Minnesota Golfer - Directory 2020 - 21

TURF TERMS
Winter kill is a generic
term used to describe
the death of turfgrasses
during the winter
months. It can be caused
by abiotic factors and
disease. Other terms
used for winter kill are
winter damage and
winter injury.
4
MINNEAPOLIS GC
get them all done?' " Proshek says. " Basically,
have a short-term disruption for a long-term
investment. "
From Sept. 16 to late October last fall,
Proshek and his crew shut down the course
and resodded 14 fairways and 19 greens.
They sodded the fairways with several lowcut
Kentucky Bluegrass varieties from Jirik
Sod Farms in Farmington, and the greens
with 007 bentgrass sod (with a similar soil
profi le) from Great Lakes Turf in Ann Arbor,
Mich.
The turnaround time for sodding is
shorter than seeding, but
the cost is greater. Proshek
said sodding his acreage
cost $1.5 million, compared
to an estimated seeding cost
of $100-150K. But owners
Peggy and Tom Smith-
who is the president of the
MGA, owner of this publication-foot
the bill without
an assessment.
" The members' assessment was to 'please
stay on as a member and support the club
through this.' " Proshek said. " We were overwhelmed
by the response. In fact, I believe we
are about to start a wait list. "
Sodding the course had something to do
with that.
" We closed in mid-September and hope
to open in June, while others [who seeded]
mngolf.org
closed in July and are hoping to open the following
July, " Proshek said. " I think in the end,
the product is going to be the same. It's just
a little bit lesser impact on the membership. "
Big Changes
Oak Ridge took advantage of their course's
shutdown last year to address other needs on
the grounds, including drainage, tee rebuilding,
green modifi cation and bunker renovation.
Kranz's crew sodded around greens and
bunkers where necessary and seeded most of
the rest of the course, but they encountered
the ups and downs of both
processes.
" Sodding gives instant
gratifi cation-if you can
sod and sand a bunker and
have members see it, we can
generate positive energy
equity moving into the winter, "
says Oak Ridge general
manager Jake Hawley.
" We did need to sod some
fairway spaces and approaches where washouts
continued to happen (due to so much
rain last fall) since root complexes were still
young. "
They shared rain issues with their St. Louis
Park neighbors Minneapolis Golf Club,
(whose regrassing was also part of a bigger
project that included restoring the original
Donald Ross-designed greens-reclaiming
There are four types of
abiotic winter kill found
in the Northern United
States: desiccation, snow
mold, ice encasement
and crown hydration.
Desiccation is extreme
dryness that occurs when
water in a plant is lost at
a faster rate than water
is replaced.
Snow mold is a disease
of grasses characterized
by a dense, cottony
growth that covers
the affected parts as
the snow melts in the
spring-it is caused by
any of several fungi.
Ice encasement winter
kill occurs when a
thick covering of ice
causes a reduction in
gas exchange between
ice-encased turf and the
atmosphere.
Crown hydration is the
most common winter
injury and typically
occurs in late winter following
periods of thawing
and freezing. The
crowns become hydrated
during a thaw and the
cell membranes rupture
during the freeze.
Directory 2020 MINNESOTAGOLFER
21
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Minnesota Golfer - Directory 2020

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