation. Between the Finsterwald Cup, Philadelphia Amateur, Ladies and Men's Member Guest, we have been very busy! We are taking today to add sand to greens and approaches, tree trimming and normal course conditioning.

I am glad to say the range fence extension is finished! I appreciate everyone's patience. It is never fun to lose the use of the range any time of the year, especially in early May. As for the golf course, May means thick rough! We are putting as much effort possible to "contain" the height of the grass and blow off the clipping.

This week, after a 20 day delay, the seasonal staff from the H2B Visa program arrived back at Llanerch. They are the "backbone" of Grounds Maintenance Staff. They and the rest of the team are busy mowing, topdressing, raking and doing all the other tasks to give the membership the best conditions possible. We are excited for the 2015 season. Hope to see you out on the course! 

Yesterday, we aerified greens with a very thin tine. That means the holes are very small. We are rolling them today with plans to topdress later this week. The sand will help smooth the surface and help with drainage.

Today, we are aerifying all the fairways. The first pictures show the actual tractors that are doing the "punching". The second picture shows the size of holes the aerifier is making in fairways. We plan to be done all the fairways by the end of the day today. We are also preparing the greens for the first mow of the season.

The pictures are from #16 green but only 6 days apart! The snow ice and melting quickly! We are just waiting for the ground to "firm up" so we can open the course. Again, the forecast is really going to dictate when we can. I will continue to post the day I think we can open as soon as possible. 

The golf course is soaking wet. We have seen a majority of the snow and ice melt. The ground is very soft in some spots and frozen solid in others. I am still not sure when we can reopen for play. It really depends on the next few days. The forecast is calling for heavy rain starting Friday night into Saturday morning. If that forecast is correct, I think we will have to wait until next week to play. I will continue to post updates on the blog over the next following days.

As of 9:00am, we have 2 inches on the ground and there seems to be no break in sight. The forecast is 5-8 total inches by tonight. The long term forecast leads me to believe that the should be melted by next Thursday. I will keep everyone posted on the status of the course. Remember, only 15 days until Spring!

As I walked the course over the last few days, I see we have a long way to go until we view grass again! We had some melting from Sunday's rain and a sunny day today but it all turns to ice at night. So, we sit and wait until mother natural will let use have some warming temperatures, especially at night. Zeus has been busy running off geese and we continue to prepare the equipment fleet for the season. Oh, did I forget, plow snow and salt ice! Here's to hoping for warm temperatures!

I know a few people are starting to wonder when the course will be open. It is a harder question to answer than some might think. We still have a few greens with ice and snow on them. This is not to say that 20-30 bunkers that still have ice, snow and water in them. The cold nights are really hurting the melting process, also. We have to be 100% free of ice and snow on greens before allowing play. We will continue to update the Golf Shop every morning as of the status of the course. Thanks for your patience.

Wow! We were surprised by a half inch of snow today on the course! There was a low percentage chance for snow accumulation last night but not high enough for us to consider it seriously. It only delays our plans to continue remove the last of the leaves. We are hoping that it melts either Thursday or Friday.