Welcome Ben Christie!

Ben Christie started this week as our new Assistant Superintendent.  Ben grew up just blocks from the Club and attended Champaign Central High School.  He spent several years working his way up through the ranks at the University of Illinois Orange and Blue Courses where he eventually landed the position of Second Assistant Superintendent.  Working for former CCC Assistant Superintendent Allen Wall, Ben was able to gain valuable working knowledge of the art of golf course management and was frequently given the reigns to run the crew.  With Ben's local ties to the Club and his willingness to learn, I am confident that he will be a great addition to the management team at CCC.   I look forward to this season and beyond working with Ben! 

During his first week at the Club we have put Ben to work!  We removed several White Pines from the back and right side of #15 tee, opening it up to some air movement and some morning sun.  We have a few more trees to prune in this area and the memorial garden behind the tee will be reduced in size.  These changes will have a drastic impact on our ability to grow bentgrass on this tee!  Standing on the tee, you will feel a little less crowded by the pines to the right.

Also this week, we begun work on our Section Bays in the Quonset building.  These bays will house all of the tools needed to maintain each of the four "sections" on our golf course.  Next week I will write about our new "Sectional" approach to managing our golf course.  I believe this new approach will translate to consistantly better conditions on the course and clubhouse grounds.  Stay tuned for more information!!

I Gave Up...

I can't help but feeling that the winter we are having is slowly slipping away.  We are now into the second week of February and the ground remains completely unfrozen.  With the long range forcast calling for continued "above average" temperatures, I have given up the notion that we will get frozen ground suitable for tree work.  With that in mind, we have officially begun an abbreviated "tree season" where we will be pruning or removing trees from the course that pose safety hazards, are adversely effecting turf conditions, or are effecting golfers' ability to navigate a hole.

We have quite a few trees that are simply dying or are already dead that will be near the top of our removal list, and have many more that have outgrown their location and are overhanging a tee or fairway, or are inhibiting the growth of a nearby, more desireable tree.  With proper pruning and selective removals we will highlight "specimen trees" by eliminating the clutter.

 We ventured off the cartpath with our dumptruck to help speed up the process, but will likely keep it at ourshop and haul branched in with carts and trailers due to the soft ground.  It is difficult to see in the above picture, but we did a little damage to the turf just getting our equipment set up on the grass.  This is where frozen ground makes tree trimming much easier.

Because of the soft conditions, we are forced to "piece down" as many limbs as possible, leaving them piled at the base of the tree to act as a cushion for larger limbs and logs.  This process also adds significantly to the amount of time it takes to remove a tree.  With frozen ground we are more likely to drop the tree and then cut it up on the ground.  This way is much safer and much more efficient.  Unless we see frozen ground, we will continue to drop trees in small pieces.

Frosty but not Frozen

I'm starting to worry that we won't have winter, but more of just an extended Indian Summer of sorts.  While this warmer than average "off season" has been pleasant to work in, it has greatly inhibited our ability to get tree pruning and removal equipment onto the golf course.  We have an abundance of tree work to do and so far have not been able to start because ground conditions have been too wet and too soft.  This morning we had some freezing fog roll through that turned everything white and frigid looking (see pictures), but our ground is still soft and wet.

With the extended forcast looking like more of the same, we will likely give up on waiting for the ground to freeze and begin an abbreviated tree program.  Instead of bringing our truck and chipper to the trees, we will leave it at the shop or on the perimeter of the course and bring trees to the chipper.  This will be much slower and less efficient, but will avoid the damage that the heavy equipment will cause to the course.  Maybe we'll have a cold snap later this month and in March that will allow some better progress.

 The freezing fog seemed to produce a real life

black and white photo

 Our driving range netting looked almost solid with

frost crystals

A close up of the frost crystals.  Mother Nature's

lattice work!

Addressing "the root" of the problem...

Having gone through a couple difficult summers in a row, we have noticed the full impact our trees have on the golf course, specifically through competition for both sunlight and water and nutrients.  This past year it was painfully obvious that where tree roots and turf are fighting for the same inputs, the trees prevail.  It has been shown that a mature tree can use in excess of 200 gallons of water per day, with Oaks, Elms, and Silver Maples being near the top of the charts.  This is not good news for the turf at Champaign Country Club.  These three species make up a large majority of our trees and in many cases we have 80' to 100' trees just yards off the fairways. 

To address this issue we have embarked (pardon the pun) on an aggressive tree root pruning program that will involve nearly every tree that is near a fairway, tee, or a green.  We accomplish the pruning through the use of a trencher that will physically sever the roots of the trees.  Having spoken to colleagues and other industry experts I am confident that the root pruning will not only improve the turf in the effected areas, but will not adversely effect the trees being pruned.  While we will address 90% of the root issues this winter, it is important to note that we plan on re-pruning many of these areas every three or so years to keep the invasive roots at bay.  Future prunings will likely be done with less damaging equipment.  Below are some pictures of the process.

 Some areas we "spot pruned" by individual trees that have

caused turf issues (above), while others we simply trenched

down the entire tree line (below).

Notice in the above picture the solid mass of roots along the

right edge of the trench.  Pruning these roots will eliminate thousands

of roots that have been competing with our turf!

Velocity & Expansions

Last week we made the first of five Velocity applications on our fairways and tees and we are now in the midst of the "yellow flash" portion of the application.  The picture above shows two small areas that didn't get treated and remain dark green, while the treated portions are yellowed out.  The "yellow flash" becomes less evident after repeated sprays and it purely cosmetic.  I expect the flash to last a few more days and then the bent grass will begin out-growing the Poa.  Our plan is to repeat this application every four weeks throughout the season and hope to see positive results next spring. 

Meanwhile, our green expansions are finally starting to really grow in!  The recent warm weather has kick started the bentgrass and we are seeing daily improvements in the turf.  We have heavy rolled the uneven new areas and will continue to aerify and roll throughout the season until the transition between old putting surface and new putting surface is seamless.  These expansions have added an estimated 15% to 20% to our putting surface and will give us countless more pin locations.  I will keep you posted with more pictures as we make further progress.

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!