"Why did the flag sticks change?"

Have you ever stepped up to your ball and pulled out your range finder only to point it at the top of the flag stick and have nothing happen?  This means that the prism meant to reflect the laser from your range finder is missing.  More and more we are having these prisms go missing, and we have been trying to find a solution.

A possible answer is a flag stick with the prism built into the main body, instead of attached after the fact the top. As we already have a set of these one piece flag sticks on site, we will be putting them out tomorrow for a trial run. Tomorrow being Friday I am sure a great many of you will get a chance to try them out.  Please let us know what you think.  If they receive a positive response we will consider the problem solved.

See you on the course!
Elliott Dowling

Divot Filling: the good, the bad, and the ugly

Leaving divots is an intentional part of Golf.  Filling them is as well. While often we are able to find and replace any divot we take, sometimes this is not a possibility. The alternative is filling the divot with divot mix, which- when done correctly- is a simple and quick task. But not everyone knows what a correctly filled divot should look like, so we thought it might be useful to show you.

The Good

Correctly filling a divot requires only two steps.  The first is to add divot mix, which is provided in every cart. Pour in enough mix to bring the divot area level to the rest of the ground (remember you want the mix to be level with the ground, not the leaf tips of the turf). The second and final step is to lightly pack the mix into place- a single step should do. And there you have it, a correctly filled divot that will now heal over quickly and evenly.
















The Bad
There are two ways for a divot filling to go bad.  The first is not filling the divot until it's level, leaving the mix shallow. The second is when the divot mix is left heaping on top of the divot. When this happens it is our tee and fairway mowers that pick up all the excess divot mix, which is not good for the blades. Piles of mix are also more likely to wash out, blow away, or be scattered by other players. Any way that it might happen, the loss of mix (and so seed) slows the recovery time.

The Ugly
Divot filling only turns ugly when it's left undone! We fill divots to speed up the recovery process.  The faster a divot can be regrown, the faster the playing surface is whole again. Filling divots correctly also helps to protect the aesthetics of the course, and the machines that we use to maintain it.  Everyone wins, so please do your part!


See you on the course!
Elliott Dowling

Why are the bunkers becoming damp again?

Some of you may have noticed the bunkers have become a little more wet than usual these past two weeks- though nowhere near as wet as they used to be. This is actually an unintentional side affect, and it hearkens back to the reason the bunkers used to seemingly always be soaked.

Earlier this year we explained that the reason for all the moisture in the bunkers this past season was due to a lack of calibration in the spray pattern of the irrigation heads. Unfortunately, undoing this means adjusting each individual head by hand.  This is long and time consuming task, but one we are working hard to finish. However, we have not finished yet and with July came our third straight week of no rain.

This meant that our usually light bouts of irrigation slowly became wetter and wetter to the point where we were putting out hundreds of thousands of gallons a day trying to keep the turf from burning up or drying out. A few heads watering lightly at night is one thing.  But when we have to irrigate the entire course heavily- damp bunkers are unavoidable.

Only in the driest of conditions will we ever have to do so much watering.  Think of it as a necessary, but temporary evil.

See you on the course!
Elliott Dowling

What's happening to the rough?

 

These pictures are just a sampling of the many suffering areas you may have noticed in the rough. These areas are perfect examples of what heavy cart traffic in one place can do to turf. While many of these areas would have unavoidably come to this point throughout the course of the season, our soaked spring has led to a less then favorable reaction to the now parched conditions.  Heavy rainfall during the main growing season of turf (spring) can lead to reduced or even stunted root growth.  Given how wet the course has been for the last two months, it's safe to say we are seeing the results of that now in the speed at which certain areas are drying out.

Currently we are aerifying these ares to allow for increased gas exchange and to reduce compaction caused by the cart traffic. Along with the aerification we are fertilizing and irrigating these areas to aid them in their recovery. These are only curative actions however. We cannot control the amount of rain we get in a spring, this we all know.  We can, however, manage our own cart traffic. The worst areas have been marked off by stakes to allow them time for recovery.  Please actively watch where you and your fellow players are driving and try to avoid covering the exact same ground or any other areas that may appear to be succumbing to wear damage!

See you on the course!

Elliott Dowling

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