A Challenging Spring

This spring has been a challenging one indeed for opening. We are at the tail end of what many locals say is one of the longest winters in recent memory. The last snow fall came in the morning of March 13th and added to the 10-12 inches which was still on the ground.

This is a view of the 14th green (looking back down the fairway) on March 13. As the snow started melting it began to form an ice layer on the greens. We decided to help it out by blowing the snow off to prevent any damage.

By March 17, it was safe to say the melt was on! It started melting so quickly that the network of drainage below ground couldn’t keep up - there was a lake that stretched from the left side of 10 fairway all the way to 15 fairway and a river of water was flowing from 9 tee to the pond between 14 and 15.

By March 21 the snow had all but vanished except for a few small patches where the snow had drifted throughout the winter. This is a view of the 14th green from the fairway. At this point, the flooding had started to recede at a rate which gave us the confidence we should be ready in about a week. If you look closely at this picture you can see that the geese were back and leaving their droppings everywhere. We had our work cut out for us to prepare everything in time but through some hard work we opened on March 28 this year.