Naperville Country Club Green Department

The summer flowers have arrived and most of them have found a place in the beds around the clubhouse and entrance. This is usually a process that takes a few days to finish. The flowers that were in place this spring are available for you to take if you choose. They are underneath the pine trees near the parking lot.

The crew hard at work planting flowers.

Disease symptoms resulting from fungicide pathogens were noticed on Sunday, and so, we have applied our first fungicide application on the course. The picture on the left is the disease dollar spot and was taken on Sunday in a patch of bentgrass in the rough. We monitor the course for disease symptoms when weather conditions favor disease, but we also will be on a regular fungicide program through the summer. We make these applications on the club's closed day, usually Monday. (Tuesday this week because of the holiday) If you have any questions about what we apply to the course, please contact us.

Here is a picture I capture on Memorial Day morning. I thought it was appropriate.

Sunday weather brought the course another 0.87 inches of rain. That brought the total for the weekend to 1.17 inches. The rain during the week had the course's soil saturated before the weekend. As a result, this weekend's rain has nowhere to go, so it is sitting on top of the soil. Carts will not be available for Monday morning, but we will evaluate as the day goes by. The practice tee will be open.

Our crew is working on getting the bunkers back in shape this morning. A few of them are wash out like the one in the picture. Bunker, mulch from flower beds, and gravel paths all have areas that have been washed out.

Monday is starting out looking like a nice day.

Memorial Day Weekend! Rough Takes Off, Words of Wisdom, Microdochium Patch?, More Waitea Reported, and Tim says Early Dollar Spot

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle - DSettle@cdga.org

Spring? In 2011 it never seems to be one season for long. Spring (if you want to call it that) took a step backwards this week when our medium jackets were back on, it felt cold. It all began Sunday, May 22, when a cold front broke the truce. A cloudy sky grew overhead and dropped significant rainfall, 2 inches, for some (north suburbs) and trace amounts for others (south suburbs). Those remaining dry would get a second chance later in the week. By Wednesday the dry cracking soils of Sunshine Course in Lemont were gone (until now 1 inch of precipitation had occurred all of May). In less than two days our rain gauge filled to nearly 3 inches. Farther north, the second deluge meant golf course superintendents were really complaining.

Immediately they could tell a water-filled cup meant poorly draining greens. From my perspective, incoming reports detailed a return of cool weather. In a week, I would continue to evaluate golf greens and experience Christmas (reddish bentgrass as opposed to nearby green Poa), see Microdochium patch (a.k.a. pink snow mold), and slowly tally more dollar spot reports. Cool and overly wet conditions were once again the norm but signs of spring were on the horizon. I saw more golf play and two striking blooms: black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) and white fringe tree (Chioanthus virginicus). Wait, it's not just spring, it's Memorial Day weekend!

Click here to view the May 27, 2011 Scouting Report.

Enjoy your holiday weekend as we transition towards warmer weather AND Summer.

Derek Settle, PhD
Director of Turfgrass Program
630-685-2307
dsettle@cdga.org
NEW: Weather Blog

Timothy A. Sibicky, MS
Manager of Turfgrass Research
630-685-2310
tsibicky@cdga.org
NEW: Research Blog

Don't let the rain stop you from coming out and enjoying an early start to the holiday weekend. The course will be soft and casual water should be at a minimum for tomorrow. The rain total for the past two days came to a little more that 2.3 inches. The course has handled the rain well, and by this afternoon we were more positive about the conditions than we thought we would be. There are a handful of areas like the one pictured on the left. Water in these areas was pushed off this afternoon and will be rechecked in the morning. At the end of the day today, water was still over-flowing from the pond on 17 into 16 fairway, and water was still flowing behind 14 green out of the pond on 14. We expect these areas to stop over-flowing during the night, but will be roped off for Friday.

More arborvitae's arrived today to continue the plantings along the fence near 1 green.

We were not able to get any equipment on the course today. The crew was able to make it through all the bunkers and check for weeds, clean the edges and rake the sand after it had been packed down by the rain.

The benefits of the drain on 15 were very evident today. After over 2 inches of rain, there was no standing water. Before the drain, this area would have been unplayable for several days after a rain event similar to what we just received.

This is the amount of water that was still flowing out of 17 pond and into 16 fairway. This area will still be wet into the weekend and will be roped off.

This will be the first of a series of posts through the summer that will highlight the tools we use to monitor course conditions on a daily basis. The first tool we will highlight is a Soil Profile Sampler. We use this on a daily basis to see what is happening to the part of the turfgrass system that we cannot see from above ground.

Just like a hollow tine will pull a core when aerating, this tool pulls a profile of the soil that is about 4"x10".

From this profile we can monitor soil properties, rooting depth, moisture and organic matter accumulation.

This profile is from the fairway. You can easily see the progress of our fairway topdressing program in this profile.

The profile fits easily back into the soil to prevent any lasting disruption to the surface.

From GCI Magazine

Tim answered a few questions for an article titled "You've Got The Look" in the May issue of Golf Course Industry Magazine. The article discusses how Superintendents manage the look and playing conditions of the course. Another Chicagoland Superintendent from another NCC (Tommy Witt, Northmoor Country Club) is featured in the article as well.

Clear Skies and Sun! Bentgrass is Green, Bentgrass Seed Germinates, More First Dollar Spot, Waitea Progresses, and Tim's Research Work for 2011

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle - DSettle@cdga.org
Wed 50 low /60 high and Thu 46 low /73 high. A pair of nice days and Friday is just as nice - warmer nights and how about full sun? It means this season has just turned the corner and is in a direction that creeping bentgrass likes (i.e., bentgrass needs average soil temperatures at 2 inches to stabilize at about 55 degrees or higher for good growth). Also, good germination of seed has begun and continued to accelerate into this week. Areas injured by season 2010 that were without complete recovery are now looking better - Chicago's inner roughs especially hard hit.

It turns out low-mow Kentucky bluegrass was also slow out of the blocks in 2011. The negative impact of repeat frost events in May did not help. Next up, we will try and experience good weather for June? June is arguably our most important month of root/shoot growth given what July can bring cool-season turf in Chicago. Such as, repeat daytime highs of 90+ degrees and, during a hot and humid summer, midsummer physiological decline that begins as July transitions to August. But wait, it's still May and this week felt like heaven on earth = clear skies and sun!

Click here to view the May 20, 2011 Scouting Report.

Have a great weekend, and exactly where's the sun?

Derek Settle, PhD
Director of Turfgrass Program
630-685-2307
dsettle@cdga.org
NEW: Weather Blog

Timothy A. Sibicky, MS
Manager of Turfgrass Research
630-685-2310
tsibicky@cdga.org
NEW: Research Blog

Each year, right on cue, we field questions about thick and difficult rough conditions. In a 2010 article titled “Spring Rough Is Rough”, Senior USGA agronomist Darin Bevard noted that difficulty of the rough was a topic of discussion at nearly all of his Turf Advisory Service visits.

Fundementals of Turfgrass Management, Nick Christians

Aggressive spring growth of cool season turf is normal. As depicted in the graphic below, cool season grasses experience a primary surge of growth in the spring followed by a smaller (recovery) growth spurt in the fall. Most superintendents maintain a rough mowing height of 2-3 inches, with the most common height being 2.5 inches. As suggested by most golfers, the solution for challenging rough conditions is to lower the height of cut or and /or mow more frequently, sometimes this is easier said than done. The frequency of rough mowing is usually dictated by available manpower and equipment. Throughout the spring growth period we mow the rough Monday – Saturday. Even with this effort it might not be enough to keep up with the growth rate of the grass. If the rough is mowed at 2.5 inches on Monday it may be 3.5 -4 inches by Wednesday. Height of cut is not the issue, frequency is the issue. So why not just mow more often?

Spring is a very busy time for the maintenance crew. As we prepare the course for the upcoming season we work our way through a long check list of items. The list has over 60 items on it and represents thousands of man hours above and beyond normal course maintenance. It takes the crew about a month to complete all the items on the spring job list. Use of labor on items such as cleaning and edging bunkers, charging the irrigation system, building cart paths, spraying broadleaf weeds… tasks our ability to keep up with mowing the rough. Mowing the rough one time (inclusive of green and tee banks) requires approximately 66 man hours and 11 different pieces of equipment. While we are equipped and staffed well enough to mow the entire course in a single day, when we do so it requires the majority of our crew leaving no time for jobs on the spring checklist. Throw in a couple of rain days and the issue of timing becomes even more complicated. Since the rough mowing equipment represents some of our larger mowing units, wet course conditions can throw a wrench in our schedule for days. Once work on the checklist is complete, then it becomes much easier to allocate resource to the rough. Keep in mind that the rough is not considered to be one of the primary playing surfaces. The concept of sustainable golf, as advocated by the USGA, focuses on “down the middle”, with primary consideration given to playing conditions of greens, tees and fairways.

This year we will be taking a different approach to rough mowing. We will continue to mow a walkway (or dew path) extending from the tee box to the fairway. This will be mowed 2-3 times a week at a height of 1 inch, but we will not mow the traditional 1 pass intermediate cut around the fairways. Instead, we will mow a primary rough which will consist of 4 passes on each side of the fairway. The primary rough will also include the descent (the area extending from the tee box up to the fairway). The primary rough will be mowed 2-3 times a week at a height of 1.25 inches. The remainder of the rough (the secondary rough) will be mowed once a week at our current mowing height of 2.25 inches. The frequency of cut on the secondary rough will be increased during the spring time to keep up with growth, when growth slows then we will scale back to our once a week schedule. We are also going to change the timing on a couple of our fertilizer applications to better manage spring growth.

The course is ever changing. In the spring the rough makes the course challenging, following a rain event you might not get 30 yards of roll in the fairways thereby changing your approach shot into a green, on a windy day your drive could be blown off course, in the fall the leaves make the course challenging… The influences that nature has on the course is integral to the game, it creates interest. It is up to the player to adapt their game so as to overcome seasonal influences.

We count a 90° day: Soils reach 65° at 2 inches, First Dollar Spot, First Waitea, Crabgrass Germination Begins and Tim's Data on Poa annua Control

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle - DSettle@cdga.org

I'm awake! In a week our temperatures went through the ceiling. What happened was unusual and our environmental conditions quickly shifted from a cool month of sluggish greenup to midsummer. Three days at or near 90° began onTuesday, May 10 when Chicago set new record highs with Midway's mercury reading 91°. Little Sunshine Course matched that and then went on to log two more 90° days. It meant midday wilt stress of sand-based golf greens began. Hand-watering of those purpling patches also began. Just a week prior those same greens were a purplish-red color after enduring one last series of frost. Next up, familiar faces appeared. First, a terrific image via text mail was undeniable - bright yellow rings of Waitea affecting Poa annua on a practice green. I visited to confirm. Then our nemesis, dollar spot disease, said hello.

Our first dollar spot report was via phone on a bentgrass fairway in central Illinois by Bill Sharp, University of Illinois. That tip led Tim Sibicky to scout and find infection centers on Sunshine Course's practice putting green. A susceptible creeping bentgrass 'Century' was hit with the reddish spots typical of initial dollar spot outbreaks in May. That's heavy stuff for a season that, up until now, had been (big yawn) progressing slowly for an entire month. Not yawning.

Click here to view the May 13, 2011 Scouting Report.

Have a good weekend, enjoy a return to cool and maybe check out www.cdgaturf.org.

Derek Settle, PhD
Director of Turfgrass Program
630-685-2307
dsettle@cdga.org
NEW: Weather Blog

Timothy A. Sibicky, MS
Manager of Turfgrass Research
630-685-2310
tsibicky@cdga.org
NEW: Research Blog

17 pond has been the home of many different species of wildlife. During the construction project the pond was constructed to strict specifications to provide different habits for wildlife. As I drive by several times a day, it is obvious that we have succeeded with our original intensions. Here is a post from last year that talks about the wildlife last year: 17 Pond Is Getting Crowded. Here is a picture I was fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time to get:

A video of the muskrat is on the YouTube account as well, HERE. We do have another bird that we have been watching this week, and are excited to see it on the property. I am not an Ornithologist, but from the limited research I have done, it is not common to see it around here. We do have some video of it, but are trying to get more. When we have one put together we will post it here.

The greens have been very slow this week. We are working to fix this as soon as we can, but it will likely take a few days to fix this issue. Our mechanic, Greg, has been away from the course on an unexpected temporary medical leave since Friday, May 6th. Thankfully, Greg has been able to return home, and is expected to be back to work next week. As you have noticed this week, Greg is extremely important to our quality of cut and it's impact on green speed and smoothness. We have done our best to continuously adjust the mowers, but we are off our sharpening schedule.

The warm weather this week has been excellent for golf, but is also working against us in this area. The warm nights allows the grass to grow more through the night which results in more leaf tissue on the surface. When the mowers are not as sharp as they should be, that means more leaves are being left behind resulting in slower greens.

We have completed the drain in 15 approach. We had a large group of guys that worked very hard to get this completed in 2 days. They did a fantastic job and the final product looks great. A montage of photos of the drainage project can be found at our YouTube account HERE.

This was another area that was notorious for remaining wet for several days after a rain event. This would force us to skip mowings in this area and leave it roped of to cart traffic for several days. This should remedy those issues.

There was an existing drain line that drained the front half of the green and the bunker on the right side of the approach that ran across the approach to a drainage basin left of the green. We traced that drain line and were able to connect to it just left of the approach rather that trenching the entire distance through the rough to the drainage basin.

The sod was stripped where the lines were trenched. Plywood is used to prevent the tires of the trencher from damaging the turf.

This picture illustrates why this area was slow to drain. the top 5 inches is good top soil that likely drains well. The soil under those top 5 inches is very heavy, sticky clay that does not drain. As the water moves through the soil, it hits this layer of clay which acts as a bathtub in this low area and hold water. The gravel filled drainage lines will provide channels for the water to drain through.

Here is a picture of the trench that shows the gravel over the drain tile and the sand used to fill the trench to the existing grade.

Here is a picture of the final product. This area will remain roped of until the sod that was cut begins to root back into the ground. This will allow it to withstand cart traffic.

I mentioned in yesterday's post that we had another drainage project lined up. We thought it was best to do it this spring for the best playing conditions throughout the year. This is a bigger project than the drain in 1 fairway, but we hope to be done by the weekend.

The course has finally turned the corner for the year. The weather slowed its progress for several weeks, but today the warm weather was very noticeable by the blooms on the redbuds, crabapples and hawthorns. The soil temperatures are up making the grass is green and now beginning to grow like we expect it to this time of year. We are beginning to find ourselves starting our regular summer mowing schedules, which is probably the result of regular play on the course. We may attempt to complete another drainage project this spring if we find the opportunity, otherwise we will be working on settling it to our maintenance mode through the golfing season. Here are some pictures of the course over the past week.

May 6, 2011 Scouting Report
Let there be sun! It's May, Illinois dries, Missouri reports dollar spot, and Tim's Shoreacre bentgrass trial versusPoa annua

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle - DSettle@cdga.org
We turned a page. On the calendar it's May. In the sky we see sunlight. On the gound, the sound (equipment mowing) means turf has quickly regained both growth and color (not purple). Even Poa annua responded and produced seedheads on greens this week. Soggy, cold conditions are generally not good for plant growth and definitely slowed this spring and interfered with golf. Still, let's keep perspective. This is not spring 2010 when some of the most extensive winter injury existed on golf surfaces in recent memory (decades said some). It's spring 2011! If you listen (eyes required), landscape plants are telling us life is good. Hard to believe, since summer 2010 felt like Hades and, as you recall, we paid for it (lots of turf loss). But August ended and a dry fall with cooler temperatures helped right the wrong (summer 2010). It gave us back control (water) we hadn't seen all season. Fairways and greens healed nicely by early October. But the turf stepchild (rough) didn't look so good - recovering from a rootless summer and then a disease called rust, Puccinia spp., finished the thinning. This spring be kind and understand roughs might be 'rough'. It pains me to say, but weeds will likely be our biggest trouble of early summer (things like clover, crabgrass, knotweed, and Poa annua). Be kind.

Click here to view the May 6, 2011 Scouting Report.

Have a great weekend and maybe think of some flowers for Mother?

Derek Settle, PhD
Director of Turfgrass Program
630-685-2307
dsettle@cdga.org

Timothy A. Sibicky, MS
Manager of Turfgrass Research
630-685-2310
tsibicky@cdga.org

We have been talking about how the weather has created a slow start for us this year, and how this cold weather has caused the plants to be farther behind. Here is a picture that was taken last year to illustrate this. The picture to the left was taken on May 5, 2010. The amount of leaves on the trees is obvious.

This picture was taken on Tuesday, May 3, 2011. The cloud cover and cold temperatures are to blame for the dramatic differences. Yesterday we collected soil temperature measurements on the greens that were under 44 degrees. It will only take a couple warm and sunny days to get the soil temperatures up to desirable levels. Though the grass has greened very well, we are not experiencing much growth yet.

I did not think I was going to be posting this until tomorrow, but the crew was able to finish the drain on 1 fairway today. This should cure the chronic wet area, and keep ropes off the fairway after rains. It will take a few weeks for the sod to grow back together, maybe longer if this weather does not warm up soon.

Part of the crew is laying the tile in the trench, while the other part is following with gravel.

The finished product.

The continuous rains through April convinced us to start a drainage project today in 1 fairway. We planned to install a drain in this area this coming fall as a continuation of the drainage projects that were completed this past fall. This area gathers a large amount of water off the approach and the fairway. The area with the new drain at the bottom of 2 fairway has shown a noticeable difference from last year, and we expect this area to have the same result. We hope to have the majority of it done by Friday.

The drain stretches almost the entire width of the fairway and will run into the creek. Today we completed the trenching work. Next up we will begin hauling gravel and laying the 4" drain tile. We do apologize for the inconvenience, but expect the 2 days of disruption will be worth it in the end.

We are also working on another small area to the right of 10 tee. This area is out of play but is always a problem after rains. Because this area is smaller we are using our smaller trencher and 2" drain tile. These drain lines will be filled with gravel to the surface and left for the grass to eventually fill in.

April 29, 2011 Scouting Report
April's Record Cloudcover: Floods then Tornados, Yellow Patch, Microdochium Patch, and Tim sees overwintering Thryidopteryx ephemeraeformis

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle - DSettle@cdga.org
After 118 years Chicago finally did it and set a new April record - most days with cloudcover. Most folks, including golfers, were increasingly cranky as we counted each and every cloudy day. The effects on turf health were obvious; creeping bentgrass remained strangely purple-bronze and roughs remained thin, without recovery. I even noticed my skin had become increasingly pale. However, more serious weather to the south was in the news and an inconvenient soggy month in Chicago quickly became less serious though it had interfered with course maintenance, plant health, and golf play. In far southern Illinois, Easter weekend generated a rainfall total of 5-6 inches in 3 days and contributed to flooding that began Tuesday, April 26. With a superintendent, I recorded the ordeal of a Carbondale golf course this week. By week's end, weather developments would stretch my perspective further: from floods in the Midwest to lethal tornados in the Southeast.

In the end, we knew the sun would come out sooner or later and on Friday it did. An area golf course superintendent left an early morning voicemail. "The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and my dog has chased several deer. Presently, he is looking for a goose." It made me smile and I enjoyed a sunny day after a difficult week that had given us all greater perspective. May is next.

Click here to view the April 29, 2011 Scouting Report.

Have a good weekend and enjoy some sun!

Derek Settle, PhD
Director of Turfgrass Program
630-685-2307
dsettle@cdga.org

Timothy A. Sibicky, MS
Manager of Turfgrass Research
630-685-2310
tsibicky@cdga.org

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