Trading in rough mowers for goats??

Over the past several days we have been deluged with rain.  The result has been an oversaturated golf course with overflowing ponds and standing water everywhere!  While we have been able to get out and mow greens, our larger equipment has not been on the course for several days, and from the looks of the radar it will be several more days before we can even attempt to mow.  Once we can start mowing it will take a couple days to get through the course and it will likely look similar to a hayfield right after harvest... frustrating for sure.  As soon as we can, we will be putting in long hours on mowers to get through everything as soon as we possibly can.  Please exercise patience as we work through a very wet golf course.  I've included some pictures of #13 and #14 for your "enjoyment".

C'mon sun and wind!!

Satisfy Your Urge!

We've finally ditched the snow for the year and the frost has officially left the ground! Yesterday, we put the flagsticks back in the greens indicating that they are open for play.  Winter golf conditions should be expected, and no accessories are put out on the course yet.  Over the next couple of weeks (as weather dictates) we will be bringing out the benches, tee markers, ball washers, etc. until finally the course will set for the golfing season.  Also, because it is so early in the year, golf carts will not be available for some time yet.  Our ground conditions are still very wet and will take some time to dry out enough to support cart traffic.  Please be patient and enjoy a walk around the course!

As expected...

With the recent warm up, I have finally gotten outside to get a look at some of our turf.  As expected, we have a decent crop of snow mold.  While historically we don't get enough prolonged snow cover to worry about snow mold on a large scale, the past two winters have caused some grief.  With today (February 17th) being the first real day of "open turf", we have to go back to early December to find the last day without substantial snow cover.  This is well beyond the 60 days of snow cover usually required to have snow mold issues.  Whether we have Gray Snow Mold or Pink Snow Mold is the question, but it is likely we have a little of both.  Also likely is that they are purely cosmetic and the fungus did not make it to the crown of the plant and cause a lethal infection.

So what now?  With the snow cover all but gone and freezing temperatures in the horizon, the fungus will stop actively growing until freezing temperatures subside.  When the ground conditions warrant, will be making an early fungicide application to take care of the snow mold and some other likely spring diseases.  Once the turf starts actively growing, it will simply grow through the cosmetic effects of the disease.

Firewood Available

We've been doing some tree work over the last two winters and have managed to accumulate a rather large amount of firewood.  All of the soft wood (pine, etc.) has been hauled off and only oak and other hardwood remains.  If you are local and would like some wood, just send me an email.  We're happy to help you load and have a splitter available during working hours. About half of the oak was cut last year so it should be pretty seasoned!

A long break...

I seem to make this promise once every year that I'll continue to post regularly on this blog, and every year I seem to fail.  Maybe 2011 will be better! 

A lot has happened in the nearly six months since my last post.  Today I intend on catching you up on some of the projects we have done since August.

1.  Strategic Improvement Plan:  For the past several years we have been working with Fine Golf Design, Inc. out of Allentown, Pennsylvania on a "master plan" of sorts to address some recurring issues with our golf course.  Mark Fine has collaborated with Scott Witter of Witter Design to come up with a plan to enhance our course in a way that will address some infastructure problems, and will also take our course back to a "classic design" as intended by our original architect, Tom Bendelow.  The Strategic Improvement Plan, as we are calling it, addresses three major areas: bunker design and placement, our tree population, and our drainage.  In addition to these three major items, it addresses some more subtle changes such as grassing lines, green shape, and tee orientation. 

2.  Green Expansions:  Due to the difficult growing conditions during the summer of 2010, some of the fringes of our greens (primarily Poa annua) succumbed to the heat and needed reseeding.  We decided to work with the Strategic Improvement Plan and expand the greens per Mark Fine's design as long as we needed to do some work anyways.  Going into the winter we had good germination of the new fringes.  As soon as spring "springs" we will get back on the fringes and begin the process of leveling them to the green surface.

3.  Winter Work:  We are well into the annual refinishing of all of our wooden golf course accessories.  With the ample snowfall we have had thus far this winter, we have been able to make good progress on the accessories.  Hopefully the winter will cooperate and let us get outside in the next month or so to get some much needed tree work accomplished.

As normally happens this time of year, our staff is getting antsy to get back outside.  As a breed, we like to breath fresh air and being cooped up in a shop starts to cause cabin fever.  I'll leave you with a shot of Lucy in her favorite spot... eyeing the squirrels.  It pretty much sums up how our staff feels also!

Taking advantage of a break...

After a long stretch of weather in the 90's (upper 90's in some cases) we have finally moved to a little cooler weather pattern.  As we should, we are taking advantage of the cooler weather to catch up on some much needed work.  We will be out in force over the next couple days eradicating the many weeds that have taken hold this summer.  We will be using both physical removal and herbicide treatments to get the job done (see picture) and hope to have most of the weeds killed or removed by the time the hot weather comes back.

During the most recent heat wave, we were unable to deal with the weeds for several reasons.  First, selective herbicides tend to lose their selectivity when applied during periods of high heat or when the turf is under stress.  It is safe to say that our turf has definitely been under some stress lately!  Secondly, the labor it takes to physically pull weeds was being directed at other projects, many dedicated to hoses just to keep our turf alive.

As we slowly transition from summer to fall, we will be out re-seeding many areas affected by the summer of 2010, and in some cases even laying new sod.  Please continue to be patient and respect any "traffic directing" items such as ropes and/ or arrows.  Soon we will be able to again enjoy the beauty that is Champaign Country Club!

Why does turf die in the summer?

The summer of 2010 has proven to be a difficult on for turf managers.  Nationwide, with very few exceptions, golf courses have borne the brunt of Mother Nature be it too wet, too dry, and without fail too hot.  Here in central Illinois we are no exception.  Our golf courses have experienced turf loss on a grand scale with very few exceptions.  As it has worked out, the problems have been mainly with Poa annua.  Naturally then, golf courses who have more Poa annua have had more difficulties and golf courses with less Poa annua have faired much better.  The embedded video was produced to help explain the effects that heat has on turf.  As you watch the video, consider the fact that here at CCC we have routinely seen 2" soil temperatures spike at 97 degrees in the heat of the afternoon! Difficult growing conditions to say the least!

We will continue to fight the fight, man the hoses, and baby our turf until cooler temperatures prevail (I can't wait) at which point we will begin making our way around the course to reseed areas that are too far gone to recover.

While we certainly haven't been the hardest hit in our area, we do have some trouble spots.  Let's hope for a fall that is conducive to seed germination and subsequent growth!