(March 20, 2025) – The spring is the busiest time of year for a golf course maintenance team. We caught up with Hartford Golf Club superintendent Curtis D’Anna right at the end of winter to talk about the challenges he faces in getting a course ready for the season.
Here is our Q&A with Hartford GC superintendent Curtis D’Anna:
CSGA: Before we talk about bringing a course out of winter what are some of the key things that you do to prepare to shut the course down for the offseason?
Curtis DeAnna (CD): Essentially we are looking for a certain temperature in the fall when nighttime temperatures are consistently in the 20s and 30s. Once that starts to happen the grass starts to go dormant, and we start to see a frost layer in the ground developing that is when we decide it’s time to put the course to bed. So we do our winter snowball applications, which help protect the plant through the cold winter months.
And then what we do at Hartford GC is we do a pretty aggressive agronomic practice in the middle or end of October or early November. And what we do is a very aggressive verti-cutting of the greens to remove some thatch.
And then we do a drill and fill, which injects sand into the top layer of the putting surface. Next, we do a solid tine aeration, followed by a pretty light top dressing with two millimeters of sand. The reason why we do not intentionally fill the holes, my thought behind that is the more holes, the more surface area where any water sitting on the surface could drain down and dry quicker.
The idea is we want to get as much water off the plant surface as possible. So, the more we can get into the ground and absorb into the soil, the better off we are. Obviously, with more holes as well, we get a better drying.
So we try to reduce any negative impacts that the winter could possibly give us. The other thing we do is after this is all said and done, we cover our greens with a permeable winter turf cover. We do all of our greens except our chipping green, which is 100% bent grass. So we don’t feel the need to do it. The other greens are a mix of bent and poa. Poa is very susceptible to damage in the winter.
CSGA: What makes it so important to winterize the course?
CD: All the carbohydrates that the grass produced throughout the season, they get stored within the plant. Usually, carbohydrates get utilized, and that with photosynthesis, and then any nutrients that roots pick up in the soil during the season, they just grow out.
And that’s what keeps the plant growing. When it shuts down, it stores all those nutrients and carbohydrates, and that’s how it protects itself, but that’s also how it wakes up in the spring. So if you don’t protect that plant, you’re going to have issues in the spring.
The plant leaves die off. They turn yellow, as I’m sure everybody in the wintertime sees. The only thing that’s still alive in the plant is the crown, and the crown is what needs to be protected.
If that gets damaged at all through footprints, golf balls, divots, cart traffic, or whatever it may be, it’s going to really set you back in the spring. Those plants could die completely, and we don’t want that. So that’s why we prioritize winter practices pretty religiously.
CSGA: Once the course is put to bed for the season what do you do during the winter as you look ahead to the next season?
CD: The transition from golf season to winter actually lasts pretty long. It’s probably longer than most people think.
We go through Christmas, and we’re still doing coursework. We do a lot of bunker work. We’ll add sand to the bunkers at that point. We’ll do a lot of drainage work. We’ll do some tree work when it gets really frozen.
And then as far as inside work, we do a lot of our budgeting, a lot of our early orders for our chemicals and our fertilizer. We do a lot of equipment ordering and a lot of equipment rebuilding.
All of the machines you see out on the course have a lot of hours. They’re essentially running all day long during the season, so they need to be broken down, fixed, replaced, or whatever needs to happen.
So winter, it is slower because we’re not out on the course mowing, but we are still staying really active and pretty busy.
CSGA: When do you start getting the course ready for the next season?
CD: It’s always weather based. We live in New England. Obviously, the weather changes from day to day. And then on top of that, there’s definitely some shifting in weather patterns that, 20 years ago when I started this business, I wasn’t seeing.
I never put a date on it because it could change. Usually, I say the beginning of March is when we kind of start wrapping up our winter projects and get ready for any upcoming spring projects.
So usually by the middle of March, we have a lot of our indoor work essentially done. Then depending on the weather, we’ll start shifting outside. We’ll start doing some stump grindings. And if we can get out on the course we will pick up sticks, blow leaves, clean bunkers, and that sort of thing.
But what I typically look at before even thinking about removing covers is soil temperatures. I look at the growth under the greens. I don’t want to remove the covers if there’s essentially no growth.
This winter has been a little more harsh than last winter so it pushes the process back a little bit.
CSGA: What do you think is the hardest or most challenging part about bringing a course out of winterization?
CD: The hardest part is knowing when to really put your foot on the gas. What I mean by that is if you do it too early, if you decide, hey, I’m going to uncover, I’m going to apply my spring applications, I’m going to allow golf out and you do it too early, you can essentially cause significant damage that lasts for weeks and months. But then if you do it too late, then you’re almost playing catch up already.
Grass can start growing really quickly. Golfers are asking, why aren’t we open? And then you’re playing catch up. So it’s finding that sweet spot, which is really challenging.
It really comes down to determining when we can get our hands dirty and really get to work.
CSGA: What’s something that might surprise people as far as what goes into bringing a course back to life?
CD: It’s so delicate. The course is so delicate in the spring. People see a lot of growth because it’s spring and everything’s growing and green and everything looks healthy. But everything is also very succulent. The plant is just starting to create carbohydrates again.
It’s really starting to develop its root system again. It’s making new young leaves so getting out too early or allowing carts out or even trying to do work too early can really do some serious damage.
The way I describe it to people is if you ever start growing a plant inside, say you seeded tomatoes, it doesn’t matter what it is, and you start to see those first leaves starting to form, you’re like, wow, it’s green, it’s good. Well, that’s essentially where the state of the grass is. Yeah, it’s a little bit more developed, a little bit more mature, but it’s that weak.
You’re not going to go out and start putting your tomato plants outside. You’re not going to start beating them up by transplanting them or anything like that. You’re going to let them grow and develop, get stronger.
Now, grass does the same thing. Visually, it looks like it’s ready, but physiologically, it’s probably not, especially on greens when you’re cutting them so short.
I think people are surprised because it looks ready, it looks really good, but it might not quite be there. It could be a matter of a couple of days or a couple of weeks for it to really get to a good spot, and that surprises a lot of people.
CSGA: Let’s fast forward to early June. The course is up and running. Do you ever step back and look at the course and feel a sense of pride?
CD: Oh, 100%. I mean, a winter can make or break a course for the year. A bad winter can cause issues for an entire year, and sometimes even longer than that. Bringing a course out, and a course being healthy, looking good, and playing good is one of the most rewarding things that we do. My favorite time of the year is the end of May or early June.
All of our pretty intense spring applications and practices are done and our busiest time of year is done. We’re almost through all those really initial hard things, and you just kind of stand back and look, and it’s green, it’s warm, you’ve got nice lines, people are happy.
It’s one of the most rewarding things that we do. I think for any superintendent, May and June are probably two of the most rewarding months of the golf season.
CSGA: And of course to pull this off it takes a team?
CD: Absolutely. The spring is very, very intense. Go, go, go. All my guys, I bring back typically on April 1, and we just hit the ground running. Spring requires everybody. We have multiple applications of insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides that need to be done at exact specific temperatures, soil temperatures, and at specific times. A lot of them need to be watered in immediately.
On top of that, fertility. Our fertilizers need to go out at very, very specific times. And sometimes it’s hard to do with the weather and golf.
So that is really, really challenging because, for a couple of weeks, it’s every day we’re getting out there and really grinding out of the normal. It’s not the normal summer mowing routine. This is additional. And then on top of that, of course there is clean up and getting bunkers ready, getting everything tidied up.
Spring is a very, very tough time of year. Very, very busy. But once we get past that busy point and we get to the beginning of June, that’s when it is alright to take a breath. And it’s really, really rewarding.
CSGA: Awesome, Curtis. That’s all I had for you. I appreciate the few minutes, as always! And we can’t wait to get back to Hartford GC in June for the 26th Connecticut Women’s Open!
CD: Yeah, that sounds good. See you then and we are really excited for the event!
About the Connecticut State Golf Association
The Connecticut State Golf Association functions as an extension of the USGA and provides stewardship for amateur golf in Connecticut. Founded in 1899, it is the country’s oldest state golf association and conducts over 60 Championships, Qualifiers, and One Day Tournaments throughout the year.
