We have been accomplishing much of the preparations needed to get the course in playing condition. The greens will be open for play on Thursday this week. We mowed the greens today and will cut the cups on the greens first thing tomorrow. There is still lots to do, but some things are beginning to take shape.
The first time cleaning the bunkers is always a time consuming. The process involves raking the grass face, then picking up all debris from the face of the bunker and [.....]
Each winter we spend time evaluating the prior year so that we can better prepare ourselves for the challenges that lie ahead. By all accounts the summer of 2010 was a difficult year. Courses throughout Chicago and across the eastern United States lost turf as the deadly combination of high heat and excessive rain caused cool season turf to collapse. To understand the origin of the problem you actually have to go back to the winter of 2009-2010. The summer of 2010 was preceded by the 5th longest [.....]
I had a great visit to Farmlinks last week along with 20 others from the Chicagoland area. Farmlinks is a fantastic piece of property with fantastic hospitality. I was able to squeeze in some golf and clay pigeons amongst the education. After we arrived, we listened to a presentation on slow release fertilizer types and their applications.
We spent Thursday morning touring the golf course with Director of Agronomy and Research, Mark Langner.
This tour usually includes a look at the maintenance facility and the equipment. [.....]
March 25, 2011 Scouting Report
Backwards temperature-wise: All Is Swell, Few Issues, Waiting for Poa Seedheads, Forsythia Flowers in Central IL, and Tim says http://gddtracker.net
Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -
Desi says it's Spring. In the landscape turf is about the first to respond with green. Next up, we look for the color yellow. Daffodils along with forsethyia lead the way, not to mention dandelions. Soon thereafter it's off to the races. Star magnolia is one of my favorite early blooming woody ornamental favorites (Mangnolia stellata for [.....]
A few weeks ago Tim was invited to a meeting at Farmlinks with other attendees from the Chicagoland area. Tim had a scheduling conflict and deferred the invitation to me. Farmlinks is located in Sylacauga, AL and has an 18-hole golf course that is used as a research facility for a wide range of products used for golf course management. The course is also a highly rated public golf course.
Here is what the Farmlinks website has to say:
Blending three days of rest and [.....]
Tim contributed an article to the monthly publication of the Midwest Association of Golf Course Superintendents. This article appeared in the February issue and has been roundly praised by all who have read it.
Click here to download a .pdf of the February Issue. [.....]
I have been in the process of creating a new blog format. This new format will have all of the same information that we have had in the past, but will better accommodate our increasing use of social media and videos. The blog may be down for a period of time this weekend in hopes for the new blog to be available on Monday. [.....]
The Turf Scouting Report from Dr. Settle at the CDGA is out. This is the first volume of what is a weekly update of the turf conditions in the Chicagoland area. This issue includes an overview of the winter weather, some minor snow mold reports, and spring education seminars.
Click here for the Scouting Report [.....]
In this issue: The USGA Education Conference, Maintenance Standards and Winter Kill.
Click Here for the full issue.
[.....]
The time has come to begin preparing the course for opening. The course came through the winter in good shape and is beginning to green up. The first step to begin getting the course ready will be a thorough cleaning of all the debris that has fallen. There are a few small limbs down, along with lots of trigs and branches. Getting all the twigs of the ground will make way for the rollers and mowers to go to work.
There are a few bunkers that still [.....]
The March 4th USGA Green Section Record is out. This issue has a great article on greens aeration. The article talks specifically about greens aeration but the information is no different for aerating all areas of the golf course.
Putting Green Aeration
Click here for the entire March 4th, Green Section Record [.....]
Here are a few pictures from a walk around the course on Tuesday. The course is in good shape, and appears to have come through winter with little damage. The top few inches of soil has thawed, but is still frozen underneath. Our crew members that remain through the winter were able to get out of the maintenance building today to clean up a few limbs.
There are a few areas through the course where snow is still sitting around drains. We expect [.....]