Rolling Meadows has 5 acres of marsh that golfers cross on holes 6, 7, 13 and 14. These areas are played as water hazards and hold water during normal weather patterns. The areas are mainly reeds and marsh grasses with some scruff trees that pop up every year. We try to mow or burn the marshes each fall or winter to keep trees from growing too tall and cleaning up the debris.
The marsh areas look good most of the time but especially the second half of summer when the foliage turns brown and is a nice contrast to the green turfgrass. However this year the weather has been perfect and the areas really grew tall with reeds over 12 feet tall. On Holes 6, 7 and 13 golfers struggled to see the hole and on holes 6 and 13 the plants actually knocked normal tee shots down.
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| The marsh looks great but really toughens the hole by knocking down low shots and hiding the fairway. |
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| After mowing the hole looks and plays easier as the second fairway comes into view. |
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| In dry years like 2016 we can mow down the plants with our tractor and flail mower. In case your wondering there are a lot of bugs in the marsh. In the pictures below you can see the tools used when the marsh is too wet for the tractor. A day of slinging the blades and swatting mosquitoes awaits lucky employees. |
For our customers who love the view of the marsh we left hole 14 alone mainly because the tees are elevated enough players can see the fairway despite the tall grass and reeds.
