April Course Update- Early spring, or late winter?

The past few weeks have been very busy in the Golf Course Maintenance Department.  Greens aeration was the main focus at the beginning of the month.  The aeration process itself went quite smoothly.  The only obstacle has been dealing with the weather.  In years past, greens aeration has been a 2-3 day event.  This year, however, it took just over a week to complete the process, as we were forced to dodge rain storms.  (See our previous blog post regarding aeration and soil moisture.)  We essentially worked through the course in three “waves” in order to avoid the rain.  After the rain impeded our aeration process, Mother Nature decided complete her “double-whammy” in the form of low temperatures and frost.  Nighttime temperatures have been dipping into the upper 30’s this past week.  The cold snap has slowed the rate of growth on greens, which in turn has slowed down the aeration recovery process.  To combat this issue, and to provide the best playable conditions possible, we are steadily feeding the greens light, frequent applications of fertilizer.  In addition, they are receiving extra water, topdressing, and selective mowing/rolling.  The challenge has been keeping all the greens as consistent as possible, while dealing with the fact that the greens in each “wave” of completion is in a slightly different stage of recovery.

While the frosty mornings have hindered our operations on the course, they have afforded us an opportunity to focus our labor in other areas.  With the extra help of our crew members, our horticulturist Robin Brockmeyer has made great strides in cleaning up and adding fresh mulch to the landscape beds throughout the course and clubhouse grounds.  The area surrounding the bridge on #18, and also the lower tee on #1 have been graded and prepped for sod, which we will be installing on Tuesday.  We have also taken advantage of these frosty mornings to catch up on maintenance and organization around the shop.

While the weather has certainly been a bit of a challenge, it’s nothing that we’re not used to in Central Illinois.  We appreciate your patience as the course continues to recover.  Think spring, and see you on the course!

Prepared by, Curtis Keller