Extreme cold and golf course conditioning......

[Barry Samuels]

As I was driving to the office today, here in cold and snowy Dallas, I got to wondering what effect the extreme cold in much of the Midwest, Mid Atlantic, Northeast, and New England has on a golf course and what challenges supers face this year as spring arrives and players expect as-per-usual conditioning.

Thoughts and comments please.

[A.G._Crockett]

On courses with bermuda grass, winter kill is a problem that at times becomes serious.  Supers never quite know what is or is not going to come back until well into the growing season; tees are especially prone to this, and then have to be closed for sodding.  The process can result in a significant disruption of play.

[Adam Warren]

Last year when we had a lot ice and snow, then melt and re-ice a few times, there was a lot of winter kill on bermuda in Kentucky.  So many courses had to re-seed their bermuda in my area because fairways were basically we gone.  We have zoysia tees at my club that experienced a little bit of winter kill in some areas.  You just never really know until the time comes for the grass to grow and turn green and it doesn't.

[John McCarthy]

Last winter many courses had trouble opening around Chicago.  Last winter was a mother and many greens were ice covered.  I am not a turf guy, but the explanation was poa dies under ice while bent is more tolerent.  The older the green the more poa on it generally.  Brand new greens were open as soon as the snow melted.  Old greens had a lot of winter kill.  Some could not open until nearly june.  One course near me, Ridgemoor, opened late and only for a few weeks then just decided for a renovation.  Gassed all the greens and fairways. 

[BCrosby]

I played golf in ATL yesterday for the first time (and I hope the last) with snow on a golf course. We played 9 holes and packed it in. I'm still cold.

Winter kill, as I understand it, is when you get a couple of warm days, the Bermuda starts to come out of dormancy, and then it is hit again with sub-freezing temps. My guess is that we haven't had enough warm days yet to set up conditions for winter kill. But we still have a month or so to get through.

Bob 

[mike_beene]

Our fairways in Dallas were just starting to green a little before this cold week. The 419 does seem pretty tough and I bet will green again next week.The greens must love this! Looks like no golf until Sunday so we were off a whole week.Dont know how you guys in the north do it.I am stir crazy.

[A.G._Crockett]

I played golf in ATL yesterday for the first time (and I hope the last) with snow on a golf course. We played 9 holes and packed it in. I'm still cold.

Winter kill, as I understand it, is when you get a couple of warm days, the Bermuda starts to come out of dormancy, and then it is hit again with sub-freezing temps. My guess is that we haven't had enough warm days yet to set up conditions for winter kill. But we still have a month or so to get through.

Bob  

Bob,
I think a common winter kill scenario is when ice/snow stay on the ground for an extended period when the ground is already very wet; this can happen long before any warmup has happened.  We had about three acres of resodding to after last winter, and all of it was in heavy shade areas where the last snowfall stayed on the ground for a full week.  Tees, greens collars, and an entire level of the driving range, plus various spots near the edges of fairways.

It isn't a frequent problem here in GA because our snows just don't stay on the ground that long, and our temps just don't stay cold enough long enough, as you of course know.  I think the last time we had a significant problem with winter kill was 5 or 6 years ago; it certainly isn't every year.  But it's unpredictable, and the extent isn't clear until well into the growing season; some areas come back on their own, others don't. 

We were sodding last year well into June, in part because so many courses needed sod that there were backorder delays.

[Alan FitzGerald CGCS MG]

As mentioned above one issue is ice cover. The plant will eventually suffocate once it runs out of oxygen. Poa annua lasts under 30 days but bentgrass can last over 90 without issues so it is less of a worry.

A lot of winter kill in the north last winter was caused by a freak weather event. A lot of the snow cover melted with a rain storm and was then followed by a massive cool down. Since the turf was now exposed the plants bore the full brunt of the cold and the cells inside essentially exploded, killing the plants.

Superintendents generally know what to do to prevent winter kill in their area but unfortunately at times, like last year, Mother Nature creates a set of circumstances that makes it impossible to prevent.

Winter kill is explained in more detail in this nice article from Penn State. http://extension.psu.edu/plants/green-industry/news/2014/winterkill-damage-on-turfgrass-in-pennsylvania

[BCowan]

The same issues experienced in Chicago happened in the Detroit area.  One course closed down and gassed their greens.  What I found very interesting as many private clubs didn't open till June, is that the muni's around Ann Arbor and Metro detroit were open early April and had no/little damage.  One was in Ann Arbor and the other two in metro detroit (20 miles apart).  A keeper who is a friend of mine, his personal theory was that the blades on muni's greens were much longer (running at 7 or 8 during the season) and the blade being longer had more Carbs in it which was able to sustain the Ice.   

''I think a common winter kill scenario is when ice/snow stay on the ground for an extended period when the ground is already very wet; this can happen long before any warmup has happened.  We had about three acres of resodding to after last winter, and all of it was in heavy shade areas where the last snowfall stayed on the ground for a full week''

   A.G.,

     I agree completely with shade and drainage being an important overlooked consideration. 

[Philip Hensley]

Last winter was our worst, most prolonged winter in a while and my semi-private had more than a few bermuda kill zones that never came back over the course of the entire summer/fall. The greens were fine but the fairways were a little lacking, and usually the fairways are among the best in the area during the summer.