Course Winterization

As the weather continues to change, so do the conditions on the golf course.  Different types of grasses need certain protection and are maintained differently over the winter months.  These changes are made to insure that when Spring hits and things start to wake up for the next season, we don't have any set backs or issues with turf coming back out of dormancy.  Course accessories are also removed for various reasons and to protect them from the harsh winter cold.
We have moved all tee boxes off of the warm season zoysia grass.  Most tee boxes at MP have a cool season part of the box already built in.  Others do not.  The ones that don't, we mow in a temporary tee box in the most practical and accessible spot we can find close to the normal tee box.  This insures us that we can keep traffic off of the dormant warm season grass thus helping the turf come back strong and healthy at the beginning of the next growing season.  We also restrict cart traffic to path only to protect our zoysia fairways.  We do not mow any of our zoysia during the time they are dormant.  We leave them slightly taller to create somewhat of a blanket or cover to protect them.  Like I said with the tee boxes, less traffic on the dormant turf is a huge reason we can and will have nice healthy fairways during the regular golf season.  We appreciate the golfers cooperation with the cart rules and hope that they understand we aren't just restricting carts to the path for no reason.
On the greens, we have two cups cut in each green.  We use this practice for a few reasons.  As the ground freezes and temperatures continue to drop, it becomes impossible to change the cups.  Having two cups on opposite sides of the green allows us to spread out the foot traffic.  We ask that the golfers help us in rotating the flag stick.  Once the golfer has landed his ball on the green, he would putt to the hole that the flag is in.  When they have holed their ball out they would take the flag stick and put it in the opposite hole that they played/putt to.  Then the next group of golfers behind them would play to the other hole which now has the flag stick in it. We greatly appreciate the golfers understanding and help with this one small thing that can be a major help to course conditions throughout the winter.
As most people know, cold harsh winters are hard on everything that stays outside in the elements.  This is very true for our course accessories.  Ball washers, signage and other non permanent accessories are removed and stored.  We then take all of our accessories and refurbish or replace and update these items.
We hope that the golfers understand we do not do these things to make the course different or less player friendly.  It is simply to protect and preserve what we have so that when the golf season ramps up after the winter, these things are in great condition and in place to make the golfers experience the best it can possibly be.