Course closed by frost - opinions

gerrymadden1

For many, many years at our club we played to temporary greens in the frostiest of weather. It was "trick golf" but at least we got out to play.

The full greens were closed & no one walked on them in order to protect the surfaces.

A few years ago, someone came up with the brainwave that we shouldn't play at all in frosty weather - to protect the fairway!!!

This has dramatically reduced the amount of weekend golf that we get and to be honest, I can't see any dramatic improvement to the fairway.

Has anyone read any opinions on this or are there online articles that look at the pros & cons??

stumpypeeps

gerrymadden1 wrote: »

For many, many years at our club we played to temporary greens in the frostiest of weather. It was "trick golf" but at least we got out to play.

The full greens were closed & no one walked on them in order to protect the surfaces.

A few years ago, someone came up with the brainwave that we shouldn't play at all in frosty weather - to protect the fairway!!!

This has dramatically reduced the amount of weekend golf that we get and to be honest, I can't see any dramatic improvement to the fairway.

Has anyone read any opinions on this or are there online articles that look at the pros & cons??

Basically, walking on frosted grass on greens will kill it. Heavy traffic on fairways will likely have a similar result.

exaisle

Solution? Move to a warmer climate.

Atlantic1

What about under soil heating?

chemicalfred

stumpypeeps wrote: »

Basically, walking on frosted grass on greens will kill it. Heavy traffic on fairways will likely have a similar result.

So if you walk on yur lawn on a frosty morning it will kill off all your grass. Oh no! Your lawn is made of the same stuff as greens and fairways. Sounds like bull**** to me. 'Roundup' kills grass, I doubt frost does. Grass has been around for millions of years, so has frost and mammals

I'd say brown marks are about the worst you'd get on frosty greens if the root stems were sheared due to heavy traffic. Just my guess

GreeBo

Grass on greens is not really healthy grass, even with the newer breeds its cut too low for it to be healthy and it needs a lot of TLC to keep it alive and looking good.
Walking on frozen greens will kill the grass, it wont however kill the rough or the fairways as the grass is longer here and much more resilient. You may see some dark green/black marks from tyres etc but its not dead, just damaged.

Personally I hate temporary greens. I think we should have a 6 foot circle and a 10 foot circle. If you get it inside 6 foot you add one putt and move on, get it inside 10 feet and you can choose to add 2 putts or have a go.

Quicker and less frustrating for everyone involved, also far less work for the staff.

charlieIRL

GreeBo wrote: »

Personally I hate temporary greens. I think we should have a 6 foot circle and a 10 foot circle. If you get it inside 6 foot you add one putt and move on, get it inside 10 feet and you can choose to add 2 putts or have a go.

Good idea that.

I also hate the temp greens as well and would rather not play than try to play them.

blackwaterfish

id rather not run the risk of damaging the greens of my home course for the sake of a round of golf.

at the wnknd i spent both saturday & sunday mornings in the club house waiting for word from the head green keeper with a lot of other disgruntled members. eventually went home both days without taking the clubs out of the boot. but there was some serious ire vented amongst the gathered who'd be the first to complain if the greens were poor at other times of the year.

Cant have it both ways guys.

GreeBo

In ours they are either open or closed. They do not change status during the day...

blackwaterfish

GreeBo wrote: »

In ours they are either open or closed. They do not change status during the day...

a far better systems than to be waiting around for 2 hours. I believe however that 2 no. societies were due to visit at the wknd.. with pockets full of readies.

:mad:

the fine line between getting some cashflow in and doing whats good for the course has been severly blurred by the bucket of sh1t we call our economy.

jimjo

My theory is…

If the club have a society playing, and there is 50 players all due a meal after, the club will never in a million years in this economic climate tell the society, sorry guys/gals course closed today, bit frosty… good luck.

However if it was just a members day, they are far more likely to turn round and say as a precaution we need to close the course, the fairways/greens will be destroyed with people out there.

GreeBo

jimjo wrote: »

My theory is…
If the club have a society playing, and there is 50 players all due a meal after, the club will never in a million years in this economic climate tell the society, sorry guys/gals course closed today, bit frosty… good luck.

I dont think any club would be that shortsighted.
Letting one society in at the risk of not having a playable course in the middle of the summer period wouldnt make any sort of financial or business sense.

jimjo

GreeBo wrote: »

I dont think any club would be that shortsighted.
Letting one society in at the risk of not having a playable course in the middle of the summer period wouldnt make any sort of financial or business sense.

Off course they do, let’s not kid ourselves here. If a big group 40+ were playing golf and than booked in for a three course meal after their round and in some cases accommodation also. The management wouldn’t want for any long term damage to the course; although not an ideal situation, they’d certainly remain open. Meat has been bought, function rooms set up, golf departments have targets to hit, they simply can’t turn away a group like that. That’s not to say members approve of this.

GreeBo

jimjo wrote: »

Off course they do, let’s not kid ourselves here. If a big group 40+ were playing golf and than booked in for a three course meal after their round and in some cases accommodation also. The management wouldn’t want for any long term damage to the course; although not an ideal situation, they’d certainly remain open. Meat has been bought, function rooms set up, golf departments have targets to hit, they simply can’t turn away a group like that. That’s not to say members approve of this.

Let me put it this way.
My club has and will continue to close the course, irrespective of who or how many are booked to play if its the in the best interest of the course.

My club is not cheap to play in for non members, it can maintain this because it has a good reputation for top quality course conditions.
We had 3 years when this wasnt the case when we were changing our greens to USGA spec's. It has taken a while to get back into peoples favour but we are now there.
1 postponed event in the middle of winter wouldnt cause any where near as much financial heartache as missing an entire summer and future summers due to frost damaged greens would.

Mister Sifter

the picture below represents the average foot traffic from one foursome on a green.



Frost is basically frozen dew that has crystallized on the grass, making it hard and brittle. A grass blade is actually 90 percent water, therefore it also freezes. Because of the short mowing height (sometimes as low as 1/8 inch) and fragile nature of the turf, putting greens are most affected by frost. Walking on frost-covered greens causes the plant to break and cell walls to rupture, thereby losing its ability to function normally. When the membrane is broken, much like an egg, it cannot be put back together.

Golfers who ignore frost delays will not see immediate damage. The proof generally comes 48-72 hours later as the plant leaves turn brown and die. The result is a thinning of the putting surface and a weakening of the plant. The greens in turn become more susceptible to disease and weeds.