Winter teed off on Gannon

LYNN – Jack Imperial has walked Gannon Municipal Golf Course?s fairways and greens since 1943, and he counts himself among a legion of golfers frustrated by the heavy, cold, white blanket still covering the course.?I hate it,” he said. “All of us golfers are just waiting to get out.”Stephen Murphy, Gannon?s maintenance and greens keeping contractor, pegged April 7 as the first day for golf at Gannon. But Imperial, who fell in love with Gannon after working as a 12-year-old caddie on the course, shook his head at that start date.?Not a chance,” he said.Balls started flying off Gannon tees last year on March 28, and Murphy said April is the latest starting date at the course he can recall.Longtime golfer Michael Marks said he has never seen so much snow on the course.?I?m on the course every morning and, I can tell you, the place is covered with snow,” he said.Winter?s lock on Gannon did not keep golf pro Dave Sibley from unloading boxes of equipment in the clubhouse pro shop on Monday. Sibley is “very optimistic” about seeing an early to mid-April starting date for play at Gannon.?Everyone would have loved to be open on St. Patrick?s Day, but we are ramping up. The hibernation is over,” he said.As soon as the snow melts, Murphy – aided by assistants and an army of temporary employees – will assess winter damage to Gannon and get busy whipping the course into playable shape.One year into a five-year contract with the city, Murphy takes comfort in knowing the ice layer that covered the course last year and damaged grass is not present this year. Slow-melting snow will spare him course flooding and ponding but it will also delay the first day of golf.He said ice damage in 2014 meant the course was not fully restored to optimal play until June.Even as he contemplates getting Gannon ready for golf, Murphy is looking to Gannon?s larger maintenance needs. A master plan outlining the course?s long term needs identifies shade tree planting and cart path improvements as initial needs, Murphy said.Longer-term goals include upgrading a course irrigation system installed in 1963. The project won?t be cheap and contract terms agreed upon by Murphy and the city call for taxpayers to foot the bill for big-ticket maintenance work at Gannon.?I will be interested to see if the city will throw some money at it,” Murphy said.