Pump Station Repairs

Last season we had three leaks in the main pipe that feeds our irrigation system, so last fall we inspected the pipe and determined that it had significantly deteriorated over its 15 years of use.  The steel pipe had many pits in it that were nearly as deep as the thickness of the pipe which meant that more leaks were likely to occur and there was a chance of a catastrophic failure.  If the pipe failed during the summer, we could potentially have been without irrigation water for at least a week or more, not a risk that is work taking, so the decision was made to replace the pipe.

This was a huge undertaking due to the fact that the pipe is over 6 feet under ground, and the underground pipe fittings were encased in concrete to prevent the pipe from moving.  We rented a small excavator with a jack hammer attachment to dig the hole and remove the concrete so that a contractor could come in and do the pipe work.

Jack hammering away at the concrete, exposing the pipe and fittings.

After we did the work to expose and remove the old pipe, the contractor came and took the old pipe to their shop so that they could fabricate a new piece of pipe with the same dimensions.  The first few days of this week they were here installing the new pipe and fittings.

New pipe going into the pump house.

Final welds being performed on the new pipe.

Now that the new pipe is installed and ready to go, we still have to encase the pipe in concrete again.  We hope to have the concrete in next week, and once it's cured we will finally be able to start up the irrigation system, hopefully in about a week and a half or so.

August Grounds Update

Fall Aerification Schedule

• Fairway Aerification September 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th (if necessary).   We will complete as many holes as possible on the 2^nd and hopefully finish up on the 3^rd.  Please be advised that the back nine will be closed for most of the day on Wednesday to allow the grounds staff to complete the work quickly and safely. 
• Greens Aerification September 15^th and 16^th.  We will work to complete all the greens while the course is closed on the 15^th, but we may need part of the day to finish up on the 16^th, which could mean some hole closures. 

During both fairway and green aerification, call the pro shop for the latest updates when making golf plans.  Thank you for your patience during this disruptive but critical process.

Course Etiquette

With the increase in rounds played we have seen over the last few months, player maintenance of the course is very important.  Please do your part to help maintain your golf course.

• Properly repair ballmarks.  Never pry up the turf, only push it in from the sides.  
• Replace your divots.  Any divot that comes out in one large piece should be replaced and stepped down.  If your divot breaks apart and does not have any soil attached to it, use the sand mix that is on the carts to fill the divot.  Make sure the sand is smoothed out and just below the level of the turf. Overfilled divots cause extra wear and tear on mowers.  
• Keep carts away from greens and tees.  Please use the cart paths around greens and tees and whenever possible in other areas.  Always park your cart with all four wheels on the path.

Current and Upcoming Course Projects

• Forward Tees.  The forward tee on #9 is complete and will be open for play in a few weeks.  Work has begun on #15 and should be completed next week.  
• Landscaping behind 11 Tee. The plantings behind 11 tee that were damaged by storms will be replaced by the end of October.  
• 12 Green Bridge Repairs.  A contractor will be reinforcing the rusted areas of the bridge late this fall and it will be back in use by the opening of the golf course next spring.  
•  Converting bentgrass contaminated rough to bluegrass.  We are going to begin replacing bluegrass rough areas that have been contaminated with bentgrass.  The green bank behind 13 that is very difficult to play out of will be sodded to pure bluegrass in September, and we are going to be experimenting with a herbicide that kills bentgrass in bluegrass in an effort to find a less expensive way to remove the bentrass from the rough.  More information on this experiment will be posted soon on the blog at www.calumetccgrounds.blogspot.com.

I never thought that a blog post written in the middle of April and the next one written in the middle of May would be talking about snow in the Chicago area, but snow is again the talk of the superintendent world.  Fortunately, unlike the snow in the middle of April, the snow stayed north of the course this time.  Obviously, the "spring" weather that we have been experiencing has been the big story this week, but despite the weather, we have been able to get quite a bit accomplished recently, and the few spurts of warm weather that we have experienced have allowed the greens to recover nicely, and we will be putting the 8th and 9th green back into play for the season at tomorrow's Men's Mixer!  

If you haven't been out to the club to use the range yet, you will see that it has a new look to it.  To add some visual interest to the range field we converted the turf on the target mounds to bentgrass using sod from the small fairway on #5, and we added some bunkers to further add visual interest.  It really makes a big difference in the look of the range, and hopefully will enhance your practice sessions.

The new look range field.

Our other big task that we completed recently was verticutting the fairways.  We did this to the fairways last fall using some smaller machines, and it really helped stand up the turf, but didn't do much to reduce the thickness of the thatch layer.  This time we borrowed a dedicated verticutting machine that is mounted to a tractor.  It is much more aggressive and removed a great deal of thatch material.  Removing this thatch material will make the fairways less spongy and will hopefully provide a firmer playing surface in the future.  

The VC-60 throws lots of material!

Massive amounts of thatch were pulled out of the fairways.

Close-up of some of the material that was removed.  

April snow, greens update

#10 Tee.  April 15, 2014

Although, it doesn't look like it on the course right now, it was great to finally get some warm weather over the weekend.  The fairways, tees, and greens are now pretty much fully greened up, and I now we have a much more definite view of which areas of turf are going to recover on their own, and which areas require seed.  

#5 Green after greening up

Last week, along with opening the course, we began our recovery process.  The three greens that we are currently covering, seven, eight, and nine, have been slit seeded with new varieties of bentgrass.  They were each seeded in three different directions so that the new turf will be able to fill in quickly once it germinates.  We are hoping to see some grass growing by the beginning of next week.  The covers not only help to get the grass to grow faster, they are allowing us to seed earlier than we normally would be able to get the seed to germinate.  The other thin areas on uncovered greens and the dead areas on fairways will be seeded when temperatures are higher.  

Slit seeding #8 Green

Close up picture of the slits the seeder makes.  The seed is
dropped into the slits, and then the slits are rolled shut.

Last Friday, we also sprayed green pigment on the greens to help the ground absorb some heat from the sun.  I wasn't sure if it would really be effective or not, but after seeing that the greens were the only turf not covered with snow, I have to think that it has some effect on soil temperature, and we will take any help we can get!

No snow on green pigment sprayed greens.

Covers also did their job absorbing the sun's heat.

For the time being, the holes with covered greens will continue to be played to temporary greens until we see what kind of success we have with our seeding.  Eight and Nine are still looking very thin and weak, but Seven is already looking much better just from being covered, and I believe that we will be able to open it much sooner than the others.

#7 after only five days under cover

Along with getting the course opened up and the greens seeded last week, we were also busy with many other tasks on the course.  Fairways and tees got their first mowing, we finished cleaning up all the sticks and debris that accumulates over the winter, and we started up the irrigation system.  We were hoping for another busy and productive week this week, but mother nature had other ideas for us....

#6 Fairway getting its first cut of the year

Finally - Course Opening April 9th!

It's been a long winter, but hopefully it will soon be a memory.  The course will open for the season on Wednesday, April 9, the latest opening that anyone around remembers.  Right now, the forecast is calling for nice weather towards the end of next week, so clear your calendars and get ready to come out and take some swings in the fresh air!  Yesterday we received 1.75 inches of rain and it's right now it's raining lightly and the course is extremely wet, so the status of carts on opening day will be determined when the day gets closer.

It will be great to get the course open, but the course didn't get through this brutal winter unscathed.  As is the case at many Chicago area courses, some areas of Poa Annua on greens and fairways were killed by the turf being buried under ice for over 60 days.  Our problems began on January 13th when we received nearly an inch of rain on snow covered, frozen ground.  Because of the frozen ground the water wasn't able to soak into the ground and left puddles that left many areas of the course encased in ice when temperatures went below zero soon after the rain.

Hole cut through the ice to take samples of the turf below

In normal winters, this probably wouldn't have been much of a concern because we usually have a thaw or two during the year that rids the course of ice, this year was obviously different.  Poa is thought to be able to survive at least 45 days under ice before damage begins to occur so when we started to approach that amount of time we began to worry.  (On the other hand, bentgrass can survive at least 120 days under ice.)  Throughout the February and March we brought samples of turf inside to monitor conditions and in some cases we didn't like what we saw, others appeared to be fine.  To help remove the ice from some of the worst greens we even removed snow ahead of warm ups.

#8 Green with snow removed, before all the ice melted.

So now that all the snow is gone, we have a better idea of what level of damage we are seeing across the course.  Overall, I believe that the course held up to the ice quite well.  For a course that is as old as it is, we are fortunate to have a high percentage of bentgrass on the fairways and tees, and even many of the greens have large populations of bentgrass.  Of the greens, #9 and #7 took the most damage, but most of the greens have some small areas that were damaged.  

Moving forward we will be working this spring to repair any turf that doesn't come back.  The first thing that we will be doing is placing covers on the worst greens to help warm up soil temperatures and get the turf to come out of dormancy faster.  Next week we will be seeding bentgrass into #7, #8, and #9 and leaving them covered to promote faster seed growth and recovery.  Those greens will remain covered for a few weeks and will require temporary greens to start the season, depending on the weather, the temporary greens may be necessary until the middle of May.  All the other small areas on greens that were damaged will be open and in play, and once the weather warms up to the point where seed will germinate and thrive, those areas will also be seeded.  

Fairway areas that were damaged will be treated on a case by case basis.  Most of the areas are fairly small and will be sodded, but some of the larger areas will be seeded and marked as ground under repair until they are ready for play and cart traffic.  

On a positive note, things are already looking better after yesterdays rain.  Some sun and warmer temperatures this weekend will go a long way in getting the recovery process started.  Stay tuned to the blog for updates on the work that we are doing to get things back to normal as quickly as possible.

Course closing

Due to the upcoming weather forecast, which is calling for winter like temperatures and conditions,  the golf course will be closed to play beginning on Monday, November 25.  This will allow us to complete our winter preparations before winter sets in to make sure that the course will be in great shape in the spring!

Right now we are in the process of doing our final clean up of leaves, finishing our preventative snow mold fungicide applications, and continuing to clean up the branches and downed trees from last weekend's storm.  Next week, after the course is closed,  the greens will be buried in a layer of sand to protect the turf from drying winter winds and to help maintain a smooth putting surface in the spring.

Fairway Aerification Day 1

Right now we are working on finishing up day 1.  Overall it went well, until the end of the day.  This morning it looked like we would easily complete the front nine and get at least two holes done on the back.  I guess we didn't knock on wood hard enough.  Currently, our aerifier, and the one that we borrowed from another course are broken down.  Unfortunately, this is usually part of the game of fairway aerification.  Considering the late breakdowns, we were still able to finish quite a bit.  The front nine, which includes four of the biggest five fairways, is finished, and part of number 10 is finished.  Tomorrow, the back nine will be closed until we are close to finishing it, at that time the tenth tee will open for play.  Contact the pro shop for updates.  Until then, here are some pictures from the day.

Pulling the plugs.

Grinding the dried plugs with flail mowers.

Dragging the ground plugs in.

Blowing off the remaining tufts of thatch and grass.

Mowing the fairway for the finished product.

The end of our day....

Irrigation is nice, but....

Irrigation systems are really only design to supplement rainfall, not replace it.  Over the past two months, our irrigation system has been required to replace rainfall which brings about a few issues.  The biggest issue that we are facing right now is that no matter how good an irrigation system is, there are going to be inconsistencies in water distribution.  Fortunately, it takes a pretty long stretch of dry weather for these to show up.  Unfortunately, we are seeing them right now.

In the morning before the dew on the fairways is burned off by the sun or mowed off, is when these dry areas really show themselves.  It's a little difficult to see in the picture, but if you click on it to enlarge it, you will see alternating dark and light areas.  The light areas are where the dew is heavier and the soil moisture is good, the dark areas are where the sprinklers don't put down a consistent amount of water and the soil is dry.

This picture shows the same thing just closer up.  

When we see dew patterns like these, we know that they are caused by irrigation because they are consistent.  There are other things that can cause dry areas though, they will show up with more inconsistent dew patterns.  They can be caused by soil conditions, or in our case, they are usually caused by tree roots.

Tree roots on the right side of #4 Fairway are out competing the turf for soil moisture.

The problem with inconsistent soil moisture is that it becomes difficult to manage playing conditions.  Theoretically we could use the sprinklers to water heavily and eliminate these dry spots, but then the areas that already have good soil moisture will become very soft and wet, not exactly the playing conditions you would expect during a long dry spell.  This week we will be doing our best to even out these dry spots by applying wetting agent to those areas and then handwatering them,  a very labor intensive process that we try to minimize on fairways.  We will also be temporarily trading out some full circle sprinklers with part circle sprinklers that only water the dry outside of the fairway.  Hopefully, we can get some of these dry areas evened out, maybe with a little help from mother nature.  

We have begun construction on a new yellow/forward tee on #14 so that it will no longer be a temporary tee on uneven ground.  This tee will be a great addition for any player who is not able to hit the ball as far as some others, or for if you are just looking to get a different perspective on this challenging hole.  The new tee is small enough that we have been able to build it with materials that were leftover from building the new blue tee on number six.  This new tee will require one additional sprinkler head to provide it with adequate irrigation coverage.  The plan is to have the tee completed by the end of next week, and open for play a few weeks after that.

It's hard to believe what I'm about to say, but it's time to start marking your calendars for our fall aerification schedule.  Fairway aerification will take place beginning on September 3rd, while the club is closed after labor day, and if weather and equipment cooperates, will be completed by Thursday, September 5th.  Greens aerification is scheduled for Monday, September 16th, and will probably carry over into the 17th.  Tees will be fit into the schedule whenever possible.  Please remember that during fairway and green aerification there may be nine holes closed to help expedite this critical process.  Thanks for your patience and understanding.

6 Blue Tee

Well, I guess time flies when you're having fun...or just really busy.  Time has slipped away from me, and once again it has been awhile since I've put a new post here.  Since the last post, pretty much the main story on the golf course has been the extraordinary amounts of rain we have been receiving.  Last week the course had gotten a chance to dry out a little bit, but since Sunday night we have gotten 2.5" of rain, with 2" of it coming in just about an hour, and the course is very wet again.  Low areas of the course have never really had a chance to dry out since the flooding rains in the middle of April and if we get any more rain this weekend like the forecast says, Sunday may be another "no carts" day.  Having to make that decision is never a fun one, so for once this year, maybe this batch of rain will miss us.

Even with the rain, we were still able to have a fairly productive week and we were able to finish a project that people have been waiting to see for a long time.  The new Blue Tee on #6 is now sodded and growing, but we still have some work to do in the area.  Areas around the tee that were damaged during construction will be seeded, and new irrigation for the tee will be added next week.  We hope to able to open the tee to play in just a few weeks.

Rough Grading and Alignment

Adding Sand/Soil Mix

Sodding the Tee

All Green!

 Hopefully, next week is a little drier and we will be able to catch up on our to-do list a little bit!  Lately it seems like all we have been doing is pushing sand back up on washed out bunker faces and trying to keep up with the mowing in between the heavy rains.

Helicopter Season

Well, it has begun, probably my least favorite time of the golf season.  The silver maple trees have started to drop their samaras, helicopters, or whirlybirds.  Whatever term you prefer to use, they are still a pain for us. They will be here for a few weeks, screwing up putts, making a mess of the golf course, and pulling staff away from mowing and other important jobs to blow the mess off the playing surfaces.  We will do our best to minimize their impact on play, but given the fact that over 30 percent of our tree population is silver maple trees, it will be an uphill battle.

Besides the silver maple helicopters, our course work continues.  Today we are core aerifying and heavily

topdressing the tees with sand.  We are also topdressing the greens for the second week in a row.  In the past we usually topdressed the greens every three weeks because of the old and inefficient machine that we had.  The old machine could not lay down an even layer of sand so after we topdressed, there was too much sand on the putting surface.  This sand on the top of the grass resulted in the greens mowers needing to be sharpened everytime we topdressed, sometimes twice, before the grass had grown through the sand.  Now with the new machine we are experimenting with laying down a very light and even layer of sand every week that won't destroy the mowers with every application.

We have also resumed work on the new blue tee for the sixth hole.  The base is set and leveled and we will be adding the construction mix and working on finished grades next.  We hope to have the tee sodded by the end of the week, but that may be a little ambitious.  After the tee is sodded it will take a few weeks for the sod to take root, and then it will be open for play!  It will be quite a challenge from back there, even for you big hitters.

Last week, the ash trees that were selected to be treated for the emerald ash borer, were treated with insecticide and fertilizer.  We are currently treating 12 trees, but there are two trees that are in decline despite the treatments.  They will be evaluated next year to see if it is worth it to continue treatments, or if the trees will need to be removed.  Overall, the treatments are working well, in the picture there are two ash trees next to each other on the 16th hole.  Can you tell which one is being treated and which isn't?

April SHOWERS

Obviously rain is the big story of the day, and we've had plenty of it.  We are now approaching 4.5 inches in the past 24 hours, and in the last ten days we have received over 7 inches!  It goes without saying, that the course is underwater, and probably will be for a few days.  In the seven years I have been working here, I have only seen more water on the course one other time, and the rain is still coming.

Once the water recedes, the grounds staff has an enormous task ahead of them.  There is a lot of debris on the course that will have to be raked up, fairway bunkers will have to be pumped, and the sand in all the bunkers will have to pushed back up the on the faces.  It will be days before the course is back to normal.  Until we can get to work, here are some pictures of what we are up against.

Irrigation Satellites Between #1 and #2 Partially Submerged

Looking from #2 Alternate Tee Across #1 Green

Looking from #2 Alternate Tee Towards #2 Island Tee

#4 Fairway Under 2-3 Feet of Water

#9 Bridge

Panoramic Shot from #1 Green Looking Towards the Clubhouse

So that's what we are up against.  Keep checking the blog for updates on the cleanup, and how the course is drying out.

Course Opening March 29th!

The golf course will open for the season tomorrow, March 29th, at noon.  Come on out and play a round or three while we have a few warm days.

The course is going to have a much different look to it on opening day than it did last year though.  Last year, most of grass was turning green, and by this time last year, even the rough was green.  This year everything is still brown, but it will be great to get out on the course.

I'm looking forward to seeing all the familiar faces coming out, and meeting the new members that have joined us over the winter!

Course Update

The past few years, the trend has been toward's earlier and earlier openings.  Given the somewhat mild and snowless winter we've had until recently, I thought that we were headed in the same direction again.  Unfortunately, mother nature appears to have different plans for us this year.  Some forecasts are calling for us to get eight to ten inches of snow to go on top of the few inches that we still have on the ground.  We will open the course for golf as soon as we can, but under the snow that we have already is a lot of water that came in the form of rain and slush last week.  Our biggest criteria that is used for opening the course is whether the course is dry enough to not have carts and golfers cause damage, and it's going to take some warm dry days to get us there, in the meantime, we will do everything to have the course ready for opening when the weather allows it.  

Course Opening History

• 2012 - March 14th
• 2011 - March 17th
• 2010 - March 23rd
• 2009 - March 17th
• 2008 - April 1st
• 2007 - March 27th
• 2006 - March 29th

Tee Plates Got Refinished

As you can see, opening day does vary some, but we are getting closer to what you could call a "typical" date.  Until then, the course will be open for cross country skiing!

Until we can get back out on the course to begin prepping for opening, we have been keeping busy with our yearly winter tasks.

Stumps Were Ground

Tee Markers Sanded and...

....refinished.

The deteriorating old wood on the benches was replaced with white oak.

New wood and hardware made the benches look brand new.

Final course accessory project.  Squirrels or woodpeckers keep chewing up
the cedar roofs of the water cooler houses, so they are being replaced
with asphalt shingles.

It's Been Awhile

It's been a long while since I've posted, and today I was going through my camera looking at some photos that I have taken over the last few months that highlight some of our on course activities lately.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pretty pictures of the course under a blanket of snow....

Nittany Enjoying Some Fall Sun in the Leaves

Our new equipment arrived and many old pieces were hauled away!

Out With The Old!

In With The New!!

Of course, our biggest project this fall has been removal of all the dead and dying ash trees.  It's been a lot of work, but we are almost finished removals.  Next, we will be grinding all the stumps that have been left behind.

Parking Lot Log Pile Was Hauled Away

Our Staff Has Spent Many Hours Chipping 

13 Green Before Ash Tree Removal

The "New" Look To 13 Green

And finally, we got to have a little fun with our ash tree removals.  Enjoy a different look at a tree coming down.