[Ian Andrew]

 I know Burlington G&CC got absolutely destroyed and will have to re-sod all 18 greens.  Will your club just go with a heavy overseeding program to get through or will more drastic measures need to be taken?

The available sod is now completely spoken for if you want 18 greens of the same turf.
Now it's a mixed bag of what's left at each grower.

It's believed that Greystone (built in 91 - the first project I worked on - and "was" bent) was the last 18 greens purchased.

It's carnage out there.
The good ones are cringe worthy, but so many more greens are dead.

I have one new set of greens to build this fall and may have three sets to build this year depending on emergency votes.
I've seen two very bad years in 25 around Toronto, but this one is by far the very worst.

In the very simplest of terms, all slow draining areas are 100% dead this year, regardless of winter treatment.

I feel for the superintendents because it has nothing to do with them.

[Steve Okula]

After years of watching supers in Scandinavia grown-in their courses every spring, I have enormous respect for the folks in such climates (actually in every climate). Then there is the challenge of getting the overseeded surfaces to survive. A frost at the wrong time and all the seedlings are toast. Insert quarter, start again.


I recall reading Milorganite used to have lead in it, and it was taken out during the war years. It seemed to have the effect of supressing poa seed propagation; when the lead was taken out, poa became more prevalent.

I'm not a chemist, but I can't imagine how you could take the lead out of an organic like Milorganite, a processed sewerage sludge.

But the compound lead arsenate, seperate from Milorganite, was widely used on golf course turf in the '50's and '60's. Apparently, it was effective in controlling Poa, fungi, and insects, a general cure-all, before it was banned. Pesticides based on toxic, heavy metal tend to put a hurt on the environment, I am told.

[Steve Okula]

I know Burlington G&CC got absolutely destroyed and will have to re-sod all 18 greens.  Will your club just go with a heavy overseeding program to get through or will more drastic measures need to be taken?

The available sod is now completely spoken for if you want 18 greens of the same turf.
Now it's a mixed bag of what's left at each grower.

I have one new set of greens to build this fall and may have three sets to build this year depending on emergency votes.
I've seen two very bad years in 25 around Toronto, but this one is by far the very worst.

In the very simplest of terms, all slow draining areas are 100% dead this year, regardless of winter treatment.

I feel for the superintendents because it has nothing to do with them.

I feel for the golfers, because it has nothing to do with them, either.

It sounds like a great year for sod growers though. How did they get their turf through the winter?

[Wayne_Kozun]

This is getting a little off topic, but the courses in Germany are limited in their ability to spray and it seems the courses that have a practice of staying leaner and in the process are doing their best to propagate bent and starve out poa come through the winters with less snow mold.

Here in Ontario cosmetic pesticides were banned a few years ago although I believe golf courses can still use some types of pesticides.  But, obviously, that didn't help us.

[Wayne_Kozun]

I've seen two very bad years in 25 around Toronto, but this one is by far the very worst.

Ian - what was the other bad year - was it about 7 years ago when a lot of the clubs also had major green issues?

[Craig Sweet]

We use greens grade Milorganite...we use snowblowers...we use an aretor...and we use shovels.....come spring we do some re-seeding with bent where needed.

[Wayne_Kozun]

Here are some photos of greens at St. George's here in Toronto:

[Paul Stephenson]

Some pictures from my home course Whitevale.  It's about 30 minutes from Wayne and Scarboro



One of our greens that was built in 2004.  It has been problematic since day one, but compared to the other greens now it's not that bad anymore.



One of our original greens.  Used to be one of the nicest to putt on.



An original green that has been expanded at the back.  That little bit of green was the expansion completed a couple of years ago with sod from Donalda.



Sorry about the angle.  One of our greens expanded in 2005.  Looks like both newer and old turf are dead.

What surprised me is that with all the overseeding with bent (our sod from 2004/2005 may have been bent but can't remember) very little exists on the greens.

We're being told mid-June before all greens will be back in play.  Course opening pushed to May 16th.

[Wayne_Kozun]

@Paul - your photo links don't appear to work.

On the other hand Coppinwood, which is about 8 years old and is a little north of Whitevale is fine as they have no major issues.  I guess the fact that the greens are new means much less Poa and they received less freezing rain/ice in December.

[Wayne_Kozun]

Rob Thompson has a blog posting on this: 
http://canadiangolfer.com/g4g/2014/04/25/ontario-courses-with-poa-greens-struggle-to-deal-with-cold-weather-carnage

[Jeff Shelman]

It is amazing what a few hundred miles can do in this. I feel very fortunate because in Minneapolis, courses came through the winter in as good of shape as I can ever remember. There is virtually zero winterkill at my club.

At a club near my home, there's a spot on a hole you can see from the road where it dies every year. The drainage is poor there and turf dies almost every year. Even that low spot is perfect.

We are very lucky. And I feel for those dealing with this.

[Phil McDade]

It is amazing what a few hundred miles can do in this. I feel very fortunate because in Minneapolis, courses came through the winter in as good of shape as I can ever remember. There is virtually zero winterkill at my club.

At a club near my home, there's a spot on a hole you can see from the road where it dies every year. The drainage is poor there and turf dies almost every year. Even that low spot is perfect.

We are very lucky. And I feel for those dealing with this.

Similar to what's reported in my corner of Wisconsin -- good solid snow cover helps a lot with this, and we had plenty in these parts. A generally awful spring for golfing so far, however, with lots of rain and cold temps.

[Paul Stephenson]

@Paul - your photo links don't appear to work.

On the other hand Coppinwood, which is about 8 years old and is a little north of Whitevale is fine as they have no major issues.  I guess the fact that the greens are new means much less Poa and they received less freezing rain/ice in December.

Sorry Wayne.  Fixed

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