Wow, what a crazy winter. This past 6 months has been a roller coaster of weather events. We have seen 20 degree swings in temperature overnight, we have had record low temps, and record high snow falls. Torrents of rain followed by 2 days well below freezing, and the spring still hasn't arrived.
On the plus side of the coin, our golf course handled the winter very well, with turf loss limited to fairways and the odd tee, and very little issues with the greens. Heat and sun is all we lack now, but I am sure that is coming soon. If I can judge Mother Nature from the last few months she is going to go from 0-60 in one fell swoop.
On another note, I just want to share a few things with you here. There have been some of my counterparts in Ontario this winter who have seen the absolute worst that Mother Nature has to offer. On older greens consisting of poa annua turf grass the winter was not good at all. The cause was non preventable, as the heavy ice layers under insulation of snow caused this type of turf to suffocate and perish. I have linked an article I hope you will read to understand the frailty of our turf in certain situations and have a little bit of understanding towards what the golf course itself goes through in an extreme winter such as this past one.
http://canadiangolfer.com/g4g/2014/04/25/ontario-courses-with-poa-greens-struggle-to-deal-with-cold-weather-carnage/
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