Why does number 9 green look the way it does?

For those of you who played yesterday or will be playing soon, you have noticed (or will) that number 9 green does not look like the rest.  Since my start date I have been told by members, and staff that this green has been a notable trouble spot, consistently under performing compared to the rest of the greens. Over the course of multiple years soil samples have been taken and results have always come back inconclusive.

The day of our May opening shotgun I had the Chicago District Golf Association Head Agronomist, Derek Settle on the course and he took a tissue sample which revealed to him a rare disease that has since been treated. Given the greens current state, I will be having him on the course again today to share his thoughts on what the remaining reasons for all the trouble could be.  I will be re-posting his notes as soon as I have them in hand.

I understand and agree that currently the green does not look like the rest.  We are currently working to solve the persistent problem.  There is a permanent solution and rest assured that we are doing all that we can to find it.

See you on the course!
Elliott Dowling

Scouting Report for June 24th

The following is the C.D.G.A. scouting report issued by Derek Settle, PhD.                                                   ~~June 24, 2011 Scouting Report~~ A Wild Week of Weather: A 90+ Degree Day, Significant Wind Injury Hits Chicago, New x 3 (Anthracnose, Brown Patch, Pythium Blight), Japanese Beetles in Central IL, Dollar Spot and Spenophorus Catches Tim's Eye Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle - DSettle@cdga.org/Weather Blog Not a good week. We endured a bad storm with winds of 70-80 mph this week and it put Chicago's weather on national news. For more photos and information about the storm see http://blog.chicagoweathercenter.com/. As you can see my introductory list of current disease issues has quickly grown. It means we've crossed the threshold into summer, and this one has already been especially challenging. We've only experienced four days of summer so far and its hard to keep up with new reports. Fluctuating temperatures are met with overly humid environment. This week it meant violent thunderstorms and for me diagnosis of three new diseases - anthracnose basal stem rot, brown patch, and Pythium blight. Fluctuating? On Tuesday the predicted high for Chicago was in the 90s and Sunshine Course in Lemont recorded 91 degrees. By Thursday and Friday our highs were just barely breaking 70 degrees. Some Chicago courses were closed on Wednesday and power-outages meant the windy city would slow (traffic lights out everywhere). Courses who were littered with debris across entire fairways reported their clean-up was complete by Friday. How these guys do it I do not know. Click here to view the June 24, 2011 Scouting Report. Have a good weekend...next week we'll have shorts on again.                                                                                                  Derek Settle, PhD Director of Turfgrass Program

A Quick Note on the Bathroom

I would like to take moment to address the current goings on at the new bathroom.  We are in the process of constructing the landscaping for the new structure.  Until we are finished you will notice that we've laid out ply wood walking areas.  These have been put down for your convenience and we ask that they be used for all foot traffic in or out of the building until our work is complete. Not only will this measure keep your shoes clean, it will also keep our work intact. We thank you for your patience and understanding.

See you on the course!
Elliott Dowling