September Again

Each spring I have hopes to update this blog every couple weeks or at least monthly. Well it is September first and I have not said a word since spring. My apologies and I will try to do better.

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.