Course closure discussion Delays and closure of courses due to frost seems to be one of those subjects that always get tongues wagging. There seems to be lots of conflicting and somewhat misleading evidence around the subject, which leads many to question why their clubs close the course or delay their rounds. This is exactly the kind of thing I like to get my teeth into, so I’ve been digging around so we can properly discuss the subject. Firstly, it is never a good idea, in my opinion, to go into an argument without putting all the facts on the table. If there are points that conflict with your argument it is still best to put them out there. If you still have a valid point people will see it, whereas if it comes out later they will wonder why you weren’t being completely honest at the start. I think this is very relevant here. If you take five minutes to research the subject on the great God that is Google you will find a number of articles, almost immediately, from highly qualified agronomists and Greenkeepers. Every one of them will basically say the same thing, which is that you should never play on frost covered, or frozen greens as it can severely damage grass. Leading to problems in the coming year and perhaps more importantly, costly renovation. Interestingly I could not find one that gave an actual example of an incident of this, and the truth is I don’t know of one after 30 plus years in the game. So, what are the facts behind green closures? Pretty simple really and logical: if grass is frozen and you walk on it then some of the leaves (blades I suppose) will break or their cells will rupture. Many of us will have seen the result of this, brown footprints where people have walked. If the grass breaks above ground level it is arguable that this is not much different to cutting the grass, which won’t do it much harm. The bigger worry is if the grass in the top half inch thaws but the layer below is still frozen. This then risks ‘shearing’ as the grass on top moves and is broken away from the frozen lower stems. This could then mean dead patches of grass which would indeed need replacing but, as I said, I do not know of one case of this. However, there are lots of examples where courses have habitually allowed play on frozen greens without any adverse effects. So, where does that leave us? The truth is it really does depend where you’re standing. When you turn up for your game and someone tells you you’re not going to be able to get out for a few hours you will see all the reasons why it’s illogical and unnecessary. Put yourself in the other position though, if you’d bought your local club for a sizeable sum and a highly qualified individual told you it might cost you a lot of money in renovation in addition to lost green fees and possible loss of members, what would you do? If you were in this business you’d understand that half your membership pretty much stays at home during the winter and green fees are as much as 80% down during the same months. Wouldn’t it be crazy then to risk the lucrative summer months because a few people are dying to get out in freezing temperatures? Of course it would and that brings us neatly to why it makes sense for clubs to do what most of them do. It is merely a matter of risk, and given that there is a possibility of damage it makes absolute sense to make sure the risk is minimised. So, if it happens to you soon try to understand why. I know it can be annoying, particularly if you only have one opportunity to play a week, but if you were in the same boat you would almost certainly, do the same. | 
