Royce Brook Golf Club Agronomy Department: frost delay

Saturday, December 14, 2019

Winter!

After all of the rain the last few days, I thought this post may be appropriate. While the calendar may say otherwise, we have entered winter mode. The grass is growing very little, if at all. Things are soggy and soft. And we get very little help from the sun.

So what does that mean? Any wear or damage we sustain will be with us until April. This includes frost damage, ball marks, divots, old cup plugs, and any wear or damage from cart traffic.

What can you do? Make sure you replace divots and fix ball marks. Bear with us with cart rules also. We may have a nice day here and there, but if we've been wet or frozen, we will still likely be on the cart paths with the carts. Our only motive for keeping carts on the path is to protect the golf course for the days, months, and years to come.

Frost damage ...

While walking a few holes with the morning members last week we discussed whether frost delays were a real issue. We also discussed whether the damage differs based on conditions and time of year. I gave them my opinion that October, November, and early December frost delays are more crucial.

I told them to take a look at the area along Hamilton Road, where we had removed the old split rail fence. We were doing this as a "frost job", or a job we would work on during frost delays.

We are about 10 to 14 days out from a few mornings in which we had a heavy frost and had worked on the fence. The damage appears pretty significant, at least aesthetically and isn't growing out anytime soon.

First picture you can clearly see the tracks made by the carts and machines. Second picture shows an area with no traffic versus one that had traffic.