The Warming Of Smithers Greens

Consider the plight of those charged with the responsibility of getting courses in Smithers ready where blankets are being used to nurse the greens into readiness.

From Smithers Interior News

Forget global warming, Smithers golfers are already at least two weeks behind.

"Right now we just cleared off all our greens, that was a big concern, getting the snow off the greens so we did that over the last two weeks," said Head Golf Professional Chris Herkel of the Smithers Golf & Country Club

"Now, as you can see we've put blankets on all the greens, and what the blankets do it's like a built in heater, when the sun shines and we get warm temperatures it warms up to about 15-20 degrees more under the blankets, so it's like a green house effect."

Despite the long-lasting spring, Herkal said there is a downside to the long, mild winter and even longer, cool spring.

A cold winter means little ice is allowed to build up on the greens. Last year, the greens were preserved well because the winter was so cold followed by a short, warm spring.

However this year is quite a different story.

"This winter was very different than in the past, there's been some winter kill but that does come back once the temperature rises and the ground temperature rises." Herkel said.

All across B.C. golf courses are beginning their spring preparations. Although most are in much worse condition than the Smithers GCC. Ice has formed on most of the greens in the Lower Mainland because of all the warm and cold temperature fluctuations.

"After 45 days of ice you can kill a green," Herkel said.

According to Herkel most of the courses in the Lower Mainland are still three to four weeks behind schedule putting the precious greens in jeopardy.

Although the snow levels have started to disappear it doesn't mean Smithers GCC is out of the woods yet.

"We think [ice] did form in the new year, we had a cold spell and then a warm spell in November and then we had another one in January, so I think it happened in January with the mild spell we had, but we got it all off now," said Herkel.

As the weather gets warmer golfers are starting to come out of hibernation and look for the first available driving range to start working on refreshing their game.

Herkel hopes to have the driving range open next week with the entire course opening up the last week of April, but there is still a lot of work to be done before the carts get rolling.

"Right now we have to monitor, because you can't leave the blankets on for to long on warm days or else you'll burn the greens, so we go around and take the blankets off and put them back on and it's a big job," Herkel said.

"It's just a matter of getting everything prepped, getting our signs out, getting all the benches out, so everything has to be prepped because we're looking to open in about 10-14 days so we're that close.

The first tournament of the year, the Four-Man Scramble is slated to kick off May 16 and 17 with the biggest event of the year, the Northern Open scheduled for later this year.