Light Switch

Let me start by saying how happy I was to be away last week when it was 50 degrees here. I know it's coming so I thought I would try to temper the Spring Fever just a bit. Here is an exercise for everyone in critical thinking. Whatever analogy you want to use they all apply. Here are a couple: when you apply a paint or sealer to your floor or deck can you move the furniture in right away? How about after lugging all the groceries into the house to make a fabulous meal? Surely you have to be patient and allow the chef (wife of 32 years in my case) to prepare the meal? Now you can stand around in the kitchen eating some of the supplies hovering like a vulture but in my experience that doesn't speed up the process and only upsets the cook.

What does this have to do with CCCC, you may ask? The picture below was on my way in this morning.

It was in the single digits for temperatures but the forecast is for rain and warm temps over the next few days. I was already writing this post in my head this morning but I received the text below 5 seconds after sitting down at my desk.

I responded with: "I am writing a post about it as we speak." We are in the worst time of year. I wrote about it here LAST YEAR It bears repeating every year. I get it. Spring Fever is real but patience is a virtue that needs to become vogue again. I thought if I explained how we simply cannot open the course like flicking a light switch this time of year maybe we could temper some fever. We can play on frozen ground. I am not sure why anyone would want to but that's just me. What we cannot play on is frozen ground as it is thawing out. The most damage will occur in this scenario. I tried to educate golfers at my last place about the 4 F's. Frost Free or Fully Frozen is the mantra you should all be doing your morning yoga to during Winter. Once the ground freezes we measure it in inches or feet of frost. It takes awhile for this to thaw depending how thick it is. Once the snow melts and we have better conditions we can start poking the ground and seeing how much we have and then get a better gauge as to when it will disappear and we can fully open. Mike's 40+ years on this property gives him an edge. He has learned that when there is ice on the ponds there is frost in the ground. He says historically we are usually frost free by the NCAA Basketball tourney, usually. Now that doesn't mean we may not be able to open for a day here or there beforehand but remember the 4 F's. The dangerous times are when it is frozen but warming up during the day so thawing while out there. 

Also, getting back to the start of this post we also need time (and the right conditions) to prepare the golf course. Greens will need to be blown off and possibly rolled. I can only imagine how many footprints those trespassing sledders have put onto the course, not to mention the golfers on questionable days. It's always nice to change cups after a long closure. We cannot do that if conditions are not there such as frost or mushy. To do any of these jobs we need to be able to drive around the course. So just like rushing the chef or watching paint dry it doesn't help. Calling the proshop every hour asking when we will be open will not make the snow melt any faster. We do not control the weather and just because your favorite weather prognosticator said it was going to rain and be warm where you are that doesn't mean it will here. As I tried to explain, it takes time even after the snow melts to get everything ready.  

In short, we are day to day until the frost is out of the ground. Likelihood of being open this weekend is very slim. Next week? Who knows? ("so you're saying there's a chance?" Sure about the same as you setting the course record this year)

We will update you every way possible: website, blog, email, InstaFace, you name it, as soon as things change and THEN you can start planning your next round at CCCC.

We look forward to seeing you.