Naperville Country Club Green Department

As you have been in and out of the clubhouse the past two weeks, you probably noticed our progress on the lawn and flower beds. Not much changed, but it does have a fresh look to it. Some of the bed lines changed and we laid new sod. A new shrub is on the way to replace one that was removed. This area will only look better as we move into summer.

Here is the before picture in front of Club 21. The shrub at the corner was removed and will be replaced soon.

Here is the after picture. New sod, mulch and cleaned up beds.

Here is the before picture for the entrance by the dining rooms.

We liberated stones from another area of the course to make the bed larger and smooth out the bed lines. We also made a small bed at the top to hide the foundations of the sidewalk and steps.

Here is the after picture.

Here is a before picture of the entrance near the proshop. We made this bed bigger and also included a smaller bed again to hid the sidewalk foundation.

Here is the after.

Not a lot of changes, but it does have a fresh look.

We are wrapping up the first topdressing and aeration on the fairways this season. Like so many other things, the rain last week delayed us on this project. Once the water was off the course, we then had to wait for the soil to dry enough to get heavy equipment back out. We will be done by the end of this week.

We use a large solid tine in the fairways to break up the soil under the surface. We are not pulling a core in the fairways and approaches to allow for quicker healing. This is a project that we can do over a few days time if weather cooperates. Lets hope the next round will be a little drier.

This was a post that I had ready last week until the rains forced us to change our schedule. Each spring we spend a little extra time get the bunkers ready to go for the golfing season. This work involves removing debris, checking sand depths and moving sand. This year we added one step-edging.

Our trim work on the bunkers through the season involves cleaning the edges with a weedeater, but no major edging work. This project involves using a shovel to cut a clean edge, removing the old turf, and finishing by moving the sand to the proper depth. We do not like to work on the edges more than is necessary, but since nothing had been done since the construction, it was time for a little touch-up work.

It turns out our timing could have been better. In the middle of this project, we received the 5.5 inches of rain. Though the edging was finished, the crew had to return to the previous bunkers to move the sand around again. From start to finish, this turned out to be very time consuming. However, the bunkers have been completed and are ready for the golfing season.

It will take some time to get the course back into shape. There is still water across the 16th fairway this morning, and some cart paths will need to be rebuild. The crew has done an amazing job this morning, in very unfavorable weather, to get the course back in shape. Cleaning debris, fixing bunkers and fixing cart paths are the priorities today. We are foregoing some mowing(still too wet also) and working to get the course in playable condition. This means some fairways will be very long through the weekend.

After a great effort from the crew, the picture above shows a very different look today when compared to this picture yesterday.

Torres and Juan working to put the cart path back on the cart path. This is one area where the path will need to be rebuilt. The water washed away the subgrade and some soil. For now we are working to get the gravel off of the grass and make the cart path passable.

The crew is doing a great job of getting the bunkers back in shape-for the second time this week. On Monday we started our normal spring maintenance on the bunkers which involves moving sand to provide the proper depths. Unfortunately, now they have been forced to do it all over again.

The course will be open for play and the practice areas will be reopen on Saturday, April 20th. There will be no carts on Saturday. We will reevaluate the carts for Sunday.

A short video of the flooding on the course yesterday.

The storm system last night brought with it 4.0 inches of rain. More rain is coming today. I have never seen this much rain on the course before. The course will be closed until further notice.

One nice thing is the flooding is confined to a very small portion of the course. This makes clean-up easier. However, this will take several days to get the course back in shape after it dries enough to get back out. Here are some pictures:

This weekend the course will have its "official" opening. Carts will be available, the practice areas will be open, the halfway house will be open, and all beverage stations will be on the course. The weather is still not cooperating with highs forecasted to be in the 40s on Saturday and a chance of rain on Sunday. We received over 2 inches of rain this week which helped green the course, but the cool and cloudy weather is limiting growth. It is tough to call this spring when it feels more like winter. We are as anxious as you to have some warm weather and get the playing surfaces in shape for the season.

Most of the crew started back to work last Monday, and a few more began work yesterday. It is nice to have the crew back and try to get into a routine for the season. With the weather still stuck in February, we are trying to get some projects done while mowing is not even on our to do list yet. The first project was the installation of drainage at 1 tee. The area between the end of the cart path and the fairway regularly held water much longer after a rain than other areas on the course. With the amount of traffic through this area, it regularly created issues with where to rout traffic. This was completed at the end of last week. This area should gradually get better through the year.

Other projects are on the horizon and a few have been started this week. We have removed a declining tree and removed some over grown and old bushes. Other projects will include a refreshing (but no significant changes) of the clubhouse landscaping and some more drainage.

Slowly, things are coming along on the course. We have done a first mowing on the fairway and approaches. Greens were mowed again today for the second time. The bunkers have been cleaned and one raking has been done. It will take a few rounds raking the bunkers to get the sand in shape. Rakes are in the bunkers now, so be sure to rake your tracks for the golfers behind you. Tee markers are out on the course now as well.

We do not have a start date yet for the carts or the driving range tee. We are waiting for the grass to start growing so it may recover from traffic and divots before we start to injure it. We will plan on having the halfway house open next weekend. Most of the crew was back this week. A few more will start next week. The weather forecast does not look too promising next week either. If mother nature ever decides to cooperate we will be ready to go!

Frost is delaying any activity on the course for Thursday. It looks like it will be a nice day once the sun comes up. We plan to get a first mowing done on the fairways and approaches today.

There are examples on several greens throughout the course of damage from traffic over a frozen green. This is why we play to a location in the approach rather than allow traffic on frozen greens. There are many days during the winter when the weather is sunny and warm, but the soil and the portion of the turf canopy closest to the soil is still frozen. The growing point of the grass plant is in this area of the canopy just above the soil surface. Exposure to any type of compression while frozen with damage that portion of the plant. The brown leaf blades on the greens in the shape of a dog's paw(or coyote) show what the damage looks like. This is the same damage that would occur if traffic is allowed on frost covered grass.

Most of the spots on the greens are from a paw prints. However, 10 green has some significant damage from foot prints. Perhaps somebody was playing to the greens in the winter when they should not have been? I do not know.

These areas should grow out, but it will take time.

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