Aerification 2013

Just wanted to give our members a quick  recap on spring 2013 aerification. It can be summed up in one word SNOW.   One upside this springs aerification is the moisture we are receiving from these snow storms. So far this month we have received a foot of the white stuff. Unfortunately  is has come in smaller storms about a week apart. The cold weather in early April made us push back aerification a week to 8th. That Monday we finished all the tees and then we received 6 inches if snow, the rest of the week was lost. The next week we were going to start fairways guess what snow on that Monday after noon. Over the next 3 days we received 6 inches, that week was lost. Now here we are the 22nd of April trying fairways again? Well the day started good and we got two fairways punched, but the snow started falling around noon, with 3-7 inches in the forecast. Rest of the week lost, we will see?  The future forecast looks promising for fairways and maybe greens on the 29th?  That's spring in Colorado for you. Lets hope we can catch a break over the next few weeks.

Never Mess with Mother Nature, she will win every time.

Arctic Oscillation

Numerous members and friends have asked why is it so cold this spring?  The reason is a weather phenomena called  Arctic Oscillation. Below is a short video from NOAA that explains this weather pattern. 

Locally for the months of  March and April this year we are ten degrees below the average high from a year ago. We all know it will warm up soon but when?  I think all of us are ready for some warmer weather especially the turf.

Spring?

What a difference a year can make. Last year at this time we were going strong, practically summer. No problem with aerification last year but its not the best weather for fairway aerification currently. But guess what we have to play the cards that were dealt,  lets hope we get some good moisture out of this latest spring snow storm.  One of my hardest jobs is knowing when to drive forward or when to punt, when it comes to the weather.

Remember When

Remember when we used to punch fairways with this? Going to bring it out of retirement and try to punch some rough with it.

Roll with the Punches

 Aerification is difficult enough but when you add our wild Colorado spring weather is almost impossible.  No matter what plans you have in place they are no match against Mother Nature. We started aerification of the tees on Monday April 8th, the weather was good almost 70 degrees. What a difference 12 hours can make, late Monday the winds were howling and the snow was falling with a fifty degree negative swing. This morning  the low was three degrees wow, not the type of weather we would expect in April. Thanks to my hard working crew we successively finished all the tees on Monday, .  We will see what the next days bring and hopefully we can finish the fairways before the next snow storm?

"It's not how you handle things when they go right. It's how you handle them when they go wrong"
SJW