February tee sheets are already packed, yet turf managers warn that grass deprived of winter rest and moisture may face lasting stress.<\/p>\n
DENVER \u2014 Unseasonably warm, dry winter weather has reshaped Colorado\u2019s outdoor economy in uneven ways: while ski areas contend with thin snowpack, golf courses along the Front Range are experiencing a surge more typical of spring.<\/p>\n
At Fossil Trace Golf Club in Golden, Adam Finch, the head golf professional, said the season has stretched well beyond its usual boundaries.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the first time in our golf course’s history, we were open every day in November with the exception of the Thanksgiving holiday,\u201d he said, adding that \u201cOur golf season certainly feels like it\u2019s expanding.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finch, who has worked at the course for 19 years, described February conditions that would normally be unlikely.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got golfers booked each and every day for this next coming week,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a few years since we\u2019ve been open any\u00a0days in February.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Players arrived in shorts, T-shirts, and tank tops, a sight he called \u201cwild\u201d for this time of year.<\/p>\n
The lack of snow has allowed courses to remain open, but the same conditions are complicating course management.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Winter snow typically acts as insulation, Finch explained, \u201cWhat we actually like to see is snow on the golf course to insulate the turf grass\u2026 just to get us to those spring warm, growing months.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finch said the increased play is causing additional wear and tear on the course during a time when the grass is usually on a break. But now, staff are now preparing the course daily, something he says typically isn\u2019t done this time of year.<\/p>\n
Across the municipal system operated by Denver Golf, the pattern is similar. Pam Smith, the system\u2019s director of agronomy, said winter is usually a period of downtime.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTo have some downtime in the middle of winter where we don\u2019t have golf carts, we don\u2019t have golfers, we\u2019ll have snow cover for prolonged periods of time,\u201d she said, is the norm. \u201cThis year is extraordinarily different. We\u2019ve seen no weather pattern bringing us snow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith said activity has surged, citing data from Kennedy Golf Course showing that offseason play from November through this first week of February is up about 70% in rounds and roughly 90% in cart use.<\/p>\n
She noted that while winter play is usually \u201ckind of a bonus,\u201d but now \u201cwe\u2019re filling the house.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
To protect turf, Denver Golf announced that all courses would shift to walking only seven days a week starting Feb. 10, citing \u201cextreme drought conditions\u201d and \u201csevere wear and tear on golf course traffic areas.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The concern is that dormant grass cannot repair itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scott Ellis, superintendent at Wellshire Golf Course, acknowledged that conditions are \u201cgreat for the golfers and\u2026 the customers,\u201d but he said it raises questions \u201cabout the future, and specifically the future of this season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Water management is another variable. Smith said that if dry conditions persist and water supplies tighten, the system has a staged plan. She said that if water use had to be reduced, crews would rely more on hand watering and place limits on how much irrigation certain courses receive. Maintenance would focus on keeping key playing areas like greens, tees and fairways alive, while less critical areas such as the rough would receive little to no water until supplies improved.<\/p>\n
She emphasized that greens require relatively little water.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf this weather pattern continues, I do believe we have sufficient resources to keep the greens green. The greens actually take a real, nominal amount of water compared to the rest of the golf course.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The broader question, she said, is long-term supply.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s the long term,” she said. “Like, how does this impact it when it comes to if there\u2019s Denver Water restrictions and we all start having to conserve?\u201d<\/p>\n
For now, managers are still looking skyward.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe might get an actual winter with a lot of snow, and things will bounce back and go back to normal. We\u2019re hoping for that,\u201d Smith said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ellis echoed that sentiment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cJust like the ski industry is hoping for snow, we\u2019re hoping for snow to recharge the reservoirs and make sure we have adequate water for the season,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"February tee sheets are already packed, yet turf managers warn that grass deprived of winter rest and moisture…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452996,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-452995","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-golf","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}