4/8/2023
The photo above illustrates how much snow still lingers, especially on the back nine. Photo courtesy Sean May.
Each winter we focus on servicing our equipment fleet as well as sharpening all mowing equipment. Our entire fleet of equipment has had its preventative maintenance completed and we are ready to go for the 2023 season.
The winter also allows us to complete our tree management program on the golf course, each winter we continue to make sunlight improvements for our fine turf areas, improve growing environments, and improve playability where required. You will notice some tree removals between 6 green and 7 teeing grounds, this was on recommendation from our course architect during a visit last fall. This opens up a terrific long view across the front nine from the 7
th tee, and as a result it makes the 7
th green appear as if it’s a smaller target. This also opens up a view of our property’s fantastic topography.
Spring Aeration
We are targeting the last week of April for our spring aeration. This will be a solid tine aeration event, we will not be pulling a core. Our goal is to add oxygen to the rootzone and backfilling with sand to maintain pore space in the soil. We plan to have the holes fill in as quickly as possible for playability, but also just as important, to not allow time for annual bluegrass to invade.
Staffing Update
Our grounds staff are dedicated individuals who take pride in their work, enjoy working at Mad River and providing the membership with a well-presented golf course on a daily basis.
We are fortunate to have many of our grounds staff returning for the 2023 season, we will have some new faces, but the core of our team will be returning for another fantastic year at Mad River.
Capital Projects & Irrigation System Planning
This spring, we are planning to continue to improve the property with the following projects:
- A new pumping station to be installed for our irrigation system
- Mainline tie-ins at 1 tee and 9 fairway
- Squaring edges on our remaining teeing areas
- New teeing grounds to be installed at #18 including removal of existing white and red tees
- An extension of the white tee at 7 to help spread wear around
- Re -routing the path at 7 tee
- The Addition of curbing to our pathway system
As the next few weeks progress, we will start to prepare the golf course for the upcoming season with an emphasis on cleaning up the golf course, tying up loose ends from our winter tree management, charging the irrigation system and begin our rolling and mowing practices. Colder weather and lingering snowpack has put us approximately 2 weeks behind where we were last year so far this spring.
We look forward to seeing some familiar faces, perhaps a few new ones and of course, preparing your golf course for the upcoming 2023 season.