WELCOME

WELCOME to the Illini Country Club Golf Course Management Blog. Your direct access to golf course operating procedures.

To improve communication with our membership, I have designed a Golf Course Management Blog. This blog will allow me to effectively communicate current golf course conditions, projects, cultural practices and any other important information that pertains to the golf course or Green Department. This blog will also allow you to interact with us simply by clicking the "comment" tag below the new posts. Feel free to comment with any suggestions, questions or concerns. To keep up to date on the latest posts, please click "Subscribe to our mailing list" in the mailing list box below or visit the blog regularly at http://www.illiniccturf.blogspot.com/. Thank you!

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

#10 Bridge work

New concrete supports
 
 
Laying new planks

Rail construction
 
Final product
 
 
The Green Department crew have been hard at work with the new construction of number ten cart bridge.  We have taken a much needed break from the monotony of limb and debris clean up and welcomed a new project.  Number ten bridge has gone through a full restoration with new concrete supports, ramps, wing walls and rip rap rock for erosion control.  We have replaced the old planks and railings with new hardware and pressure treated lumber.  Landscape and sod will be added as soon as weather permits.  Number one and number eighteen bridges are scheduled for restoration next year, which will complete the restoration bridge projects.  

Friday, February 1, 2013

Bunker Maintenance

 Before bunker edging
 
Jason Herbert locating bunker edges
 
 After bunker edging
 
Fox damage
 
 

During the warmer days of winter the Green Department staff have stayed busy with golf course work such as limbing trees, cleaning up leaves and debris and troubleshooting irrigation problems.  We have also been monitoring sand depths, drain lines and bunker edges.  Bunkers can quickly lose their original design and aesthetic look, even after only a few years.  The Kentucky Bluegrass bunker edges have the ability to grow horizontal through stoloniferous growth, as the sand provides an ideal growth medium.  To reclaim the original bunker edge we must find the soil edges with probing tools and shovels, dig out the sand and re-attach the sod to the soil edge.

Several factors play a role in sand distribution, sand can be lost or displaced with daily raking, wind, sand contamination and bunker shots where the sand is blasted out of the bunker and into the grass.  We will be adding sand to these locations throughout the winter and early spring months so the bunkers have a consistent depth.  Local fox have also played a factor in bunker maintenance.  The fox seem to prefer bunker banks for their den locations, the bunker banks provide protection from the harsh winter elements and an ideal place for them to raise a family.  As they dig out the den the sand becomes contaminated with soil and drainage gravel and in some cases drain lines become damaged.  In the fox damaged bunkers we will decontaminate the sand and repair lines as needed.