Due to the wet weather this week, we were unable to get the rough mowed on our regular schedule. The rough will be long this weekend. If you keep the ball in the fairway, it should not be a problem. [.....]
April is Cloudy and Cold! Bentgrass Purples, Snow Falls, Sub 50 Degree Soils, and Tim talks Tall Fescue Green-up
Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -
Cold and Wet. A week ago, I praised the progress of spring. I was sure winter was completely behind us and, like many others, I was checking off the appearance of our earliest blooms in the landscape - Forsythia, check. Also, for the first time, all cool-season turfgrass had attained a nice uniform shade of green and a few trees had begun to leaf out. This week things changed. During the day we had to accept a dismal cold and wet weather pattern above our heads. At night hard frosts would return and [.....]
The rain didn't want to stop this week. We had 0.70" on Saturday morning, 0.80" on Monday morning, 0.68" on Tuesday morning, 0.26" this morning and almost 0.20" since we have been at work today. Thankfully it looks like the bulk of the rain will be missing us to the south. Our total for the week is still a little more than 2.5".
As I mentioned earlier, most of our time this week was spent on getting our bunkers in shape. This involved trimming and pulling weeds [.....]
This was the soil temperature reading on 12 green yesterday morning. Our weather station logged a low of 31.1 degrees last night which gave us a frost delay today and will bring the soil temperatures down a little more. This will not injure the turf, but it will make for a slow start to the year. Though the grass is green, at these temperatures, the grass is not growing. Last year during the middle of April our soil temperatures were between 60 and 65 degrees which is a [.....]
If all the world's golf course putting greens had the ability to express the magnitude of their tortured existence - in a manner that could be recorded by the print and broadcast media, there would surely be a new Guinness Book of World Records mark for "Volume of Complaints from a Single Source." I have chosen to speak for the greens.Wouldn't you scream to high heaven if thousands of rock-hard golf balls speed from the sky each week - tearing into your outer skin, crushing your tender circulatory system, traumatizing your nervous system and leaving unsightly depressions that require about five days to heal if repaired immediately, or two weeks if unattended to?Wouldn't you raise particular Cain if [.....]
April 15, 2011 Scouting Report
April is Nice! More Flowers, New Leaves, Average Soil Temperatures Hit 50+, Rhizoctonia Yellow Patch, and Tim's Colorific Kentucky Bluegrass
Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -
Flowers. This was a terrific week in your life, especially if you have horticulture in your blood. I grew up learning the art of growing plants from an Iowa farm girl. It turned out I knew a little Latin before I was told it wasn't a real 'living language'. Hah! This week turf greenup continued its good pace across the landscape. Golf courses in Chicago and Northern Illinois look terrific with few issues reported. Another nice warm week during April has meant good things for more [.....]
Much of this week was spent sodding or mulching flower beds and trees. Most of the sod was laid on the hill left of 3 green with the rest of it being used in various spots across the course. The hill at 3 will be roped off for a period of time. We ask that you do not play from the new sod. It will be marked as ground under repair until further notice.
Another drink station has been added near the driving range tee. [.....]
A change that began last fall is almost complete. There had been a growing concern about the area left of the green as it relates to playability and the rules of golf. The area has had several different projects done to it over the years but nothing since the project. The hill was left to grow as it wanted and had a combination of grass, shrubs, brush and a couple of trees. This left the golfers vulnerable to losing a ball from a shot that was not that [.....]
Last season you may have noticed a spot between the cart path and pond on 11 was beginning to show a sink hole. This spring we dug it up to find out exactly what the problem was. There is a pipe that moves the overflow for the pond to a concrete tank underneath the cart path. From there the water move out of the tank into another pipe that moves it to the pond on 17. After it was dug out, the underside of the metal pipe that [.....]
April 8, 2011 Scouting Report
We're Green: April Showers, Kentucky Bluegrass Awakes, Forsythia in Bloom, GDD Tracker Works, A New Website, and Tim's Arboriculture Dissertation
Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -
We're Green. I hate to say it but until this week's warm temperatures it didn't exactly feel or look like spring. For example, lawns and roadsides were still more shades of tan and brown than green. This week that all changed. It began with a dramatic warm-up last weekend and much of Illinois uniformily felt 80+ degree highs on April 3. In Chicago temperatures at sunrise began in the 40s and over a 12-hour period we had gained 30-35 degrees. It was surreal. Even little Sunshine [.....]
The red gravel to finish the new cart path extension next to 8 green was installed this week. There was significant cart traffic concentrated to this one area that resulted in poor conditions next to the green. This path should help the turf conditions in that area.
[.....]
We opened the greens a little over a week ago, since then Mother Nature has been stingy with her golf days. Today the soil temperature is hovering around 45 degrees, we are still waiting for things to really kick in and show signs of spring. Our plan was to let carts out over the weekend, .8 inches of rain threw a wrench in our plan but we are still hopeful that with a little cooperation (in the form of wind and sun) we will be able [.....]
Carts are not out yet so you may have walked past some work that has been done near 1 green. The city was inspecting the sewer lines a few weeks ago and found a collapsed pipe under the cart path. This area is where the city spent 2 days fixing the pipe under the cart path. [.....]