April 11th, 2 years later

Today marked my 2 year anniversary at the Grand Forks Country Club.  On April 11, 2011 I had just completed a 900 mile drive from western Montana to start my new life in North Dakota.  We've seen a lot of highs and lows and come a long way in the last 2 years.  For those of you who know me, one of my favorite things to do is document my life in photographs....

Early April 2011, not a trace of snow and the river only a few days away
from almost a 50' crest.

Early April 2012, snow is a distant memory, the turf is already greening
up, and the creek is almost dry!

Early April 2013, might as well be the middle of January.

The variation of weather patterns in the northern plains is mind blowing.  With that, it seems that each year I have spent at GFCC has been characterized by a unique set of challenges that sets each year apart.

2011 was defined by a large flood, a huge renovation of massive areas of turf, learning a new golf course in a new part of the country, and finished with the beginning of a large, 3 year renovation process of our nearly 50 year old tee boxes.

2012 was defined by an extraordinarily warm and early spring, no flood, but massive amounts of dead Poa Annua on the course due to the dry, open, and cold winter leading up to it.  That led into a very hot and dry summer that was a challenge for our outdated irrigation system, but finished with a very pleasant Fall that allowed us to make a lot of headway on the tee box renovation process, as well as continue to make some other serious improvements to the golf course by adding a significant amount of concrete cartpath.

2013 is of course still an early year, but will without a doubt be defined by the incredibly late arrival of spring and what is shaping up to be the latest spring flood crest caused by snowmelt in the 130 years of data from the Red River.  I can only hope that the rest of 2013 is defined by something a little more positive.... (like the completion of our new pool, a pleasant but not hot summer, a successful attempt to interseed some new bentgrass into our greens, and another long and warm fall so that the golfers stay happy and we can get a lot of projects completed on the course.)