Naperville Country Club Green Department

Oct. 29, 2010 Scouting Report
Rain Came: Second Hard Frost, Heavy jacket weather, Rust research, Tim says Triclopyr, and Nick impresses us with QR

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -
Windchill. Well, it was going to happen sooner or later. This year it was Thursday, Oct. 28. On that day, yesterday, a substantial overcoat was required if outdoors. I was. Daytime highs only warmed into the 40s and how about those pesky winds. I used three coats - I believe in layers. The point is, our autumn temperatures just dropped to a more normal state. Until this week, we had avoided the usual cloudy, cold, and wet October (Ahh, the memories of 2009). This year, rainfall seemed to avoid the landscape all together and only leaves were dropping - we did enjoy mild temperatures without rain drops. Likity-split, necessary course projects were completed. For example, untold miles of necessary drainage tile now bejewels the subterrainean world of greens and fairways. Nematodes and the rest of the microbial rootzone world can now enjoy better health with turf the next time an overly wet summer season floods Chicago courses.

Back to my three jackets. The trifecta was on my upper torso as we began an investigation on rust - we'll see if something comes of it. Rust has continued to be in the news in part because dry conditions have meant turfgrass growth in lawns and golf roughs remains slow. Hence the potential for recovery remains low. Unirrigated, turf has remained dormant to semi-dormant in October until recently. I am back to collecting jackets in Chicago from here on out. Windchill.

Click here to view the complete Oct. 29, 2010 Scouting Report.

Enjoy your weekend of mild temperature and less wind...

Derek Settle, PhD
Director of Turfgrass Program
Chicago District Golf Association
11855 Archer Ave
Lemont, IL 60439

A few weeks ago we completed some drainage near the 8th tee (Drainage Installed at 8 Tee), and this week we completed the other part of that project. If you recalled, water from rain and irrigation would collect in these areas causing a wet spot just off of the cart path. The drains were installed to move the water away from the area.

Like the other drainage that was installed, this area was covered with rocks as well.

The course weathered the windy conditions over the past few days very well. This picture shows the biggest branch that fell this week.

This is the kind of mess that was left after the windy weather. It has been very time consuming to clean up, but we have almost made it through the course.

Despite the high winds today, we started a small project near 3 green. The growth of brush to the left of the green has become an issue regarding rulings and lost balls. The decision was made to begin to clear out the growth and possible plant new grass. The brush was cleared today. How to ultimately finish the area likely won't be decided upon until the spring. Here are some pictures of the before (first two pictures) and after the clearing.

Oct. 22, 2010 Scouting Report
Rain in the Forecast: October remains Dry as a Bone, My name is Derek, Bye bye Rust et al., Tim's says Toccoa tall fescue, and Nick talks Go Daddy?

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -
Weathermen. Ok, I have to admit it. I have a deep appreciation and admiration for weathermen. As I child in Kansas, my first weatherman was my Grandmother. I remember reading her handwritten letters-excellent penmanship. Her first paragraph always summed the Iowa weather with attention to rainfall. You see my Grandparents were farmers. Today I read similar prose, only the year is 2010 and not 1976. The mail isn't USPS it's email. The president's first name isn't Jimmy it's Barack. My name isn't Durkee it's Derek. It went: "All our models this morning have come around to a solution where one wave of showers and thunderstorms on a strong low level jet will hit tomorrow morning and through about 1 PM, then we stay cloudy with spits of rain the rest of the day. Of course, that's model output, not data, and this system is just moving slowly... So, I added thunderstorms to the forecast tomorrow, based on decent moisture, and a stronger than expected low level jet stream causing strong lift for the storms to develop in. The warm front wings through and we stay damp through the weekend. It no longer appears the cold front with this system will make it through, so Monday's temperatures..."G. Sebenste, N. IL.Univ.

Although last week I said we cannot complain too much. It turns out we are now complaining. Rain - the lack thereof. Growing plants (turf here) is trouble especially if Mother Nature is not at your side. For season 2011, I am already dreaming she will be - at our side. Like Grandmother.

Click here to view the complete Oct. 22, 2010 Scouting Report.

Have and wonderful and WET weekend.

Derek Settle, PhD
Director of Turfgrass Program
Chicago District Golf Association
11855 Archer Ave
Lemont, IL 60439
P 630.685.2307
F 630.257.2088
W cdga.org
E dsettle@cdga.org

I want to post a short update on the completed greens aeration and show what we are attempting to accomplish with this practice. The picture on the left shows the aeration holes in the soil profile. The cores we pulled removed the organic matter, the dark layer near the surface, and sand was used to fill those holes. As aeration is continually used, more of the organic matter will be removed which will allow for more rapid water infiltration and air exchange.

You can click on this picture for a larger closeup of the green profile. The greens are heeling well. It has just now been two weeks since we have aerated (these pictures we taken 10 days after aeration), and the greens have also been exposed to 5 frosts since it has been done. By postponing this practice until later in the season, slower recovery because of low temperatures can be an issue. The most recent USGA Green Section Record refers to an article discussing this topic: Understanding the Risks of Coring at Non-traditional Times. Despite the cooler temperatures, we believe the green are healing well.

This week began cutting down the Environmentally Sensitive Areas as part of their yearly maintenance. Earlier this year in the spring time we burned the dead material off, due to weather issues that prevented us from doing it last fall. This practice allows for the recycling of the organic matter that accumulates in these areas. Letting the stalks of the plants fall over, and not removing them, will shade the ground in the spring and prevent regeneration of the plants. Over time this would decrease the diversity and uniformity that has been established over the past few years.

The area near 11 tee and the area near the pond at 14 green have been completed. We will continue to work on these areas over the next week.

Oct. 15, 2010 Scouting Report
Bone Dry: October has record highs, Rust continues, Drought on our minds, Tim's new word is Pythium, and Nick says bit.ly.

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -

A dry Fall. Labor Day, and we felt the change immediately. Temperatures cooled and humidity dropped. For superintendents it was a welcome sign and rapid turf recovery ensued. During September the dry down was a welcome change from the periodic floods that had devastated some courses this summer. I remember it like yesterday: July 23rd our high temperature was 96 degrees (hottest day of the year recorded on Sunshine Course) and unknowingly, within 24 hours some Chicago suburb golf courses would see 6 to 8 inches of rainfall. The result: flooded golf course fairways could only cook and croak. Fast forward: it's mid-October. In Chicago (Sunshine Course) we have experienced rain on 3 days. In Lemont our paltry measured total doesn't go past the tip of my index finger (0.32 inch). In Southern Illinois at Hickory Ridge in Carbondale, Trey Anderson doesn't even need a gauge. I added it up today - zero, zippo, zilch.

Week-to-week communications with superintendents remain of a similar theme. "Rust continues to be our biggest "issue". Large areas of bluegrass are affected - in areas I have never seen it before. Not sure if the dry weather is making it worse or not. We could use some rain. Greens started growing again (with the absence of frosts). Leaves coming down pretty fast." Still, we cannot complain too much. We are concluding a season many felt would not end. The END.

Have a good weekend...and maybe, just maybe someone out there can think of an idea to bring us rain.

Click here to view the complete Oct. 15, 2010 Scouting Report

Derek Settle, PhD
Director of Turfgrass Program
Chicago District Golf Association
11855 Archer Ave
Lemont, IL 60439

Tee aeration has been started. A little more that half of the tees have been done through the day on Thursday. The work on the tees will continue on Friday in hopes to finish before the weekend.

Aeration of the greens and approaches was completed on Wednesday. Today we added another light layer of sand in an attempt to fill in a few more holes. We are in the process of verticutting the approaches now. Here are a few more pictures of the process.

Aeration of greens and approaches in underway for the week. The front nine was closed today while those greens and approaches were completed.

The cores were pulled and cleaned...

...then sand topdressing was applied. Not all of the holes have been completely filled. We will be revisiting the greens later this week with the balance of sand needed to fill the rest of the holes.

We were able to complete the approaches as well.

We hope to accomplish the same tomorrow while the back 9 is closed.

Oct. 8, 2010 Scouting Report
Oct. 8, 2010 Scouting Report - Wondrous Weather: First frost, Dry Fall, Few issues, Dollar spot, Rust, Tim's Putting green varieties, and Nick says SERP

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -
In a week we can see additional signs of a change at hand - Fall season. Besides the obvious change of deciduous tree leaf color (currently thornless honeylocusts are a nice clear yellow), our turf is also losing its green. The last time I wrote of colorful turf was Easter. A changing golf green caught my attention. Its surface contained an older creeping bentgrass variety, possibly 'Washington' c. 1930, which was glowing reddish-purple in patches following a frost. This week it all started again - first frosts. Green chlorophyll is becoming scarcer as leaf physiology now begins dormancy. I have another sign - communications. Superintendents continue a rush to finish projects. Today one wrote, "Frosty morning, low humidity, and dry conditions. Greens are fast (even without cutting). Project time - tree removal, drainage, and more drainage."

Another one was recapping the season to his green committee today using beautiful graphs (familiar to me). I realized two sentences out of 4 pages summed 2010 nicely. "We had more 90-degree days this year then the last two years combined. High disease pressure, shallow roots and daily mowing with play (wear) produced a very challenging, busy season." Fall is a time to reflect on a season to improve course conditions for 2011. Enjoy this project weather. Enjoy!

Click here to view the complete Oct. 8, 2010 Scouting Report.

Have a good weekend...especially if you are a runner (Chicago Marathon is Sunday).

Derek Settle, PhD
Director of Turfgrass Program
Chicago District Golf Association
11855 Archer Ave
Lemont, IL 60439
P 630.685.2307
F 630.257.2088
W cdga.org
E dsettle@cdga.org

October 8th USGA Green Section Record

On Friday we aerated the chipping green to check that our equipment settings were correct.

The box that is attached to the aerator pulls the plugs to the edge of the green. When the aerator is picked up to turn, the box picks up as well and drops the plugs in a pile for easy clean up.

After the green was aerated and the plugs were cleaned up, the topdresser applied a layer of sand that was bushed in to fill the holes. This will be the same method used for the greens on the course.

This week we worked at installing a drain near the back tee box on 8. For a while now you may have noticed that water stands in this area and a spot just off of the cart path stays wet. The problem at this spot arises from the way the cart path sits. This area is the low spot in the cart path coming from 7 tee and a short stretch the other direction along 8 tee. Water from the irrigation cycles would run down the cart path from both directions and collect in this area. Also, there is a gravel blanket under the asphalt that moves water to the low area also.

The way to fix it is to install a drain at the edge of the cart path to collect the water. A trench was dug to move the water to the catch basin to the left side of 7 green. We hope this drain will also remove some excess water that collects in the low area to the left of 7 green.

Rather that install a small drain at the edge, a large area was dug out to act as the drain.

The area was filled with drainage gravel and decorative stones were laid over the drain.

Yesterday and today brought the first frost delays of the year. Both were light frosts, but they did delay golf. Please refer to our blog post last year (Frost) for specifics on frost and its impact of turf and golf.

It looks like the evening temperatures will get warmer through the week, but it is that time of year for frosts to become the norm.

The putting green is still closed and recovering. Although the recovery is slow, it is recovering. We have sodded the largest spots that have been slow to recover. Seed had germinated in these areas but the cooler temperatures that we are having in the evenings now were going to make it very difficult for the seed to mature. We sodded these spots at the end of last week.

We stripped sod for the putting green from the chipping green, then purchased sod from a local sod farm to replace the stripped area on the chipping green. We did this so if the purchased sod has a different look, it would be on the west side of the chipping green, and not on the putting green.

The green will be closed the remainder of the season. This sodding should insure a quicker opening in the spring.

Oct. 1, 2010 Scouting Report
Oct. 1, 2010 Scouting Report - September Inspired: 2010 Review, Dry conditions, Rough rougher than usual, Rust peaks, Dollar spot peaks, Tim's Urediniospores, and Nick says Draw!

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -
I am constantly reminded of the dedication that ties us together in a business that relies entirely on the great outdoors. You see, during the "growing season" a day is never just eight hours long. In golf, we have good seasons and then those pesky not-so-good seasons (2010 here). After a difficult growing season we often reflect. As I do, my 2010 golf season was inspirational? The memories of carrying a heavy-laden backpack with textbooks during one's college education (well-used during a difficult year) - that inspires me. The internship that gave us a perspective we otherwise could not know - that inspires me. The continuing education necessary to stay up-to-date with newer products and scientific research (venues like an outdoor Turfgrass Field Day) - that inspires me. A man's ability to take Mother Nature as it comes and without question - that inspires me. The complexities of thinking, planning and implementing the integrated management of turf, trees, shrubs and native areas - that inspires me. The callused hands of experience that have made sacrifices - that inspires me. The Plantsman who unquestioningly provides accurate doses of water by hand (day or night) - that inspires me. As we look back on September we realize this was, without a doubt, the best month of the 2010 season. It not only allowed superintendents and staff to get things done efficiently, it allowed optimal growing conditions for turf recovery. After a long, hot July-August period, September, 2010 inspired me.

Click here to view the complete Oct. 1, 2010 Scouting Report.

October 1st USGA Green Section Record

COURSE CONDITIONS

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