Frost delay questions Cancel The title field is required!

1. James Smith

   

   112 posts
   
   1/30/2022 6:01 AM

   I looking for your thoughts on frost delays.
   
   In particular, do you continue frost delays even after your turf is completely dormant?
   
   Do you have different Frost delay rules you prefer to follow?
   
   I have allowed play late winter if I am dormant but restrict it to cartpath only rules until after a certain time. I have seen no damages using this process but it takes a good bit to get us dormant and thats why it seems to be late winter call.

   
   
   
   
2. Mike Grilley

   

   1 posts
   
   2/17/2022 10:02 AM in reply to James Smith

   We have changed our frost policy in the last couple years to simply having a 11 am shotgun start.  No more guessing on when frost will leave.  You call the pro shop and get assigned a hole to start on.

   
   
   
   
3. Christopher Thuer

   

   101 posts
   
   2/17/2022 3:02 PM

   On cool season turf.  We do restrict all winter, even though dormant, and stay off all turf until frost is mostly gone.  We do watch closely during the melting time and will allow traffic when the frost is mostly wet, a little icy. 

   
   Chris Thuer, CGCS, Bear Slide Golf Club, Cicero, IN
   
   
4. Melvin Waldron

   

   43 posts
   
   2/21/2022 12:02 PM

   We will have frost delays all season, even with all turf being dormant.  
   
   There was an interesting discussion that came from the crowd during the Conference and Show at the Superintendents vs. PhD's Power Hour.  Both sides agreed supported frost delays.  Someone in the audience said they did to an extent.  They were in a location that the grass didn't go dormant, and they didn't see the bitter cold temperatures.  If I understood them correctly, if there was a hard freeze/frost, they would delay, but for light frost events, they would allow play.  The reasoning was that their grass was still actively growing, and it would eventually grow out of the damage. 
   
   Mel 

   
   Melvin H. Waldron III, CGCS, Horton Smith Golf Course, City of Springfield/Greene County MO
   
   
5. Christopher Thuer

   

   101 posts
   
   2/21/2022 5:02 PM in reply to Melvin Waldron

   I think that was someone from the UK saying that.  There was a little frost on our rental car when we were leaving the hotel to play St. Andrews on John's Make-A-Wish trip.  We went to the range to loosen up and were surprised to see there was no delay for our Old Course tee time, about 10 am.  October 2018.

   
   Chris Thuer, CGCS, Bear Slide Golf Club, Cicero, IN
   
   
6. Kathy Hauff

   

   4 posts
   
   11/10/2022 3:11 PM

   We stopped having frost delays altogether and let them play.  We use and iron program that hardens the turf so we have very little if any ill effects.  Municiple golf system.