Source: Milwaukee (Wisc.) Journal Sentinel
Golf course owners and superintendents in southeastern Wisconsin are bracing for a rough spring.
Winter kill on greens and fairways left telltale scars, and it didn't discriminate. Almost every course, from the most basic muni to the swankiest private club, has been affected to some degree.
Many courses have been forced to use temporary greens, which paying customers loathe. Golfers should get used to it, because the over-seeded regular greens won't be healthy enough to withstand foot traffic again until late May or early June.
At Brown Deer Park Golf Course, "nine or 10" temporary greens are being used, according to Brian Zimmerman, golf operations manager for Milwaukee County Parks. The other county courses suffered varying degrees of turf damage, and golfers are complaining.
"We're taking some heat," Zimmerman said. "My biscuits are getting a little warm."
Though the winter wasn't unusually harsh, a thaw-and-freeze cycle in January did tremendous damage to grass in low-lying areas. Many homeowners have noticed white and brown patches on their lawns, but they don't have to try to make money selling rounds of golf.
"The guys at public courses are in a tough situation," said Jerry Kershasky, the superintendent at Westmoor Country Club, a private club in Brookfield. "The biggest thing is patience, and it's hard for a golfer to be patient."
Winter kill damaged three greens and the practice putting green at Westmoor.
"A lot of people are going to be fighting the same thing, unfortunately," Kershasky said. "We're recruiting prospective members and if they come in and the course doesn't look good, it's a problem."
Greens with a lot of poa annua in them suffered the most damage. Poa is a weak perennial that encroaches on bentgrass. Generally, older greens that drain poorly or are shaded by trees are loaded with poa.
Course owners and superintendents all point to Jan. 12 as the day the poa died. Temperatures reached the lower 50s throughout southeast Wisconsin that day and 1 to 2 inches of rain fell at night. Then the temperature dived into the single digits and the combination was a grass-killer.
Frank Romano, owner of Scenic View Country Club in Slinger and Fire Ridge in Grafton, said when the ice finally thawed, "the smell of death was everywhere."
"I had about 100 dead fish in one of my ponds," he said. "The gas that was released from under the ice had this pungent odor. It smelled pretty bad."
Left behind were unsightly brown, black and white patches on turf. Those areas had to be aerated, over-seeded and fertilized. The grass takes seven to 10 days to germinate and several more weeks before it can be walked on.
"Any golf course worth its salt is handling the problem and within six weeks it's going to be OK," said Mark Krause, owner of Muskego Lakes Country Club. "From the middle of May onward, golf courses will be fine."
In the meantime, uninformed golfers take one look at the discolored grass and think the course either didn't spend enough money to maintain the turf or didn't make an effort to prevent the damage.
In reality, little could have been done.
"You have to remember we're in a snow belt up here and these things can happen," Zimmerman said.
Many of the Milwaukee County courses were hit hard. Brown Deer is particularly worrisome because it's the site of the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee, the PGA Tour event scheduled for July 18-24.
Zimmerman said he ordered turf blankets, which cover affected greens and help raise the soil temperature to stimulate growth.
"We're taking every precaution," he said. "We're going to be in great shape for the U.S. Bank."
Harry Schuemann, an agronomist for the PGA Tour, will be in town today and Thursday to look at the greens at Brown Deer.
"I guess I'd say I don't have concerns, pending Harry's input," said Dan Croak, the U.S. Bank tournament director. "Harry typically comes in about eight weeks out from the tournament but we've asked him to come early this year.
"I'll withhold any concern until we get his report."
In Kohler, Blackwolf Run and Whistling Straits came through the winter relatively unscathed.
"We dodged a pretty big bullet," said Steve Friedlander, the general manager and director of golf for the Kohler Co. "The greens on all four courses are fantastic. The fairways on the Straits course got hit a little bit."
On March 22, more than 180 superintendents, course owners, general managers and club professionals attended a winter kill seminar organized by Kershasky. The turf professionals shared information and stressed that golfers would need to be educated.
Still, the number of rounds played could be down this spring.
"I want to be very positive about this," Zimmerman said. "This is winter in Wisconsin. We've been blessed for so many years, but this year we've got some areas that need to be addressed."