OUT OF
THE
Icy Grip
Golfers and club managers have been waiting (overtime)
to launch a new season | by DAVID GOULD
A
A fast-growing
economy and lush turf
on the fairways—that’s
the ideal one-two
punch for clubs and
courses in any season,
especially early spring.
But when a harsh winter stretches into late
March and April, you may feel you’ve lost
half the battle.
A recent bulletin from the Golf Course
Superintendents Association of America
confirmed what golfers had been thinking:
the winter miseries of 2014 posed a serious
threat to greens and fairways. “From the
Upper Midwest to the Northeast and as far
south as T
exas and the Carolinas, this winter
was one of the longest, coldest and most
severe in memory,” the report reads in part.
Makes you shiver to read it even now.
Gory details in the GCSAA analysis include
references to “snow mold” and “winterkill.”
The examples offered were in states far
enough northward that a golfing Virginian
could take solace. Indeed, a survey of clubs,
courses and resorts across the commonwealth
turns out pretty reassuring—Old Man Winter
clipped the early playing opportunities but
didn’t leave major turf damage in his wake.
Still, the deep freeze and slow thaw is
a disappointment given that economists
had been forecasting 2014 as a potential
breakout year that would boost America
beyond its tepid recovery. Then along
came poor weather to directly harm
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businesses and commerce. The Associated
Press reported that “an unusually bitter
winter sent factories, hiring and consumer
spending into hibernation.”
In Virginia and much of the U.S., that
hibernation was the backdrop for March and
April golf activity. Not good, because earlyseason success for golf properties creates a
strong base of revenue and energy. Clubs and
courses can use that initial momentum to
amass funds that will go toward major repairs,
new marketing efforts and other initiatives.
SHIFTING CLIMATES AND PERSPECTIVES
Then again, a spring season that sputters
at the get-go can be just the ticket for The
Club at Kingsmill, in relatively temperate
Williamsburg. The warming effects of
the Chesapeake Bay and the mighty
James River keep Kingsmill’s snowfall
totals far below what Washington, D.C.,
and its suburbs endure.
“We’re a pretty simple three-hour drive
from the metro area, and when you make
that drive in late winter you often pass from
snow cover to clear ground,” says Jeremy
Hyjek, the PGA director of golf at Kingsmill.
As a perennial host of PGA T
our or
LPGA T competitio