One frequent battle between avid golfers and golf course superintendents is whether it is OK to play golf in the winter. Many courses in northern climates close during the colder months, even if there is no snow on the ground. Some supers maintain that playing on cold or frozen turf can damage course conditions, while others say this idea is overblown and golfers can play on throughout the winter.
To learn a little more about these considerations, we caught up with the director of grounds at The Patterson Club in Fairfield, Conn., Jason Meersman.
Golf Digest: Jason, there’s a lot of debate over whether courses in colder climates should stay open or close during the winter. Assuming there is a no snow on the ground, is it OK for a course to stay open all year?
Meersman: Growing up in Michigan, any time there was no snow we played golf. At The Patterson Club I have never closed the golf course besides during covid. Due to the excessive amount of rounds, we created temporary greens and a shorter golf course to relocate divots and ball marks.
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Other than that, I’ve always stayed open due to the minimal amount of damage the winter golf produces and the flush of growth that happens in the spring. You can find studies that show tarps on greens are helpful, however, there are also studies that show there is little to no benefit other than chasing away golfers.
While this is our decision at the Patterson Club to stay open during winter months, we recognize that other golf courses may have different challenges.
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Does playing on a course in cold temperatures damage the turf?
Meersman: I’ve been in this business my entire life and I have yet to see any significant damage from winter golf. Crown hydrations and flash freezing can harm turf in the winter months whether they are protected or not.
When the greens are frozen you are not leaving much of a ball mark or damaging turf.
What about divots? There’s no way they are growing back, right?
Meersman: When the grass is dormant, they will struggle to recover, so that’s why at Patterson, we play with practice mats in the winter. I first saw it at St Andrews. I was out there in the winter and the ground was frozen, but they gave golfers these plastic mats to hit off when the divots aren’t recovering. We promote that because it allows golfers to continue playing through the winter without any negative effect on the course.
false Private The Patterson Club Fairfield, CT 3.8 2 Panelists The Patterson Club dates to 1929, when General Electric Co. employees organized a Dining and Social Club with 20 charter members. The Robert Trent Jones Sr. designed course opened nearly 20 years later in 1947 on a new site in Fairfield, Conn. Today, the course is one of the best in the area, having hosted the state’s Open and Amateur, as well as many numerous Metropolitan Golf Association events. The course makes captivating use of the elevation changes, including at the up-and-over finishing hole, where a speed slot can add 40 yards to a well-placed drive. View Course
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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
