Recent Projects

#11 Drainage repair

One less wet area to deal with!

#18 Tee Sign-Before

#18 Tee Sign-After

Plant material to be added soon

New Walk Path at #16 Tee

Sod Improvements

This week the Stillmeadow Turf and Maintenance team was able to use the warm and dry weather to make some sod improvements at some different areas around the course.  

Areas where sod has been added:
1) The completion of turf re-establishment on the #1 drainage project.  
2) The completion of turf re-establishment on the #9 drainage project.
3) The completion of turf re-establishment on the #13 drainage project.
4) The area from which bentgrass sod was removed from the beginning of #11 fairway.  This area is now restored but will remain rough grass.
5) The area of worn turf on the back left of #18 green bank.

#1 Drainage

#9 Drainage

#13 Drainage

#11 Tee End

#18 Green Bank

Putting Green Repair

After almost two and a half years of looking at the bare spot on the side of the practice green we finally found the time to do something about it!

#17 Green Repair

We went from this......

To this......

And now to the repair 10 days later.......

Aeration Progress

Yesterday, we finally had some decent working weather.  We made a lot of progress on greens aeration.  The front 9 has been completed and the back 9 is well underway.  We plan to have to entire process completed today!

Plane lands on #17 Green

 We had an exciting afternoon on Saturday here at Stillmeadow Country Club!

Our chemical salesman says we should probably cut back on our rates of this one!

Greens Aeration Woes

Mother nature has struck again!  Yesterday afternoon we closed the front 9 holes around 3 pm in an effort to get a jump start on the aeration process.  We were able to aerate greens 1-6.  The plugs are currently laying on the greens surfaces.  With rain falling today we do not have any plans to work on the cleanup of these greens or to start any additional plugging.  We feel that already going into the aeration process with soft playing surfaces we are unable to push the cleanup of these greens in fear of creating even the lightest of rutting on the greens tops with heavy equipment.  

The following are the steps for this springs greens aeration:
1) Pull cups, fill holes with sand to prevent cave-ins, mark all invasive irrigation outlets as to not be damaged by the aeration process.
2) Aerate the green
3) Clean up all plugs using blowers, rakes and scoop shovels
4) Topdress with sand
5) Brush sand thoroughly
6) Remove all excess canopy sand with the power broom
7) Roll the green
8) Change the cup
9) Water the green

As you can easily see, this is a time consuming process that has to be repeated for every green.  This is why these poor weather conditions can be detrimental to our plans as almost every step is dependent on somewhat of a drying process.

Taking all variables into account we still are not able to predict an exact time frame for the opening of the front 9, the start of this process on the back 9 or the completion of the entire process.  We do plan to keep 9 holes open to our members at all times this week and will continue to work hard on constant evaluation and moving forward to return your entire course to you as quickly as possible.  Thank you for your patience. 

Recent Developments

The Stillmeadow Turf and Maintenance team has been working on a variety of projects that include:
-Aeration of the practice green
-Construction of new stone walkways in landscape beds
-First mow of all bentgrass tees and fairways
-The re-introduction of course supplies (benches, ball washers, tee markers, flagsticks, etc.)
-The addition of a new practice tool for members (the little cup)
-Drainage work
-Tree Work
-Underbrush clearing in native areas

With better weather on the way, you should come out to see the progress that has been made even when it is too cold or too wet for golf!

New Dates Again: Greens Aeration

The dates for spring greens aeration have been changed yet again:
Front 9 Greens- Monday, April 14
Back 9 Greens- Tuesday, April 15
Rain Date-Wednesday, April 16

These changes have been made due to poor weather conditions pushing back our entire turf maintenance plan so far this season.  The other variable that has also come into play has been the spring scramble.  It is our goal to not have fresh aeration holes for this tournament.  We will start aerification the Monday after the tournament.  We will update you on any further changes.

The First Mow and Roll of 2014

Yesterday we finally had the opportunity to put a couple pieces of equipment on the greens.  Until this point in 2014, the greens had either been ice covered, snow covered or too wet to work on. The first step was to roll the greens.  This was done to level out any imperfections from winter freezing and thawing plus a variety of other factors such as foot printing.  The next step was to mow all of the greens.  Lastly, we changed all of the cups.  It was nice to get out there again!