Mild Winter Still Has Impact on Courses

By Joe McDonald

LINCOLN – The days are getting longer, and the weather is getting better.

That’s a sure sign golf season is quickly approaching.

Local golf pros and superintendents attended the inaugural Setting up your Course preseason conference Wednesday at Kirkbrae Country Club. It served as a refresher course for markings and rules as they prepare for the 2023 season.

Due to a mild winter, many of the courses are ready to open. Believe it or not, the weather still created more than a few challenges for local superintendents. Warm weather allowed for more play, and the lack of snow creates the potential for diseases to wreak havoc on plants and grass.

“Plant diseases get killed off by cold weather and snow cover, so when you don’t have that some of these organisms tend to be more of a problem,” said Montaup Country Club superintendent Bill Coulter. “We expect more insect problems and probably more disease problems that come from a mild winter.”

Superintendents are already scouring their respective courses, scouting for potential issues. It’s common practice to then send samples to either the University of Rhode Island, or UMass.

“The first sign of something popping up you try to get a sample out right away to see what you’re dealing with, but we expect to see more just because some of the things that would have been killed off by the cold weather just won’t be,” Coulter said.

Since the weather was conducive for winter play, many courses remained open for an extended period. While golfers were pleased with the warm temperatures in December and January, it became a challenge for superintendents.

“We’ve seen a lot more play, and a lot less rest then we really wanted for the greens and tees,” explained Coulter. “We’ve had a ton of winter play, so the golf course will be a little beat up in comparison to a winter when we had snow cover for a month, or six weeks, and we haven’t had that this year.”

Pawtucket Country Club allowed winter play, including golf carts on the course if it was dry enough, which means more wear and tear. PCC superintendent, Mike Whitehead, also explained a normal winter with snow accumulation can also be a problem.

“The biggest fear we usually have, as far as turf goes, if you get a lot of snow cover you can end up with a couple different fungi that can do some serious damage, especially on greens and tees,” Whitehead said. “We don’t have any issues with that right now, because we really haven’t had any snow cover. We’re not done with winter, yet, but I’m pretty comfortable with how things are looking right now.”

If the mild weather continues, Whitehead believes Pawtucket could be up and running for the season April 1. Kirkbrae is one of the private courses that covers all its greens. Superintendent Peter Wood plans on removing those covers soon and he’s pleased with the conditions of the greens already. In fact, he’s already cut a few greens.

“It affects us a little less, because we cover our greens. We’ll be way ahead of anybody who didn’t. They’re growing right now and will be green,” Wood said when asked about the mild winter. He also said his crew is a bit ahead of schedule, preparing for the upcoming season. Despite the lack of snow, superintendents were fortunate it rained a lot this winter.

“If it was no snow and dry you’d have a lot more desiccation of plants and then you’d run into some real trouble,” Peter said. “We were lucky it didn’t get real cold. We haven’t had a frost all winter, which will help with firming up. If you have frost the water can’t go through it, so it sits on the top and gets all spongy and muddy. Now, it’s going right through and replenishing the water table, which is good, especially after last summer’s drought.”

Since most courses don’t maintain bunkers during the winter months, superintendents are getting those ready for the season now, too. At Montaup, Coulter covers a few of the greens and recently peeked underneath.

“It’s absolutely unbelievable the amount of green grass that’s under there,” Coulter said. “Normally, when you get to St. Patrick’s Day things are pretty green.”