Under Pressure

Ask any turf manager when the most challenging time of year is to grow healthy turfgrass, and they will consistently say “mid-summer”.  Not-so-lovingly referred to as “The Hot 100”, the hundred or so days from mid-June through mid-August are the make-or-break weeks for the health of a golf course.  This is the time of year when disease pressure, weed pressure, insect pressure, and golfer traffic are at their peak, putting a turf manager’s plans, pesticide programs, irrigation systems, and determination to the test.  Illini Country Club is certainly not immune to these challenges, but the key is in how they are managed and mitigated.  Here are some specific ways in which the Greens & Grounds Department is handling the pressure…  

 

• For the 2022 season, Superintendent Cody Hutcherson created a comprehensive fertilizer and pesticide program that is based on plant health and pest prevention (including a specialized program to combat pond algae), which is proving successful. 
• Despite last week’s storms (which dumped more than five inches of rain within four days), current climate data still classifies Sangamon County as “moderately dry” with counties directly to the east experiencing “moderate to severe drought”.  Careful water management (including many labor-hours of localized hand watering) are helping to supplement rain events.
  
• Recent weather patterns are also contributing to extremely high weed pressure, specifically in the form of notoriously difficult to control summer annual grassy weeds such as crabgrass, goosegrass, and sedge.  In addition to an effective preemergent herbicide program, the following are some steps that are being actively taken to help stay on top of affected areas:

• Pulling weeds in bunkers as part of raking process
• Biweekly spraying/pruning landscape beds
• Ongoing fence line pruning
• Post-emergent weed control in turf areas

 

Finally, it’s worth noting that over the past two seasons there has been a consistent and compounding trend of improving the integrity and aesthetic appeal of the ICC grounds. Here are just a few photographic examples of improvements throughout the property.  Unless otherwise noted, “before” photos are from July 2020 and “after” photos are from July 2022.  Through the hard work and tenacity of the Greens & Grounds Department, with the support of the ICC Membership and Leadership, there is a clear trajectory of continued improvement and success at Illini Country Club!

Tree Enhancement Program

Spring has arrived and the Illini Greens & Grounds team is starting to shift its focus from winter course work and projects to preparing the course for the season that lies ahead.  While this is an exciting time of year where everyone is looking forward to nicer weather, longer and sunnier days, and getting outside of the house; I want to take the time to recap the Tree Enhancement Program that began this winter at Illini Country Club.

Over the course of the past year, the Club has invested in equipment that allows our Greens & Grounds team to conduct tree work in house that we would typically have to hire a contractor to execute.  While the use of a contracted tree service is still necessary throughout the year, we were able to start pruning and removing trees within the capability of our new equipment.

Illini Country Club is a unique property that is home to many different species of trees.  The majority of the trees on property are Oak, Maple, and Pine, while there are Sweet Gum, Ash, Magnolia, Linden, and Ginkgo scattered throughout the golf course as well.  There are 3 main goals of the Tree Enhancement Program:

1. Prune dead, decaying, and low hanging limbs

2. Remove trees that are dead or decaying

3. Prune limbs or remove trees that are affecting golf course playability or limiting sunlight to grow healthy turf

The Greens & Grounds team uses several factors to evaluate the trees on property: safety, turf health, and aesthetics, with safety being the most influential factor considered when deciding to remove a tree.

A lack of tree maintenance in past years requires that almost every tree on the property needs to be pruned at minimum, while there are also a handful of trees that need to be removed primarily due to rotting and decaying trunks.  You will see trees on the golf course that have a pink ribbon around them, this is "tagging" the tree for removal.  Once the trees are removed or pruned the Greens & Grounds team is reusing the tree to create byproducts so nothing goes to waste.  A Vermeer chipper is used to mulch the limbs and the mulch created is being dispersed in landscape beds around the golf course.  The parts of the tree that are too large to process through the chipper are being cut into firewood length and then split into firewood for use. 

 

Lift that allows our staff to reach approximately 40ft high.

This is the trunk of a tree that was removed, approximately 22" of the 27" width is rotted.

Side view of the above mentioned rotted tree.

This photo is displaying a pile of split firewood wood from materials that were removed from the golf course.

Vermeer chipper that has the capability to process wood up to 12" in diameter, leaving behind mulch that will be utilized throughout the golf course.

As the weather continues to improve, you will see the Greens & Grounds team beginning to conduct spring cultivation practices such as deep tine aerification, hollow and solid tine aerification, verticutting, and topdressing, which we will discuss in our next blog post!

- Illini Greens & Grounds Team

Winter Prep

As the calendar turned another page into the month of December, the Greens & Grounds team has been preparing the course for the winter months that lie ahead.  Preparing the course for the cold, snowy, and windy conditions that Mother Nature throws our way in January and February is just as important as preparing the course for the summer months.

One of the first steps that was taken at Illini was applying a late fall fertilizer application to provide nutrients to the plant going into winter dormancy and aid in spring green up.  Next, a fungicide application that contained a mixture of contact and systemic active ingredients was applied to the bentgrass surfaces to protect the plant from a disease known as snow mold.  

Half of #11 green complete with the snow mold app.  The dark green color is due to one of the fungicide products we applied known as Civitas.

Once the final fertilizer and chemical applications were complete, the next step was to winterize the irrigation system.  This is done by renting a large air compressor to connect into the existing irrigation system to blow air through the irrigation pipes and sprinklers to push the water out.  If water is left in the irrigation pipes and sprinklers, it will freeze and crack the existing infrastructure leading to wide spread irrigation failures in the spring.  Before the system is blown out, a handful of irrigation watering cycles were conducted to hydrate the soil.

Air compressor used to blow out the irrigation system.

Hose connecting air compressor to pumphouse & irrigation system.

Hose connection into irrigation pipe exiting the pumphouse.

Once these important tasks were complete, the Greens & Grounds team shifted there focus to leaf and debris removal and clean-up.  While this is still a work in progress, the team will continue to blow and mulch leaves as long as the weather allows.  The final step for our team will be applying a medium to heavy topdressing application on greens once we determine that the weather will no longer permit suitable golfing conditions.

The Greens & Grounds team wishes all of the members and staff at Illini Country Club a happy and healthy holiday season!

- Illini Greens & Grounds Team

 

Fall 2021 Projects

It has been awhile since we have posted... We can assure you that is not because there has been a lack of topics to talk about or improvements to the golf course!  The Greens & Grounds team at Illini has been hard at work maintaining the golf course to the standards the membership expects.  Over the past few months a handful of projects and cultural practices have been completed.

Earlier this fall, the Club continued to invest and move forward with teeing ground improvements.  With guidance from the Greens & Golf committee's, the Greens & Grounds team directed a contractor on tee enhancements on holes 8, 9, and 13.  On hole 8, a new forward tee was added to improve the playing experience for the shorter hitters.  On holes 9 and 13, completely new tee complex's were constructed while adhering to the yardages set forth in the master plan. Below are a couple of photo's of the finished renovation process on hole 13.

Teeing surface's sodded with 007 bentgrass.

Finished project - rough surrounds sodded with tall fescue.

Another large scale process that took place was a cultural practice known as DryJect.  DryJect was the aerification process utilized this fall on greens.  This process requires one machine that creates holes 3" deep and 3" apart using highly pressurized water and simultaneously fills the hole created with sand.  This process is highly efficient and decreases the risk of plant injury than standard core aerification, especially coming out of a prolonged stressful period such as the summer months of July and August.  A couple other added benefits to the DryJect process are while creating the sand channels, the process hydrates the soil and the turf recovery time is significantly increased.  The contractor utilized was Heartland Golf and Turf from Kansas City, MO.

DryJect machine

Recovery 4 days post DryJect

A handful of other tasks have been taking place.  As time has allowed, the Greens & Grounds team has been diligently renovating the exterior walls of the maintenance building.  Over the years, the mismanagement of rain and drainage water have rotted the walls and insulation throughout the building.  New insulation and rotted wall studs are being replaced as well as water management, such as a waterproof membrane around the base of the building and gutters are much needed improvements.  Other improvements throughout the golf course include slit seeding the driving range tee to aid in divot recovery and promote a denser turf stand.  The utilization of a 1.2 ton vibratory asphalt roller to smooth the playing surface on tees also took place, the tees will be rolled with the same machine again in the spring after the winter freeze/thaw.  Finally, the pumphouse lost all power at the beginning of October due to a transformer on Chatham Rd malfunctioning.  Luckily, we were provided timely rains from Mother Nature because we were without a functioning irrigation system for 3 weeks!!!!! Next on the agenda for the Greens & Grounds team is the battle against leaves and frost.  Below are photo's from the above mentioned items.

Rotted baseboard in the maintenance building allowing water (& rodents) to freely enter

1.2 ton roller smoothing out tees

Club mascot (Millie) rolling tees

Slit seeding driving range tee

Electrical conduit repair for pumphouse power left of 12 tee

Electrical conduit trench connecting power from Chatham Rd to pumphouse

Fall and leaf clean-up have officially arrived

The Greens & Grounds team would like to thank the Club and membership for the unwavering support during the 2021 golfing season!

- Illini Greens & Grounds Team

June - Summer Heat & Stress Management

The month of June flew by! It is hard to believe that 4th of July weekend is upon us and Member-Guest is weeks behind us.  The Greens & Grounds team has transitioned into "maintenance mode" over the last few weeks and are completely focused on providing and maintaining consistent course conditioning and playability for the foreseeable future.

Daily mowing and rolling of the greens, bunker raking, detail work and mowing of tees, fairways, and rough multiple times per week are keeping the small, but dedicated team busy.

This past week Illini received over 4" of rainfall, the property was in need of precipitation to supplement our irrigation use and particularly help stressed areas in fairways.  As we transition out of this cloudy, wet stretch of weather and start to recognize a more summer like pattern of high temperatures and clear, sunny skies, the Greens & Grounds team will be putting the health and sustainability of the golf course as the top priority on all agronomic decision making.  Directional signs, rope, and stakes will be used to help direct cart and foot traffic routes throughout the property as needed to alleviate stressed areas throughout the fairways and rough.  Members & their guests may notice team members hand watering or syringing greens throughout the afternoon.  This process is helping to cool down the leaf tissue and surface temperature of the green and should not take more than 1-2 minutes per green.  Other water management tasks you may see are; staff hand watering tees & fairways or irrigation heads running throughout fairways during the afternoon, these cycles last 3-5 minutes.  Please remain patient and do not hit your ball towards Greens & Grounds staff, this is a serious safety issue and we will be out of your way as soon as possible.  During these stressful times, you may notice green speeds a little slower than normal.  This is due to increased mowing heights and reduced rolling.  It is imperative that we do not over stress the greens and cause thin or bare areas.  These thin or bare areas are extremely susceptible to disease, moss, and algae.

Below is a link to a couple different USGA Green Section videos that explain summer maintenance and watering strategies.

Fore The Golfer: Summer On The Golf Course - YouTube

Golf's Use Of Water: Handwatering - YouTube

If you have any questions regarding turf maintenance strategies or practices at Illini during stressful summer months, please feel free to contact Curtis or Cody.

- Illini Greens & Grounds Team

Meet The Team

 

A lot of exciting things have been happening over the last few months!  Projects are coming to completion and the Greens & Grounds team have been assembling staff members to tackle the challenges that lie ahead in the 2021 golf season.

After serving as the Assistant Superintendent from 2013-2016, Curtis Keller has returned to Illini Country Club to serve as the Director of Agronomy.  Curtis was previously the Golf Course Superintendent at the Buffalo Ridge Course at Big Cedar Lodge Resort in southwest Missouri.  He is originally from Indiana and provides a wide range of expertise and knowledge.

Second, we have Cody Hutcherson.  Cody has spent the past 2 years as the Assistant Superintendent at Mt. Hawley Country Club in Peoria, IL.  Before that, he spent time interning at multiple Top 100 golf courses in the Southeast and Midwest.  He joined the Illini team in March as the Golf Course Superintendent.  Cody is originally from Orion, IL and is looking forward to helping Illini improve the overall golfing experience for its members and guests.

Third in line is Jason Herbert.  Jason currently serves the Greens & Grounds team as the Assistant Superintendent.  Jason began at Illini as a Groundskeeper and worked his way up the ladder.  In total, Jason has 17 years of experience on the Illini property.  Jason is originally from the Springfield area.

Next is Robin Brockmeyer.  Robin is in her 19th year as Illini Country Club's Horticulturalist.  Robin does a fantastic job keeping the plant material and landscape beds around the clubhouse and golf course updated and colorful.  From planting annual flowers to installing fresh mulch, Robin is behind the beautiful landscapes our members have come to enjoy.

Also on the team is Mark Hammitt.  Mark serves as the Crew Foreman.  He joined the Illini team 7 years ago as a Seasonal Groundskeeper and has since been promoted into his current role.  Mark does a little bit of everything; from operating the equipment used on the golf course to assisting in equipment repair and maintenance.  

Lastly, we have our year-round Groundskeeper, John Millslagle.  John has been employed with Illini since 2012.  John is an integral part of our Greens & Grounds operation.  Not only is John relied upon to operate the equipment used to manicure the golf course, he is also responsible for the yearly equipment cleaning and detailing that takes place throughout the winter in order to maintain the Club's assets.

We look forward to seeing all of the members and their guests out on the golf course this season and are excited for what the future holds as Illini continues to set itself apart as the premier private club in central Illinois.

- Illini Greens & Grounds Team