Martindale Country Club Greens

Today I participated in a school field trip event on behalf of the GCSAA First Green program. I have been on the Board of Directors of the Maine Chapter of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America for many years and was honored to be asked to address the students.

GCSAA’s First Green program is a science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) environmental outreach program that uses the golf course as a living laboratory. K-12 students participate in hands-on, outdoor learning stations that include lessons on wildlife habitat, soil science, environmental sustainability, mathematics, water conservation, water quality, career exploration and much more.

The event was hosted by Cape Neddick Superintendent Todd Nichols. The students, who attended York HS, were all from an eleventh grade biology class.

There were stations that groups of students visited to learn about turf technology, the game of golf, water use and protection soils, and turf equipment.

My good friend Greg Holder (super at Webhanett CC in Kennebunk and current Maine GCSA president) and I hosted the soil and aeration education station. Superintendents in general are always happy to talk about turf and share information and the First Green is a great plug and play format for students to see and experience how a golf course is managed.

Scott Cybulski CGCS

https://www.facebook.com/share/1N9bSpdTcP/?mibextid=wwXIfr

https://www.thefirstgreen.org/

We made a timely investment in the greens this morning. Trying to take advantage of the rain with a vertical mow and sand top dressing process.

We are very pleased with the results. The vigorous spring growth will quickly increase density and allow the turf to be mowed lower later in the month. We will continue to add sand and aggressively mow in the next few weeks with our eyes on summer speed.

On behalf of the Greens Department and the entire club, it is our team’s pleasure to open Martindale Country Club for our One Hundred and Fifth golf season.

We are truly proud to present the course in the best spring condition of recent memory.

Just a few notes worth mentioning.

We were gifted weather fair enough to squeeze in our spring greens aerification. This means that greens will not be closed or subject to heavy cultural practices until the fall. Focus on greens performance has begun.

Our golf course is still in a drought! Recent rains have revived a lot of turf but real growth and recovery has not yet begun. Cart ropes, directional signs and restrictions are still in place.

It’s still freezing cold!
There have been frosts delaying course operations daily since last week and that does not appear to change through the weekend. Expect frost delays.

The early window of fair weather this month allowed us to repair a couple of sunken drain sections on greens #7 and #11. Relief is given from these spots where you see sod seams.

Bunkers will need to be played as rake and place through the weekend due to the weather.

Many thanks and we look forward to seeing you all out there.

Yesterday was perfect weather to remove our cover from #1 green left.

The winter of 25/26 was not easy. Seeing this green in great condition early in 2026 is inspiring.

We are excited to start 2026 with a greens management plan based on performance and not winter damage recovery.

I am grateful to Jeff Morrison from https://www.facebook.com/share/1Qs1SnTpHF/?mibextid=wwXIfr

for sharing this photo of “just a small arc” of the panoramic view from #2 fairway at Martindale CC in July of 1928.

The old newspaper photo is rough but the absence of trees on the hill is incredibly noticeable. Jeff tells me that original microfiche photos are on file at Bates college. If any followers have access or ability to improve this photo I would be extremely interested.

Many thanks to our neighbor Jeff and the Havey tourmaline mine.

After a couple of warm days and nights with above freezing temperatures, our turf grass is becoming exposed from under the snow cover. Slowly and steadily is an ideal way for turf to break dormancy.

When turf grasses break winter dormancy, the remaining carbohydrate reserves in the plant are quickly metabolized. Ideally this process occurs close to the start of the growing season. If turf breaks dormancy quickly and its reserves are depleted, there is a possibility of an extended weakened state of no growth or recovery. That scenario is not ideal for turf expected to perform at a high level for the maximum amount of time during the actual growing season.

At the moment we are pleased with the easing winter conditions and the slow and steady onset of spring.

The ground is extremely soft as snow and frost retreat. Our tree removal contractor has missed our window of opportunity over the winter and we are forced to postpone the operations until next winter to avoid damaging the property.

Happy New Year 2026! Here is a fresh update from the golf course.

We are pleased to let you know that all the essential golf course tasks (fertilizer application, plant protectants, covers) were completed before the snow set in at the end of season in 2025.

The greens department is starting 2026 with" points on the board" in terms of our machine winter maintenance. Multiple machines have been completed in preparation for the spring season. Credit to Tony Kelly for kicking our wrench and grinder operation into high gear last month. This winter is not giving us any breaks in terms of cold and snowy weather and it's good to be on schedule with this massive and arduous mountain of mechanical tasks.

Our daily operations include record keeping of snow and ice accumulation on the greens. Fortunately this winter we are so far enjoying a best case situation. Christmas week brought us a gift of deep snow which has been able to absorb the rain that came in after the first of the year without significant ice accumulation on greens. Subsequent snow storms have added winter protection.

Course improvement kicks off early in 2026 with a larger tree removal project planned to start by the end of this month. We will be removing trees on both #1 holes and hole #8 left. The ultimate goal of this project is to specifically allow winter sun on #1 green left. Trees will be removed behind the green to achieve this goal. To favor turf health on fairways and surrounds, trees will be thinned along the golfer's left of hole #1 and golfer's right on hole #8. The resulting look will be "formal parkland", with remaining individual hardwood trees distanced to a tree's length at a depth of 50 yards into the existing woods. The finished product at the edge of the golf course will resemble the well spaced trees in areas between holes 14 and 15 or 10 and 18. The stumps and tree debris are budgeted to be mulched and chipped by our same contractor that did the work along other course edges in the summer of 2025. The resulting ground cover will be slow growing turf and woodchips. We are excited to expose our classic New England stone wall on the right side of #8. There the tree removal will reveal Martindale's high hill vista of the regional landscape along the east side of the property. We will once again share the view of the golfers that played Martindale years ago, looking down on the Basilica of St Peter and Paul as well as Lewiston, New Auburn and the surrounding hills. The value of this vista was highlighted by both of the golf course architects that reviewed our layout at Martindale in recent years.

As the project commences, we will be communicating progress and photos. Thanks for your interest and we look forward to producing updates in the near future.

Cheers to great and enhanced course conditions for the golf season in 2026!

Scott Cybulski CGCS

Cold overnights for the last few days. Late morning into afternoon has been a productive time slot for us. Long grass areas on 9 have been trimmed and removed. We’ve also done many a mile of compaction reduction on golf cart traffic areas in the roughs. We stapled the cover on 1 green when the wind slowed down. Our devoted divot crew is currently doing their final work. The course looks healthy heading into winter.