We received another small batch of snow this morning. All has melted from the hard surfaces and only the closely mowed bentgrass is covered on the course. Very little snow so far this year. When(if) we do get snow, the course will be available for snowshoeing, cross country skiing, and sledding. We only ask you avoid traffic on the greens. The ice rink has a layer of ice but is not ready yet. We make lots of progress on building ice when the temperatures are in the teens.
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Even with the greens closed for the winter season, this topic is relevant year-round. I think this will become a monthly post on the blog through the season. Ball mark repair is a regular topic during Green Committee discussions, not just here at Naperville, but all clubs. It only takes a few seconds to repair your ball mark on a green, and that few seconds will leave a better playing surface as well as a better looking surface. The topic of discussion for us most often revolves around how the surface looks. Repairing a ball mark is not just about creating a level surface, but also covering the mark. This video from The Golf Channel videos "The Golf [.....]
When I brought up the blog this morning to make an update, I noticed the blog had turned over 100,000 page views. It seems like only a few weeks ago I was tweeting about 80,000 page views, but it was a few months ago now. It is nice to see that people are finding information on the blog and hopefully it is useful. I periodically like to check out what people are looking at on the blog and how they find it. Here is a run-down of the [.....]
Another piece of the winterizing puzzle was put in place yesterday with the completion of the irrigation system. We finished in the moon light, which isn't saying much, it is out at 5pm now. Winterizing the irrigation system is not difficult, but it is important to do a thorough job. When water freezes, it expands; and the plastic components of the irrigation system were not designed to expand. Ensuring that all the water is out of the pipes, heads and valves makes for an easier start to [.....]
We made lots of progress today towards finishing our on-course preparations for winter. The greens are closed for the season and the temporary targets are in place in the approach. Please do not walk on the greens until next season. Tee markers, benches, ball washers, trash cans, signs and ropes are all off of the course also. The Halfway House is closed for the season and cart use is finished for the season. It has been a long year and the course is looking forward to some rest. The irrigation [.....]
I had seen this video posted by The Midwest Association of Golf Course Superintendents but had forgotten about it a long time ago. It shows some of the early methods of Greenkeeping in the Chicago area.
Thanks to Scott Pavalko at Cog Hill for posting it on Twitter this morning and reminding me of it! [.....]
The warm weather is going to continue this week as 3 days near 60 degrees are in the forecast. The course will be open and cart use has been extended to Sunday. We do still plan to stop carts and close the greens on Monday, November 26th. This could change if night time temperatures stay above freezing, but the extended forecast is not showing that will be the case.
2012 has been an extremely hot year, and this weeks temperatures are continuing that trend. Last week [.....]
Growing Season Ends: Winterizing Irrigation, Sandy's Winds Cooled Chicago, Turf Begins Dormancy, and Tim Sees Control of Poa in Bentgrass
Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -
And so the season concludes. How do I know? This morning while working in our lab (outer wall is adjacent to Sunshine Course) a hissing sound got my attention. A little worried I was relieved to find our superintendent winterizing our irrigation system - compressed air blows water from underground lines and this prevents freezing/breaks. I smiled as it meant one thing, our growing season [.....]
Our big project this fall involves removing bentgrass from the bluegrass adjacent to the tee boxes. Large areas on 3 and 4 tees have already been completed. The other tees are in the process of being cut and cleaned now. New sod will be arriving next week to complete the project.
The bentgrass variety that is used on the tees has an aggressive growth habit. This is great for recovering from divots, but does cause problems at the edges. This bentgrass will invade the adjacent bluegrass and become [.....]
All seasons seemed to be moved up about 3 weeks this year. Spring came early. Summer was hotter and sooner than normal. August temperatures cooled like September temperatures normally do. We will see if winter comes earlier. The tree are ready before they normally are. Here are some comparisons.
October 28, 2012
October 31, 2011
October 28, 2012
October 31, 2011
The downside to this is less recovery time for the turf from a very stressful summer. The course is in good shape [.....]
Tree Leaves Largely Down: 70s Felt Nice, Needed Rain Continues, Dollar Spot Went Crazy and Tim's Dollar Spot Susceptibility of Bentgrass in Fall
Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -
In a simple week of time, big change occured. I was gone for part of the week (Cincinnati) and then I came back. Upon return, I was surprised to find most tree leaves were suddenly down. In particular the oaks, Quercus spp., would catch my attention because they had let me down? You see, I was readying myself to write about oaks [.....]
Needed Rain Arrives: A Mild Week Of Temperature, Very Few Issues, Dollar Spot Is Active Again, Meanwhile Tim Says Fall Fungicides AND Dollar Spot
Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -
This week was a temperature zig zag, so to speak. Best of all, it was in the right direction of up! Following our coldest period since spring which ended annual flowers in the landscape, Mother Nature relented. Instead she delivered a reprieve in a big way and our high temperatures climbed considerably. For example, on one day we touched 70° with [.....]
One of the major sod projects we are working on this fall involves removing bentgrass from the bluegrass roughs on green and tee banks. Bentgrass from the greens and tees has made its way to the roughs and is unsightly when mowed at the height of the roughs. There are many ways that this can happen, but the easiest way to fix it is with new sod. The tee bank on 3 tee (left) was nearly all bentgrass. The entire bank was stripped and new sod installed.
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We make several references on the blog about trafficed areas. These are the areas that receive a disproportionately large amount of cart traffic or foot traffic. Traffic on the course packs the soil and removes air from the soil. Roots can only grow in air pores that exist in the soil, the more the air is pushed out of the soil from traffic, the less space there is for roots to grow. This results in thin, weak turf that is more vulnerable to unideal growing environments (hot and dry [.....]
It Feels Like Fall: Light Jackets Can't Cut It, Few Issues, Residual Dollar Spot, Rust Is Mild So Far and Tim Teaches Turf Students About Research
Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -
We were feeling 20s early on Monday, October 8 and it meant the coldest temperatures since April had come true as forecast. At this point we had to accept our flowers and vegetable gardens were no more. On the turf-side, the grass is still green (or maybe a purple-green) but its use has also tapered - cool temperatures and [.....]
The first two drainage projects of the fall were completed this week. Both areas exhibited the same problem. They were areas where irrigation water and rain ran down the path and collected on the edge. We put in a basin at the edge of the cart path and connected it to another nearby basin.
One of the areas was between 16 and 18 green. The basin at this location had already been installed, the crew just needed to trench a line for the pipe. The other area [.....]
We were able to get the greens aerated on schedule yesterday. A frost delay forced us to start late, but they were aerated, cleaned and topdressed. The greens are playable now, but the process is not completed. We will return to the greens with another topdressing later this week to fill a few remaining open holes. Rolling will continue throughout the week to smooth them again. We will attempt to do this work in the afternoon when the surface is dry. Doing this in the mornings when the [.....]
Fall Color Says Pow, Pow, Pow: Coldest Night in 7 Months, Chicago's Turf Very Healthy, Dollar Spot Fires Up (briefly) and Tim talks Poa Control?
Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -
Wait a minute, how did THAT happen so fast? It's October. Well it happened and just to show you...on Thursday of this week we lost something like 27 degrees in 6 hours - from 80° at 2 pm to near 50° by 8 pm. Friday morning it hit me when I found myself in Naperville at a couple of courses [.....]
I looks like a chilly weekend ahead, but sunny. Frost delays are likely for both days this weekend. Come early anyway, a breakfast buffet will be available in the Member's Grill. [.....]
Another item on our list of fall projects involves leveling areas that have settled through the years. Drainage lines and irrigation heads are the most common offenders. This picture shows the drainage lines in 11 fairway that were installed last year (Drainage Project in 11 Fairway, Back To Work On 11 Fairway). Through the year the soil underneath has settled, which was expected, and it is now time to start topdressing them heavy to level them again. We will put a heavy layer of sand on and brush [.....]
This week we started a more involved aeration in some fairway locations. Our usual aeration in the fairways involves only a solid tine. (Due to our fairway topdressing program, we do not want to bring up the heavy soil underneath and mix it with the sand that has been applied on top). However, some areas that receive heavy cart traffic are too compacted for the regular solid tine to keep up. This fall we will pull a core in these areas, remove the plugs, and refill the holes [.....]
Fall Color Begins: First Real Frost, Other Than Grubs...Few Issues, Ryder Cup Sees Perfect Weather and Tim says Fairway Creeping Bentgrass
Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -
And on the fourth week of September, the Ryder Cup came to Chicago - nice weather would be on tap! After all it is fall, and we had just recorded our first two frost events. In other words the weather was perfect with tree color appearing in the landscape early, some of our deciduous trees like maples and honeylocusts already had turned gold to [.....]
It's Fall: Residual Dollar Spot of Bentgrass and Summer Patch of Bluegrass, Animals/Grubs Rough Up the Rough, and Tim says Cultivar A B C D E F G
Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -
Midweek, a light frost on Chicago's blades of turf. I would take a look at my weather archives only to discover we hadn't been that cold since the 3rd week of May. So now the growing season works in reverse as we lose daylength by about 3 minutes a day - it all happens too quickly. To [.....]
We usually do not make a frost delay post until October, but it looks like we could have our first frost delay Sunday morning. Some courses in the Chicago area have already had to deal with frost this week. We did have patches of frost in the roughs, but nothing that delayed our work.
Here are some previous posts with frost information:
Frost
Frost For Friday? [.....]
The strain of a hot dry summer proved to be more than some areas could withstand. We sodded spots of a few bunkers, and resodded all of the green side bunker on 5, and the pond bank on 14. The two predominating characteristics of these areas are south facing slopes, or a large amount of sand is hit onto the bunker face. In some cases both contributed to the decline of condition.
Please respect the ropes in these areas until the sod has a chance to attach [.....]
The driving range tee and its divots continues to be a major topic of conversation. The club enjoys one of the finest practice facilities around, and it shows - it gets used a lot! Rarely is there a time during the day when there is not at least one person on the practice tee warming up or working on their game. This leads to lots of divots. We are continuing to try to spread the word about divot patterns that will disrupt a smaller area (Practice Tee Divot [.....]
Cool Nights Mean Normal: Dollar Spot, Rust, White Grubs, Sod Rolling Up (animals search for said grubs) and Tim says Festuca arundinacea
Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -
This week, temperatures were both warm and cool. Plants said Huh? Actually it meant our season was acting right again for a change as the calendar is now pretty much between summer and fall. Our jaws would drop wide open when lows dropped to 47° twice in Lemont - we've now experienced our first really cool period since June. It's a real joy [.....]
Everything: Anthracnose, Bipolaris of Bent, Brown Patch, Dollar Spot, Pythium Blight, Summer Patch, and Tim's Data Says Brown Patch and Dollar Spot
Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -
September begins to Lights, Camera, Action. In other words this summer didn't quite stop when I said so! We would see everything in a week and along the way we just kept on learning more and more. And do you know what I decided? It appears that the MOST impressive fungus on planet earth is arguably Sclerotinia homoeocarpa or dollar spot. In just [.....]
Return of Warm August: Roots Are Better, Poa Collars Wilt, 1st Grub Damage Wows, Dollar Spot Brews, Yellow Tuft Surprises, and Tim's Research Update
Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -
August decided it was August after all and we would warm considerably and find ourselves right back in the saddle of summer. Yet, our attitude is decidedly different compared to early July. Why? Well we know this 2012 growing season is now past midsummer peak heat caused by long day length and a bright sun that is directly overhead midday. Currently [.....]