The Pursuit of Perfection

May 4, 2018 The Uh-Oh Moment

The beauty and elegance of golf is that it is played outside in nature. Along with the beauty of enjoying the great game of golf outside comes the challenge of dealing with the rough weather. As the debate of climate change roils on, it is clear that weather patterns in the last couple decades have been extreme. Extreme in force and extreme in variation. Working on a golf course places a person on the front line of these extreme weather events, some call it the new normal.

The 2018 golf season started on October 30, 2017. A massive wind storm roared through Stowe on this day and forever changed the landscape of our town. While The Mountain Course did not suffer any significant damage, Stowe Country Club took a direct hit from the fierce winds. The damage centered around trees and more specifically white pine trees. The white pines at SCC are considered "burly" or "pasture" pines. This designation refers to the structure of a white pine when it grows in an open environment. The tree tends to have many large branches and multiple main stems or leaders. These large trees are ever-present at SCC and whenever the wind blows they shed branches, both large and small. The tree litter and complete blow downs after this historic storm was substantial.

One of many white pine branches on October 30, 2017

Our team arrived back to work in late April 2018. For two weeks we cleaned up the mess from this epic storm. While there are many other chores to do in the spring on a golf course, we endlessly picked up white pine tree debris. After that massive clean-up effort we rallied to open SCC. With all systems go, the unthinkable happened the night before we opened. Another wind storm slammed down on northern Vermont. We were shocked to put it lightly. This storm pummeled us. White pines were once again our enemy number one. The golf course looked like a war zone. Branches everywhere, whole trees down, tops of trees blown off, and huge main branches broken off lying on the ground. The reaction of the team after dealing with now two major wind storms before we even opened for the 2018 golf season was silence. We were stunned and at a loss for words!

We opened up on schedule that first Saturday in May. It was surreal to say the least. For golf course superintendents, our daily mode of operation is the pursuit of perfection. What defines perfection depends on many different factors. On this opening day in 2018 at Stowe Country Club, with the course in complete disarray, it was perfect because the sun was shining and we were golfing once again after a long winter. Cheers to opening day in 2019. We anxiously await what it brings.