Beacon Hall Golf Club – Aurora, Ontario

At Beacon Hall Golf Club in Aurora, Ontario, the greens vanish under snow for months — and as Director of Golf Course Operations Colin Young will tell you, the real danger isn’t the cold. It’s what moves underneath it: ice sealing the canopy, thaws that refreeze, air that stops moving. Turf that’s perfectly healthy in November can be lost by April.

So how do you make the green that goes down in the fall the same one that wakes up in the spring — not once, but five winters running?

In Field Report No. 04, Colin walks through Beacon Hall’s system: impermeable covers over the AFS Air Flow System, with vent tubing keeping the canopy breathing all winter long. He shares what surprised him most after five seasons, the one thing he values above everything else through a long Ontario winter, and why the club is already planning to expand for next year. For any superintendent who’s ever rolled back a cover and held their breath, his record is worth the read.

The full Visual Field Report is available below.
Read the Full Field Report