All 19 green covers have been removed as of today. Based on the mild weather conditions this winter and the continual snow cover that we experienced I was not surprised to see our greens emerge from winter is this good of condition. But based on the history of passed years when we always seem to have some damage from one degree to another, it is such as relief to see virtually no damage on any of the greens. Typically I am an optimist when it comes to the turf, I want to give it the benefit of the doubt and feel that it will survive even the most adverse conditions, let's face it, it wants to survive, but when poa annua is the dominant species on the greens it is easy to lose faith in it's ability to survive.
There are only two greens where the poa annua looks a little funky and that is on the back of the 5th green and on the back of the 7th green. The poa appears to have a wilted droughty look, but from what I can tell the crowns of the plants appear to be healthy. The color of the green is definitely green and some of that color will fade and will come back as soon as the plants begin to grow. If our mild temperatures continue it won't too long before we might begin to see some growth from the plants.
A date has not been set for opening. We have great deal of clean-up on the course and a lot of work needs to be completed before we are ready to stick the flags in the green. It's only March 23rd (which is the earliest the course has ever opened, back in 1998) and one just never knows what Mother Nature has in store for us from year-to-year, much less from day-to-day.
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