Wasn't yesterday the first day of spring?

Just when it looked like we were on our way to an early opening winter reared it's ugly head once again.  Should've known better.  It was just over a week ago all of our greens were clear of snow and other areas of golf course were starting poke through.  Since then the resort has seen nearly 50" of snow and we have a new 6-8" on the course.  The early indications, based on what we could see, were pretty good.  The snow mold damage looks to be pretty minimal on fairways, tees, etc. which is good news.  The voles/mice definitely had good winter, from their perspective anyway.  Damage appears to be pretty widespread in the rough areas, too early to tell on the fairways, despite our fall efforts to keep them at bay.  We are ready to start with the early season clean up once the snow melts and  we have staff coming on board April 1st ramping up steadily through the month.

We are excited to get started and have some fun projects planned for the coming season.  We will be installing a new stair complex on #11 white tees, re-working the amenity pads at the teeing areas to bring some consistency to those areas and if all goes well we will be rebuilding the white and blue tees on #13 to enlarge and align those tees better.  We will continue to "clean up" native areas that are more frequently in play and provide more playable conditions.  We are pleased to announce, as well, that we will be having another visit from our Northwest USGA Agronomist this summer to evaluate our efforts after the last visit and give us some additional recommendations on playability and our agronomic program.  It's going to be a great summer and we can't wait to get started.

The cross country track is pretty beat up and we have stopped grooming for the season due to the thinness of the snowpack and due to the fact that we are now using the track to move around the course with our skid steer and snowmobile, which beats it up pretty good in our travels.  We still request that any travels on the course are limited to the track, or just adjacent to it.  With the current depths and moisture content of the snow this is a dangerous time to be setting tracks across fairways, tees, approaches and greens.  Packing the snow down this time of the year has a great potential to create ice with our extreme freeze thaw cycles so we ask you stay on or near the track.  The wildlife is entering into it's most critical time period for survival as well.  Food sources still aren't very abundant and they have used up a large amount of their winter fat over the course of the season.  We want to be extremely careful on the course and give all the wildlife plenty of room to maneuver and try not to spook them.  Thank you all for leashing your pets on the course as well, we have had zero reported negative wildlife interactions this winter, this is a for that since I took over as Superintendent...yahoo!

Have a great week!

Coyote hunting voles on #9

March update

I hope everyone is enjoying warmer temperatures and last of the snow...at least down low.  We have gone from over 2' of snow as of my last update to 4-8" on the course.  We spent all of last week blowing the excess snow off the greens and since then they are almost completely clear as of today..maybe 80% clear in most cases.  The good news is there is no ice or snow mold to be concerned of, the flip side is since the snow is going so quickly there are some freeze/thaw concerns as we move forward without some insulation.  That's the game we play every spring with the snowpack, moisture, temperature, etc.  We will be monitoring the greens closely over the next 3-4 weeks before we think about removing the tarps and then away we go!  The big unknown is what the weather will do between now and early April. 

My staff and I, along with a few volunteers from the Grand Teton Lodge Company, volunteered last Saturday for the county's annual Moose Day.  We spent 7 hours patrolling the property and surrounding areas documenting moose and logging that information into JH NatureMapping software.  In total there were 73 volunteers that spent nearly 223 hours patrolling areas from Buffalo Valley to the southern end of Teton County and from Teton pass east up through the Gros Ventre drainage.  Volunteers identified 99 moose which was up slightly from last year and those numbers will be added to Wyoming Game and Fish's numbers to identify a total number for what is referred to as the "Teton Herd".  On JHGTC property we identified 6 moose: 1 bull, 2 cows and 3 yearlings.  That is the most on property that has been observed in the last 6 years!  I would like to think that our efforts with respect to closing the NRO areas and limiting traffic on the rest of the property is aiding in the increasing numbers.  So, in return, I would again like to thank everyone for staying on the CC track, leashing your pets and being respectful of the NRO area south of Spring Gulch Rd.

Keep checking back for updates regarding opening and how the course overwintered.  Have a great week.

Andy