Cross country and the closing of regular greens

It is almost that time of year when we cut the temporary greens in the fairways and approaches. This practice of closing our regular greens is important.
1. We refrain from making damage at a time when the turf cannot recuperate.
2. We keep traffic off saturated soil profiles that are unstable, protecting the turf from foot printing and root shear.
The decision to close the greens is made entirely based upon environmental conditions. We monitor soil temperatures and the forecasts. Once the greens begin to freeze deep enough to prevent the entire profile from thawing out, we will move to temporaries.
As you can see the soil temps just below the frozen surface are above freezing. The forecast lows have increased, and it looks like we will keep the greens open for another weekend.
The cross country event is planned for the Friday after thanksgiving with the Saturday as a rain/snow/sleet/ day.
More panoramas to come!
Turf