Driving Range Project

"CLICK" To Enlarge Driving Range Plan 

 

 

The driving range project is scheduled to begin as soon as drier conditions permit.  The project is a two to three week process; one to two weeks of shaping, and one week of prepping and laying sod.  Once the areas have been sodded the grass will need one or two weeks to fully establish before driving range use.  We will utilize the artificial turf while sod is in the process of establishing.  After the grass is stable enough to handle golf play we will resume  our normal grass and artificial turf rotation. The driving range project will consist of the following:

• Build target green using spoils from pro shop construction.
• Build target bunkers using limestone screenings to give look of real green (ball picker can go through bunkers).
• Expand range tee to 16,000 square feet (current tee is 7,400 square feet in size). 
• Lower existing tee 2'-4' and use dirt to expand.
• 12-13 stations at front of tee (8' spacing).
• 10 stations at back of tee (8' spacing).
• Synthetic tee (80'x6') 10 stations (8' spacing).
• Add drainage basins behind tee.
• Remove sod from chipping green and re-grade to soften contours and replace sod.

 

 



The Golf Course is Open!

After a long harsh winter the golf course is officially open for the 2014 golfing season.  The green department is hard at work preparing the golf course for play.  We have spent the last few weeks raking, blowing and removing tree debris from the golf course.  However, we have a few more days to complete this task.  Once all playing surfaces are clear of debris we will begin grooming. We will start with a few rolls to smooth the playing surfaces and hopefully the first mowing next week.  Bunkers will need some extra attention this year.  Along with the usual fox damage, we also experienced soil heaving around some of the drain lines.  We will spend the next few weeks repairing damaged drain lines, decontaminating sand, and adding roughly 50 tons of new sand to shallow areas.  Hope to see you on the golf course!

Welcome Curtis Keller

NEW Assistant Golf Course Superintendent

 

Curtis Keller, Assistant Golf Course Superintendent, is the newest member of Illini Country Club's management team, starting in 2014. Curtis graduated with a degree in Ornamental Horticulture and Golf Course Management from Danville Area Community College in Danville, Illinois. Professionally, he has held positions at Northmoor Country Club (IL), Hillcrest Country Club (IL), The Los Angeles Country Club (CA), and The Resort at Pelican Hill (CA). He is a member of the Golf Course Superintendents’ Association of America. Curtis resides in Springfield with his wife Kristin and daughter Ruth.

Golf Course Update

First Week Working Outside (debris cleanup)

FINALLY, a warming trend is in the weather forecast!  After a long harsh winter with temperatures well below normal and snow fall well above average, I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  That being said the golf course will remain closed for the time being.  Opening the golf course in the winter is one of the toughest decisions for a Golf Course Superintendent to make.  Conditions have to be perfect to allow golf play and especially to allow golf carts out on the golf course.  The ground has to be COMPLETELY thawed throughout the soil profile and water can not be present near the surface of the ground.  Allowing golf play on a half frozen or saturated golf course can quickly lead to many problems.  The golf course will need a extended stretch of warm weather to completely thaw and dry.  The Green Department will be monitoring the golf course conditions very closely on a daily basis.  I will continue to update golf course conditions and as soon as an open date is set, we will immediately send out a notification.  Below is an article by James T. Snow Director, USGA Green Section.  I hope to see you on the golf course SOON.

Repercussions of Winter Play

It is not hard to understand why many golfers are sometimes skeptical about claims concerning the negative effects of winter play, because to them the turf on greens that have been played throughout the winter usually appears the same as the turf on greens that have been closed. The effects of winter traffic, however, need not be obvious and dramatic to have significant and long-lasting repercussions.

Direct wear injury
Thinning of the turf due to direct wear injury is an obvious and important result of winter traffic. Unlike during the growing season, when turf is able to regenerate new leaves and stems to replace injured tissue daily, winter weather completely halts turf growth; the grass is continually thinned throughout the winter in direct proportion to the amount of traffic. This thinning of the turf canopy can, and often does, encourage the establishment of such weeds as Poa annua, crabgrass, goosegrass, moss, algae, pearlwort, spurge, and other weed pests during the spring and summer. True enough, weeds can indeed be a problem on greens that aren't subjected to winter play, but winter traffic causes them to be just that much more abundant and difficult to control.

Soil compaction
Soil compaction is a more subtle and perhaps more important consequence of winter traffic. Because of the cold winter temperatures and lack of active turf growth, the loss of excess soil moisture through evaporation and transpiration is greatly reduced. In addition, frozen sub-surface soils may completely block the movement of excess moisture through the soil profile. During the summer, a very heavy rainfall often creates soil conditions that warrant closing the course for a day or two until the excess moisture is eliminated by the way of evaporation, transpiration, and downward percolation through the soil profile. Because these moisture losses are often non-functional during the winter, saturated soil conditions can persist for weeks or longer. Yet the golfers who can appreciate the need to close the course during the summer are sometimes completely unsympathetic to the same conditions and concerns during the winter.

The effects of soil compaction on the health and playability of the turf are insidious at any time, but because wet soils are especially prone to compaction, the likelihood of traffic causing the collapse of good soil structure is of constant concern during the winter. As soil particles are compacted and pushed closer and closer together, the pore space that facilitates drainage and root growth during summer is gradually lost. As the season finally commences, golfers often complain the these compacted greens are hard. From an agronomic standpoint, turf begins the season in a weakened state, predisposed to a host of summer problems. In addition to the potential for weed encroachment, the turf on greens played during winter tends to wilt more readily during hot weather, and often is more susceptible to a wide array of primary and secondary disease organisms.

Effects on playability
With the loss of turf density from direct wear injury and the loss of turf vigor caused by soil compaction, greens played during winter tend to be hard, slow, and bumpy, and they are slower to develop during the spring, compared to greens that are not subjected to winter traffic. Footprinting is often a problem, and golfers tend to complain about the lack of trueness even after several topdressings in the spring. Finally, the effects of compaction on the health of the turf can last to a certain extent for much of the season, making it difficult or impossible to keep the greens as closely cut and intensively groomed as some golfers might desire.