Insurance measures prior to greens freezing

The recent cold spell we had left the golf course closed for 13 days. We knew that is was going to get really cold for an extended period, so we took some precautions with our greens. The first step was to make sure that all the greens had enough moisture going into the extended cold period. It had not rained in about a week so we watered all of the greens for about ten minutes each. We have four covers for #3, #5, #11, and #13 greens which we put out. The photo below is #5 green with the cover in place.

The covers help raise the temperature underneath and protect the turf from desiccation (freezer burn) if it gets very cold and windy. The remainder of the greens got a heavy application of sand to protect them from the cold. The layer of sand helps protect the crown of the plant from cold and wind. It doesn't work as well as a green cover, but gets the job done.

The photo above shows sand being applied to the putting green. We put it on about the same rate as we do after the greens are aerated. When the temperature started to warm up, the first greens to open were the four with the covers. The last green to open was #10 due to the lack of sunlight it gets all winter.