There are advantages and disadvantages to covering turf with covers over the winter.

18-Hole Course Greens - We used to cover the greens on the 18-hole course. Before the 2004 renovation, those greens were predominately poa annua. Poa annua is an undesirable weed grass that suffers in hot summer weather and can be damaged by severe winter weather about once every ten years. We covered the greens to protect the poa annua against the occasional winter kill. The biggest advantage to winter turf covers is that when the covers are first removed in the spring, the greens are a bright green. Unfortunately, this is a short lived benefit, as within a matter of days, a covered green looks and plays no better than a green that was not covered.

The downside to covering the greens is that the covers promote the spread of poa annua, and increase the risk of damage from fungus diseases. Use of winter covers also requires that the course stay closed in the spring until the weather moderates enough so that the covers can be removed without shocking the protected grass.

The renovated 18-hole course greens are predominately bentgrass and do not need protection from winter weather. We do not cover these new greens, in an effort to limit the spread of poa annua. In fact, it would be a good thing if the small amount of poa annua on each green was damaged by winter weather.

18-Hole Greens - 2009 Experiment - Not to confuse you, but we are experimenting with the short term use of covers on a small practice green and on the first two greens on the 18-hole course. These three greens were aerated in November 2008, after the course closed for the season. With zero growth over the winter the greens are still "freshly aerated". We covered these greens March 1, 2009 in the hope of warming the turf up sooner and encouraging some recovery from the aeration before we open this spring. This is part of an experiment to see if we can find a way to further reduce the disruption of greens aeration on golfers.

9-Hole Course Greens - We have never covered the greens on the 9-hole course. The use of covers would delay the opening of the course in the spring until night time temperatures moderate. In some years, this would delay the opening of the 9-hole course for two or three weeks.

Driving Range Practice Tee - We cover the practice tee every year because bluegrass and ryegrass recover differently from bentgrass and poa annua. Bluegrass and ryegrass actively grow under the covers. Divots fill in. Seedlings survive. Newly planted seed germinates. Many years, the practice tee is in much better condition when the covers are removed than it was when the covers were installed the previous fall.

The practice tee is bright green when

the winter covers are removed in the spring.

In 2008 we opened the tee with lush green turf,

even though there was still snow in the landing zone.