As the season comes to an end, overall, the golf course has made it through the season very well and very healthy considering the circumstances of newly seed/sodded areas, high volume of play and tough weather. The Greens are going into their first true winter in great shape. The aerification of the Greens in October went very well and the warmer stretch of weather in November has given the few stressed areas on the Greens extra time to heal and recover. I'm very pleased with the Greens and their performance this past season. For only being 1 year old they performed incredibly well under tough conditions and weather. The 007 grass has lived up to its reputation!
The November weather has kept play up and turf growing throughout the golf course. Our November at the Grounds Department has been busy. We have many jobs that need to be completed before the true winter months hit us. Add to those jobs extra mowing and course setup due to the unseasonable warm weather and it can get tough to "put the course to bed." The warm, dryer weather over the last month has also given us the ability to work on a few projects to help continue to improve the grounds at Beverly. The fence line at hole #4 has gotten a much needed paint job. A big thanks to Dave Mancini and the clubhouse staff for helping in painting the fence at #4. We also added extensive drainage through the valley at #8 approach. This will help firm up the area much quicker after heavy storms and general rainfall.
What does the phrase "putting the golf course to bed" entail for the grounds department? Like most golf courses in the North, its typically the same: final mows of the Greens, Tees and Fairways, irrigation blowout/winterization, and snow mold fungicide applications to all the bent grass. Over the years given the uncertainty of Chicagoland weather, my rule of thumb is to have those jobs completed by Thanksgiving. There has been years to where post Thanksgiving, I have come back to the golf course covered in snow and not see any green again for the next 3 months. So to be safe, I like to be buttoned up by the week of Thanksgiving if possible. We are on schedule this year as we are completing those tasks this week.
At Beverly, its a two day process to blowout and winterize the irrigation system. Beverly is unique in the fact our irrigation system is connected to city water, so we must close off that mainline valve first. A rented compressor is then connected into our irrigation system at the pumphouse located behind the Pro Shop. The compressor then provides us our pressure to push the water out of the system by turning on the irrigation heads.
Our staff then goes through the golf course hole by hole, turning on each individual sprinkler head, letting the water run out until only air remains in the line. This is done to make sure all water is removed from the lines and no pockets of water exist. If enough water is left in a portion of the irrigation system, the water could freeze over the winter, splintering the irrigation line. That scenario obviously can cause major problems in the Spring when we go to fire up the irrigation system.
The final task is applying our fungicide application to the Greens, Tees and Fairways. This is the last chemical application of the year and will protect our bent grass through the harsh winter months. The main diseases we are trying to protect our bent grass from are grey snow mold and pink snow mold. These two diseases thrive in the cold weather of the winter months, so it is important to have a solid application to end the season.
As you can see there is a lot of work that goes into "putting the golf course to bed" and mother nature doesn't always want to comply with our timing. However, this year the weather has been perfect and Beverly is set up nicely to have a great slumber and be ready to go next Spring. I hope this gives better insight as to what it takes to "put the golf course to bed." It is a lot of work and usually done with a limited staff this time of year. As always, our grounds staff at Beverly is second to none and work extremely hard each day.
Kirk Spieth
