Aerification

We completed tees yesterday and we have 5 fairways left to finish. We are officially at a halt until this storm system moves through. The forecast for the beginning of next week does not look good, but hopefully Mother Nature will show some sympathy. We fertilized the greens yesterday before the rain and hopefully it will push them through a few of these cooler days. The lack of frost in the mornings from here on out will help us tremendously as well. Thanks for your patience through this important process.

Aerification Update

Greens and approaches are complete. We still only have 3 tees done and hopefully we can get our machine back up and running next week and continue working around play. The fairways have been the biggest battle and we will continue to work on them next week by closing down a couple of holes each day. Everything looks neat and clean with the exception of #1 and #4 fairway. After Tuesday we were just not able to get a blower out there to clean them off as much as we would have liked. I will keep you updated next week as we progress and hopefully the weather makes a turn.

Golf Invite

One of my goals heading into this season is to play more golf, allowing me to see the course from a golfer's point of view. As I venture on this mission, I would like to invite you to join me. I will have a tee time on the following days for anyone interested in learning more about our operation, additional practices you would like to see done, the Cubs odds of winning the World Series over the next 100 years, or just tee it up with the Superintendent.

April 11, May 4, June 9, July 6, August 8, September 7, and October 13.

Aerification Update

We need to keep the course closed until Saturday to allow us to finish the aerification process. Here is a summary of the week:

Monday we made a little progress without being too aggressive and sacrificing any quality. We finished aerifying all of the approaches and sliced 3 sets of tees. The slicing process is a new machine we traded for last year that is virtually 8 saw blades ripping the top thatch layer right out. Tuesday we started greens and were able to get 14 finished just in time before the sun set. We aerified a few fairways, which were still a little too wet and you will see some tracks lingering for a couple weeks until the grass is really growing again and we can clean them up. We were able to finish 1,2, and 4 before the rain came. Today has been a wash and the staff is home resting up for tomorrow.

We will finish up the greens either tomorrow or Friday and re-open the course on Saturday. If the weather cooperates, we should be able to aerify 6-10 fairways by the weekend and we can finish the rest next week by doing a couple per day, avoiding golfers as much as possible. The tee slicer is officially broken and Michael is working to fix it as soon as possible. If the machine is not ready next week, we will aerify the remaining tees conventionally around play as well. We will try not to inconvenience anyone's rounds and appreciate your patience with the process.

Here is a good picture of number 1 fairway. We took a good amount of soil out to help with the compaction throughout the season. Notice how he avoided the sprinklers...that prevents an unwanted water feature off the first.

Time to seed

This week our main focus was to get the range cleaned up and seeded before the rain hit. With a good amount of hand raking and a final level with the drag mat, the seed was the final touch. We rented a hydroseeder which stirs and pressurizes the seed, dye, and a mix of paper pieces and pulp.

We also seeded 9 hillside with fine fescue and can't wait to see the nice touch it adds to the hole.


 On a side note, if you are looking to do any seeding on your own lawn this spring, now is a great time before the weeds germinate and give the grass competition. You also want to make sure you give the seedlings plenty of time to establish before your crabgrass pre-emergent is applied.

Sub-Air

Although it does not look like a significant amount of water, this vacuum system that we have to pull the water through the greens drainage gives us a great advantage for maintenance.We leave this Sub-Air system running for almost an hour on some greens and after they sit for another hour, there is very little evidence that it rained at all yesterday, yet alone all day.



We cut a green this morning after we pulled the water from below. After 3" of rain, it left not one mark from the mower sinking in and the quality of cut was perfect. We will be cutting the rest of the greens this afternoon and the three greens that were still on temporary greens from the winter will be open for play tomorrow. This cut should stimulate some growth from the plant now that the coldest temperatures are behind us. It is what we need with aerification 10 days away.

Repair Ball Mark Properly! Shawn Clement #1 Most Popular Teacher on You ...

217 Ballmarks!!

I am asking for your help on this issue whether you play once a year or every day. I had one of my staff  members go out on Monday morning and fix ballmarks and asked him to give me a count on how many unfixed ballmarks he found. He found over 30 on a few greens and the total was 217 ballmarks (that is with three greens closed). There is only so much we can do to protect the turf and as a membership, I need your help. I am asking each member to fix their own ballmarks plus two others every time they walk up on a green. I want you to be proud of what we have every time you play whether it be with other members or guests.

Walls Keep Tumbling Down

Another wall fell on number 10 at the front of the fairway, but with a lot of hard work and some of Wrigley's great leadership skills it looks like new!!!

Ballmark Repair

Many ballmarks never healed from last season due to the cold temperatures diving in. As the greens begin to grow, it is a great opportunity to pluck the old turf out and let them heal shut. We use a probe and push down 3" and fill the channels with dry sand. This process helps jump start the surrounding turf by giving the roots more oxygen. After a few rolls and some nice temperatures, the holes will heal right shut.

This picture illustrates the finished product on a normal green. Some of the short par 4's and par 3's are a little more peppered, but from a playability standpoint will roll smoothly.