Although September is here there should be plenty of good
golf days left to come out and enjoy the course. Some of the many things we did
this summer included:
DRAINAGE - Drainage improvements were made to holes 9, 10,
18 and 26 to help move surface water away from the playing areas. With a rented
trencher we cut a trench 4” wide and 2 to 3 feet deep. After cleaning out the
loose material at the bottom of the trench 2” of pea stone is laid at the
bottom followed by 3” drainage tile with perforations (holes) in it to allow
the water to enter. We also install catch basins at the surface to move water
from low spots quickly. Then the trench is filled with pea stone to the top and
allowed to heal. Then the fun starts as we shovel up the spoils from the
trench. Each season we improve the drainage on a couple holes to improve
playability during wet periods.
TREES- 40 ash trees were removed on holes 2, 5, 8, 16 and
25. You can see my previous post from April regarding the Emerald Ash Borer.
Over the next few years we have another 120 trees to remove before they become
dangerous. We did find signs of the ash borer larvae in some of the trees so I
would suggest you treat the trees at your house soon if you have not. With
preventative insecticide treatments most ash trees can be saved. Most of the ash
at Rolling Meadows are near the end of their useful life and will die in the
next 10 years without the borer so we choose not to treat them.
Although we will not replace every tree removed we do have a
replacement program in place. Thanks go to our Tuesday and Friday night
Sandbaggers league as they have adopted the area between 22 and 25 to purchase
trees.
MOWING AND ROLLING - Mother nature has been kind to us this
year with decent temperatures and regular rains. The rough mowers have gotten a
workout this summer. We did struggle to keep green speeds consistent as our mowing and growth regulator program did not
keep up to the surging growth. As we enter the shorter days of fall it is
easier to keep growth under control so speeds should stay consistent.
You may have noticed we have been trying a couple different
brands of lightweight greens rollers to see which one will work the best for
our course. Our current brand works but we need to see what else is out there. University
research has shown rolling greens on a daily basis provides the best putting conditions.
Believe it or not multiple research studies have shown rolling daily and mowing
every other day provides smoother conditions than mowing daily without rolling
or mowing daily and rolling every other day.
One of four lightweight rollers we tried.
Cody Dohrman rolling hole 1
BUNKERS – With our heavy soils and bunkers prone to washing
out we try to improve a couple bunkers each year. On hole 26 we choose to
remove three small fairway bunkers and make the areas grass depressions.
Removing a bunker properly is more work than putting one in and after 110 labor
hours and one more seeding the areas should be playable in late fall. On the docket
for late fall is to rebuild the greenside bunker on hole 24. This is one of 4 original
course bunkers and in need of a re-boot.
Thank you for your business this season and we look forward
to seeing you many more times before the snow flies.
