It’s been a pretty “moist” winter.
That may be a bit of an understatement, but that’s the explanation Jason Tchir has for why Quadra Island Golf Course isn’t open yet.
Tchir is going into his second season as head professional and general manager of Quadra Golf, and admits that while the course is about six weeks behind schedule, they’re almost ready to start booking tee times.
“There are still a few things, from a maintenance perspective – that we need to tackle to make the golf course the product that we want it to be for opening day,” Tchir says. “Mainly that has to do with aeration. We just haven’t been able to string together the three days of sunshine or so that we need to get onto the putting surfaces to do a full core aeration, where we dig the cores out, remove them, top-dress with a nice sand product and sweep them into shape.”
Tcir expects that will happen this week and throughout the weekend and they’ll be ready to book tee times beginning next Wednesday (May 3), but that could easily change if the weather shifts drastically.
“I would encourage people to just check in on Facebook for updates right now,” he says. “I’ll be posting there and letting everyone know what’s going on and where we’re at in terms of getting ready.”
There are a few things Tchir wants you to know if you’re heading out early in the season.
“Just realize that it’s going to be wet,” he says with a laugh, “and think about the things that come along with that. Know that you’re not going to get a lot of roll-out on the fairways and remember that the greens aren’t going to be as fast as maybe you’re expecting them to be. The turf blades are susceptible to injury and disease if they get cut down really short this early in the year, so the greens are going to be a bit slower than they will be later in the year just so we can keep the grass healthy enough for us to be able to cut it down later in the season and bring them up to the speed we want them.”
He would also very much appreciate your help in keeping the golf course in good shape, especially early in the season. All courses need golfers to have good maintenance habits, but Quadra Golf, especially, needs the help – since it’s mainly maintained by volunteers.
“With the amount of moisture that’s in the ground for the first while here, the dirt is basically mud underneath the grass, and your clubhead is basically like a knife carving through it at 100 miles an hour. Please take that pelt that you may have taken out and get it back in that hole for us. If your divot explodes or you can’t find it or whatever, we – along with the rest of the courses in the area – have a sand and seed mixture that you can sprinkle in that hole. With a little bit of moisture and sunshine, within a couple of weeks, you won’t even know that divot was there.”
Check out part of the Mirror’s chat with Quadra Golf’s GM and head pro: