GOSHEN, Ind. -- These turbulent spring temperatures are hopefully close to wrapping up, great news for those of us that enjoy the summer weather, as well as the silent heroes of the golf course.
“Your best maintenance team is one that you don’t see we try to get in here early and get out early so they can golf don’t need nobody hit in the head with a golf ball you know,” said Maintenance Supervisor for Black Squirrel Golf Course
At Black Squirrel Golf Course in Goshen, the team mows the course every morning. But it isn’t just revving up the mowers that keeps the grass green. It’s also avoiding nature’s sand trap, the weather.
“Frost is one of those things that is an absolute killer for our grass so it freezes the tops of the grass and what happens is as they walk on it, it actually breaks the grass and it leaves tracks all the way through it so that the grass actually begins to die so we have frost delays we play every morning by the minute checking the weather constantly,” said Glassburn.
Temperature swings in the spring also bring issues with golf carts, as thawing, wet ground can cause tires to slip and tear up the ground as well. Still with all the issues that the ever-changing weather brings, courses still open their doors to those who play in the rain or shine.
Glassman said, “It’s something to do it’s a companionship it’s a friendship something they do together every day you know you walk an 18-hole golf course you’re gonna get somewhere around 9000 steps so it’s a good activity to stay healthy.”
It isn’t just April showers that present golfers with issues, it’s also the summer sun.
“So, the summer the summer you switch conditions right you go from the frost you go from to the drought one of the things we need is water and so we water throughout the night. You know the course I think has about I think 400 sprinkler heads, so we water every night,” said Glassburn.
It isn't just watering during the night that crews worry about through the summer. Once we start seeing hotter days, the sun could actually “burn” the grass due to its height.
“You’re green, you’re looking at about three-thirty-seconds inch and you’re probably just under a half inch under that and so especially with the greens they get damaged easier, so the longer the grass the less damage it’ll take, you’ll never see it on the rough," Glassburn said.
On any given golf course there’s around four or five different grass heights, with the shorter ones needing constant hydration, again more of a problem in summer months, but the burning problem could be an issue if the golf course doesn't use the right type of mowing equipment as a fan-style blade can cause the grass to discolor as well.