Winter Maintenance for Golf Courses

Winter maintenance for golf courses

Just because winter is here doesn’t mean golf course superintendents are done with seasonal work. Winter maintenance must be performed on courses to keep them in top shape for the spring season. Winter maintenance for golf courses must also be performed in case customers decide to play in winter. Here is a list of winter maintenance duties all superintendents should abide by.

winter golf course maintenanceSnow Removal and Plowing: Snow and ice need to be removed in parking lots and sidewalks to ensure the safety of employees and customers using the club for work and social functions.

Course Cleanup: It is a good idea to clear debris that accumulates from winter storms. Regularly removing fallen branches as well as accumulated ice, dirt and other debris can make your spring course clean up much easier.

Covering Greens: For courses that annually suffer winter damage to their greens, covering them with straw, tarps, or synthetic covers can be essential to avoid turf loss. This may require a lot of man-hours, particularly if covers must be removed or applied several times throughout the winter.

Monitoring Ice on Greens: If by mid-February or early March continuous ice cover still exists on your greens, monitoring of ice is necessary for northern states and, depending on the intensity and duration of the winter, breaking ice to save greens may be required.

Tree Maintenance: Winter is an ideal time to trim back trees to add sunlight to improve growing conditions. Trees should also be trimmed that have branches that could cause damage to architecture in winter storms.

Check Drainage: Winter is an excellent time to check deficiencies in drainage. Because the course is empty, checking and repairing existing drainage tile is easy.

Maintain Golf Course Accessories: Because they are exposed to the elements, golf course accessories should be cleaned, repaired, refurbished, painted, or built new over the winter.

Sharpen Landscape Blades and Reels: Sharpening your landscape tools in the winter. This ensures that tools will be ready for spring use. Note: Sharpening tools in house can greatly reduce costs. 

 

Valley Green, Inc. • 642 S. Summer Street • Holyoke, Massachusetts 01040 • 1.800.862.0089 Contact us

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