Golf Course Opening - Tuesday, March 15th!

El Nino certainly has affected weather in the Chicagoland area.  We’ve experienced higher temperatures and less snowfall than in past years.  We came out of winter in excellent shape and I don’t expect any negative issues.  We are about 3 weeks ahead of previous openings (2015- March 27^th; 2014- April 12^th).  Therefore, I would like to advise members on what to expect in the coming weeks. 

Significant debris has fallen on the golf course.  We will begin the laborious task of cleaning up the golf course and finishing the tree removal project (removing dead pines and ash).  We will be making piles along the cart paths and renting a chipper to expedite the removal of all the debris.  Tree stumps will be ground by the middle of April.

All of the playing surfaces (greens, tees, and fairways) will be mowed to remove the winter shag the turf has put on during the winter months.  As usual, the height of cut on the greens is higher in the spring.  We slowly lower it and attain our normal height around May 1^st. 

We will begin putting out some of the course accessories next week.  About half of the ball washers and tee markers will be in place.  We will rake all of the bunkers, but detail bunker maintenance will not occur for several weeks. 

The driving range will be CLOSED and it will be CART PATH ONLY until further notice.  Please observe cart restrictions as a courtesy to your fellow members and to minimize damage to the course. 

The bathrooms will be CLOSED at this time.  We have to be careful of any freezing temperatures that we may still have.  They should be opening in the next several weeks.

Greens aerification is scheduled for Monday, April 4^th. 

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The grounds crew at Kemper Lakes will be working diligently to get the course in prime playing condition.  We’re just as excited to be open for play and look forward to seeing everybody out on the course!

The Crew is back and ready to take on the 2016 golf season!

Greens will officially be open for play this Tuesday, March 15th!

Finishing Odds and Ends

The past couple of weeks the grounds crew finished some much needed projects.  We are in the process of winterizing the course; everything is in excellent shape heading into winter.  We applied our final snow mold (fungus during winter months) treatments on greens, tees, and fairways and top-dressed them heavily with sand before the snow hit.

  

#11 drain has been fixed.  This area always flooded during heavy rains.  We shouldn’t have any issues which going forward.  A big root was the culprit for the problem.

#4 drainage has also been fixed.  The area to the left of the #4 green had to be retrenched after the renovation since the original pipe was crushed.  It was difficult to get the pipe pitched correctly since we only have about 2 inches to work with.  We were able to get it lasered correctly to pitch down into the nearest catch basin.   Everything worked as planned after the last rainfall!

We’ve added some stone curbing to areas where the carts like to pull off to the side and on curves in the cart paths.  This work not only serves a useful purpose but also adds an aesthetic touch to the cart paths.

Finished product

Fall Projects

The grounds staff has been working on fall projects the past couple of months.  We are removing dead trees and working on drainage left of the #4 green and the middle of the #11 fairway.

We’ve leveled all the fairway drain lines from the bunker renovation on holes 1, 7, 10, 16, and 18.

#9 fairway/rough shouldn’t have any more drainage issues.   We’ve significantly improved the drainage system in this area to alleviate flooding during heavy rains.  The end result will be similar to the area in front of the #10 fairway.

The leaves are rapidly falling now with the cold temps and high winds. We are doing our best to mulch the leaves as quickly as possible.

Aerification Schedule

As September approaches, it’s time to plan for aerification.   This is an important process to ensure the overall health of the golf course for not only the remaining part of this year, but also July and August of 2016.

Our primary objectives in aerating all of the playing surfaces include:

Gas Exchange

Thatch Control

Air/Water Movement

Compaction Relief

Aerification schedule for fall:

September 1-3- Pull plugs on tees and approaches

September 8-10- Pull plugs in rough

September 8- Seed Fescue

September 22-23- Dethatch/Verticut fairways

October 6-8- Deep tine fairways and greens

Because of the amount of thatch on the fairways, we will institute a new process called verticutting this year.  This will turn up A LOT of thatch on the fairways.  Follow the link to see the machine in action!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlpelRmLJk0

Notice the wavy appearance of the fairways- this is due to the amount of thatch that has accumulated on the fairways.

The above pictures were taken on a fairway.  Verticutting the fairways will help control this thatch.

This is a plug taken from an approach.  Note the difference in the amount of thatch (…about ½” at most). This is the result of regularly scheduled aerification.

Fescue Areas

Last year’s transition to Fescue in selective areas was very successful so we’ve begun the process of adding it in additional spaces.  It became especially noticeable this past weekend as the areas are beginning to die back.  The areas we are transitioning this year include: right of #4, front of #8, sections along the water edge (#8,behind #2, and right of #3), and #13. 

This process offers several sustainability benefits for golf courses.  Fescue provides not only an aesthetic component to the golf course, but also allows for:

-        Fertilizer Reduction

-        Water use reduction

-        Erosion control- acts as a buffer strip along waterways that helps filter nutrients before they enter the lakes

Addition of fescue along the water edge also assists with geese control, as the fowl don’t have an easy access point to the water.

The weeds in the fescue areas are becoming more noticeable (especially thistle and barnyardgrass).  We are using an herbicide that selectively kills the weeds and not the fescue grass.  The weeds are beginning to turn white since they are unable to photosynthesize.  Soon they will turn brown.  In order for this herbicide to be effective, 3-4 applications are required.  

Canadian thistle turning white after herbicide application

Barnyardgras turning white

August 7, 2015 Scouting Report

August 7, 2015 Scouting Report The week that was left a mark on some of us that will be seen for years to come while a majority of courses as they read this line are thinking what is he talking about?? The storms that hit the northside of the city last Sunday left a mark in specific locations that left damage which will require time and patience in abundance. Bryn Mawr CC lost 100 trees in what looked to be a microburst while no one else came close to this type of damage. While a majority of the courses also commented that the 1” of precipitation that fell seemed to immediately disappear and that the conditions were still very dry. The ‘disappearance’ of the rainfall can be linked to the fact that evapotranspiration rates were as high as 0.25” of water per day late last week – that pattern has generally not changed this week as winds have blown disturbing the boundary layer around the turf canopy and temperatures have been more than warm enough to drive transpiration for cooling of turfgrasses. Once the cleanup of debris occurred this week, conditions rapidly turned to ideal as surfaces became firm and fast and once again bentgrass surfaces showed their true qualities and speed and smoothness were not an issue. Poa annua surfaces may have required more hand watering and possibly some courses raised mowing heights in an attempt to reduce stress – one of the problems of dealing with poa in the summer is trying to keep it alive! Roots on poa plants seem to be just about hanging in though summer patch has turned up and may be putting a final nail in the coffin. Reports of billbug larvae have also surfaced and with the dry weather we can expect to start seeing some damage from either digging or a distinct lack of roots which have now been eaten thus leaving foliage no way to draw water from the soil profile. Finally – the turfgrass field day is coming up on September 10th and with speakers coming in from around the region it promises to be an exciting event with plenty of opportunities to see the latest research. Further details will be posted next week on the CDGA website, but if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask. Click here to view the August 7, 2015 Scouting Report As always if you have a question or query please do not hesitate to ask and you can call or email. Ed Nangle PhD Director of Turfgrass Programs Chicago District Golf Association Office: (630) 685-2307 Cell: (630) 423-1925 www.cdgaturf.org Follow us on Twitter @TurfResearch

This week in pictures!

This past week we’ve finally been able to start work on some pending projects.  We finished the new runoff off the back of #6 green and began trimming trees again.

Removing the roots and prepping the area for sod

Laying bentgrass is much more time consuming than bluegrass sod

Almost done!

Finished product!  Maya is keeping a watchful eye to make sure it’s not drying out!

Opening up some new vistas throughout the course 

Early morning shot of #17 with the sun coming up