Fall Golf On GCC's Courses

 Leaves and More Leaves

You can't discuss fall golf without mentioning leaves.  Despite the mild weather thus far this season the leaves have finally began falling and keeping up with them is no small task for the guys on the crew.  We will dedicate 80-90% of our manpower over the next 8-10 weeks trying our best to keep the course as clean as possible.  There of course will be days where we lose the battle, but whenever we fall behind just know we will work extra hard to catch up all in an effort to make everyone's golf experience as enjoyable as possible.  

Frost Delays

Fall is also the time where early morning tee times are often delayed by the formation of frost.  Golf course turf is normally resilient to traffic, but when ice crystals form inside the plants, they become brittle and vulnerable to damage. Walking or driving over frost-covered grass may rupture plant cells, leading to dead turf. Or the plants may be weakened without immediately showing the effects. When this does occur the golf maintenance team will work closely with the Pro Shop staff to communicate the length of the expected delay to the membership. Golfers should be aware that when temperatures are forecasted to be within 2-3 degrees, or lower. of freezing frost is possible.  The later we get into winter the colder the soil temperature becomes, which typically results in longer delays..

Fall Overseeding and Minor Repairs to the Cool Season Turf

                                     

Above - A long overdue repair of turf underneath the large hardwoods on Farm #6 dogleg

                                                                           

Irving Park #7 Right Side Convert Mulch to Grass

We Have Also Been Working On A Few Landscaping Projects

New Hollies on #16

#15 IP

First Phase Landscaping Starting at Clubhouse

Uninvited Guest

I know many of you that live around the course have seen our unwanted guest this year.  I have been in the business for a good number of years and seen all kinds of wildlife on the course and more importantly how some of that wildlife affects the course.  Geese have historically been our biggest nuisance when they choose to feed on the greens and leave behind the spoils of their feeding.  Deer can occasionally damage greens and their winter feeding habits will certainly defoliate plants they seem to enjoy.  Groundhogs and musk rats cause their fair share of damage along creek and lake banks.  Crows occasionally damage the turf while feeding on worms and grubs.  I've seen beavers cause flooding on a scale I couldn't believe was possible.  

But the guest I am talking about is our neighborhood fox or foxes, I really don't know how many.  For well over a year now we have seen damage to our greens and bunkers on what is a nearly daily occurrence.  Damage ranges anywhere from scratching the surface on the greens and bunkers to digging holes large enough to sleep in.  They seem to like the greens and bunkers because they are easy to dig in.  We have even had, during the middle of the day, a fox walk across the fairway and steal one of the members balls.  This summer we had to use part of our Bentgrass nursery to allow us to constantly be plugging out the damage on the greens and when we went to re-seeded the nursery this fall it didn't take long for the newly seeded area to be destroyed by that same animal.  We've treated some of the areas with hot pepper spices but it only seemed to work for a few days and when we put it on the greens it burned the leaves.  We did hire a wildlife expert to come in and attempt to trap and relocate but after a month or more of traps being set around the course and a lot of invoices for their services we never had one single trap set.  So, not only is he/she destructive but he/she is fairly smart too.

A few Pictures out of 100+ I could have taken