Video of covering #11

Here is a video of us covering #11 green. It is a little long and gets a little boring watching us spread out all of the sandbags, pallets, blocks, ect. that we have to put on there to keep it in place. Most of the video is sped up a lot but the part where we actually unfold the covers is almost actual speed. I condensed a 26 minute video into just under 6 minutes. Due to the size of #11 green it has 2 covers that cover about half of the green each. This makes the covers a little easier to handle due to the size, but it makes it a little bit more difficult to keep both covers down in the wind. The temperature when we started pulling covers was still in the mid 50's so it was not too cold out there and the winds were just getting up, blowing around 10-15 MPH. The camera was on a tripod and the winds starts to shake it a little bit towards then end. These temperatures and these winds are not even close to the worst conditions that we have encountered when covering this green. We have covered it in 30 degree temperatures with 30 MPH winds. Both of these covers were not folded up like we normally have them. As crazy as it sounds there is a way to fold them so that it makes it as easy as possible to unfold them. The second cover that we unfold in the video had all four corners folded in a way that all four ended up in the same place and this makes it very difficult to unfold in the wind.

USGA article on reading greens

Here is a great article from a USGA agronomist on how to read greens.

AN AGRONOMIST'S VIEW ON HOW TO READ GREENS By Brian Whitlark, agronomist, Southwest Region

 

Putting greens on golf courses built before the modern era of course construction tend to slope with the general lay of the land.   Golf analysts often comment during weekend telecasts that the greens are getting firmer and faster throughout the day, especially if conditions are dry and windy. Other remarks may refer to the greens breaking toward a particular topographic feature, such as a lake, ocean or valley. Viewers may also hear broadcasters assert that recent rains have slowed the pace of the greens. Other analysts will claim that the grain on the greens grows in the direction of the setting sun, thus the ball roll will tend to break toward the west.    Through experience conducting USGA Green Section Course Consulting Service visits and leading agronomic preparations for USGA amateur and open championships, USGA agronomists have gained a scientific and practical understanding of the often misunderstood characteristics of putting greens. The objective of this article is to share our observations that ultimately may help the everyday golfer read greens with more confidence.   How does green speed, grain and break affect playing conditions? What are the most common misconceptions?     Read More

Colder weather

The first shot of cold winter air is supposed to hit our area tonight through Thursday. We have had a few frost delay's already but this will be the first time that the temperatures will dip into the lower 20's. We staged all of our greens covers around the golf course over the past two weeks getting ready for winter. Our plan is to cover greens either this afternoon or first thing in the morning (depending on when the rain stops) and leave the covers on until Thursday morning. We got lucky this week with our closed days being Tuesday and Wednesday we do not have to worry about pulling covers for play and then putting them back on for the night. Also, we are trying to use sandbags to help hold the covers in place. Last year we used anything and everything we could find and we are hoping the sandbags will be much easier to work with and hold in place better.