Ready To Get Into The Swing of Spring [VIDEO]

With Mother Nature stuck in a time warp, the opening day for golf at Greenwich's only municpal golf course was postponed until today—weather permitting.

Last Friday morning, the course operations manager Dave D'Andrea and his staff were ready to see the first duffers of the season hitting off the tees of the 160-acre course on King Street. Instead, drifts of snow dotted the tees, the bunkers and fairways. The greens were soggy. The only thing seen at the first tee was the wooden coyote decoy—one of several that are moved around the course to deter Canada geese from taking up residence.

"Mother Nature really didn't cooperate," D'Andrea said. "We're so far north and west. Our elevation is more than 300 feet, you may not have any snow downtown but we'll have snow here. We had 4 1/2 inches and the days don't reach 40 degrees."

He added, "This time last year it was in the 60s. ... There are many mornings that we have heavy frost in May."

So, D'Andrea and his crews had fingers crossed that today would be their opening day for the 2013 season. "We're hoping to pull the trigger Monday." And if not Monday, then it's a day-to-day waiting game with Mother Nature. "It is what it is," D'Andrea said.

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And what will the course's 3,600 members see this year when they traverse the Robert Trent Jones-designed course that will mark its 50th anniversary next year?

There are at least 50 to 60 fewer trees on the course, including two large weeping willows that stood sentry at the first tee—thanks to Hurricane Sandy. "Fifty, 60 massive trees came down on the property. We were closed for eight days. We had no power, no water, people couldn't get here. We were out of action and that translates into money," D'Andrea said.

During cleanup of the tree damage, crews from the town's tree department took the opportunity to trim back the tree canopy that challenged golfers on the 12th and 13th holes, D'Andrea said. "The trees were encroaching the golfers. They can't hit and they can't see." It was a situation that the US Golf Association had recommended be corrected, according to D'Andrea.

Crews are scheduled to build a new cart path between the 13th and 14th holes in April and some of the bunkers won't be as soggy as they used to be—new drainage systems have been installed.

Storm damage is what wreaks the most havoc, said D'Andrea who's been in charge of the golf course for nearly 13 years. The winds of Hurricane Sandy ripped apart the netting on the King Street side of the driving range. D'Andrea said new netting will be installed in April.

"When it's bad, it's bad. We got hit bad with Sandy, Irene, the March 2011 Nor'easter and the Halloween snowstorm," D'Andrea said. But they've bounced back each time with golfers ready to get back into the swing of the weather-dependent season.

D'Andrea said he expects more golfers will renew their memberships and start reserving tee times, once the weather warms up.

Golfers also will find golf pro Bob Felder at the pro shop as he has been for 24 years, and Maryann Calabro running the popular Fairways at The Griff restaurant, which is open to the public as well as golfers. The restaurant—with its expansive outdoor patio dining area—overlooks the first tee.