To open, or not to open...

After a long period of bitterly cold weather, it was tempting to open the golf course at the end of last week, when we briefly saw the mercury head north.  However, the potential for damage to the course was not worth the risk. 

Just as soils freeze from the top down, so too do they thaw from the top down.  As the snow and ice melts, the frozen soil beneath prevents all of that water from percolating into the ground.  In essence, you have a very mushy layer over a frozen layer.

Only once the greens were free of ice throughout their root zone, are we able to open the course for walking.

At times like this, any traffic, including feet, can cause rutting and root shearing.  This USGA article explains the situation clearly:

Roots Are Not Elastic