Get to get the ice off to get to the surface drainage. Lots and lots of ice damage to the poa in the Midwest, northeast this winter. Ice melts, freezes, poa kicks the bucket. Remove the ice, minimize the chance to water freezing on the poa=Chance of survival. Not just smaller clubs, but high end clubs with all the resources and money got hit. Overall, a bad winter for poa.
The funny thing I found was the muni's weren't hit. Leslie Park (Ann Arbor), Hiltop (plymouth), and Rackham (Hunt. Woods) had little to no damage. Some privates with larger budgets got hit the hardest. There has got to be a common sense solution similar to shoveling off snow/ice. Could babying the poa during the summer be something that hurts greens during a bad winter like this past one?
Jon,
Your post made sense.
From what I have gathered from colleagues, MSU and twitter, it's not one thing that was done or wasn't done. The west side of the state is in much better shape, but 2 hours east and 2 hours west have turf loss. Maybe because of lack of resources, the turf at the courses above went into winter with more of cushion- less double cutting, rolling, verticutting, higher height of cut, I don't know. That type of stress can/does cause poa. If those course CANT do those practices as often as they'd like, do they have more bentgrass? I don't know. I know Superintendents who promote bent over poa do not beat on the turf?
This is me just talking out load, I do not know. There are 50 reasons when they're having the issues they have. After all the speculation., Mother Nature still wins. She's undefeated. When you're growing a living, breathing thing and some things that it needs are not present.....well,....
If, by the west side of the state, you mean lower Michigan, there is a huge difference between the two. The lake changes everything, and can drop two feet of snow on frozen ground on the western side, but nothing on the eastern side. Maybe it doesn't mean a thing but maybe it does.
Also, I agree with BCowan, babying the poa is also a problem. If you do not encourage the agrostis, you are encouraging poa. Sure, Pebble Beach can grow 100% poa, but they have ideal conditions as well as an unlimited budget.
On another note, like you said Tony and Steve, it is a crap shoot. You could do nothing and be successful, or perforate the ice (new to me) and remove it and still loose turf. knowing your own course and what works in your climate is critical.
For me, the most important is to properly encourage bentgrass and it's root growth. A shallow plant like poa isn't going to survive a 30 year climate phenomena. If it is only occurring every thirty years, that gives me, as a greens keeper no solace. What does is pushing the turf stand in the right direction to survive said phenomena.