Cold is getting old

We are nearing the end of a very long cold stretch of weather and the end can't come soon enough.  The greens are frozen solid and some of the shadiest greens still have snow and ice on them. Here you're looking at #5 and #14.  They haven't seen very much sunlight in the last few weeks and it's possible we could see some dormant turf on these two greens and a few others before this is all over. For the most part the turf on the golf course looks very good considering we've had temperatures well below average for several weeks.  

Normally when we get a cold snap it's brief, but this winter it seems like it's been bitter cold for an eternity. The turf is in need of some warmer temperatures and so are we.

In fact just today the staff cleaned up the last area we could reach which is adjacent to an access road and thus work without risking damage to fine turf areas.  I really have to commend my amazing staff.  They have been working in below freezing weather every day and have kept a very positive attitude.  They're simply the best.  Looks like next week we will finally get some warm weather and then we can get out to the interior of the course and finish cleaning up after that wind storm we experienced last Monday.

 The team of BPCI have stayed busy with the ProShop project.  There's windows in the new expanded space.  It really looks great.

Yesterday they again were pouring concrete at the performance center and getting there by crossing over #1 fairway.  The small motorized loaders are called "Georgia Buggies".  It was impressive watching this process.

This pour was for the sidewalks surrounding the new facility.

We pretty much finished the Turfhound hitting strip for now.  Since we built the whole thing during a deep freeze, we're going to let it sit for a while before the final step.  We'll let the rains come and make sure the sub-grade is completely settled.   After that we'll lift the mats and seal the gravel with a polymer material that hardens like concrete.  Also, obviously we still have a lot of work to do around the hitting strip but we need the sod farms to thaw out so we can import some turf.

The trees between 12 and 13 and near 12 tee have been removed so now it's time to start moving some dirt in order to shift the tee over to the right.

This last picture was taken right about where the new tee will be located and the hole really sets up nicely from here.

The 12th has always been a great hole but it's about to get even better.  In addition, without the trees the 11th green finally has adequate sunlight.  This is very exciting.  We've been working on trees in this area for 6 years and only now do we finally have the sunlight needed to manage exceptional turfgrass.  I'm not sure what I'm more excited for... playing the 12th from the new tee or seeing the 11th green perform like a true tournament putting surface.  I guess you can look at it as a win - win situation.