Due to extremely cold, wet and or icy conditions the course will remain closed for the remainder of the day. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Klint Ladd
Golf Course Superintendent

Tree Removals

The Stillmeadow Turf and maintenance team will spend a portion of the winter continuing to address dead Ash trees.  This latest round of trees were also taken out by the Emerald Ash Borer.  While we hate to lose any mature trees on the course, they are necessary to remove as they have become safety concerns to all course activity.

Course Status Update:
At this time we will be officially closing the course for play today due to inclement weather. If you have any further questions please contact the golf shop at 513-495-1234.
Thanks,
Klint Ladd
Golf Course Superintendent

Fall Maintenance Update

Now that we finally seem to be moving away from warmer temperatures in 2016, I wanted to take a minute to update everyone on what has been accomplished.  While the first half of the year seemed to be filled with rain days, the latter part has been mostly warm and dry.  This has enabled our staff to accomplish many task.  Some of these task we consider to be "regular", yet weather dependent.  However, other accomplishments have been more project or improvement based.  The following is a bullet point list of some of what has, or will be achieved. 

• Improvements/fixes to the irrigation system (This continues to be an ongoing battle)
• Leaf cleanup
• Weekly verticutting and topdressing to greens surfaces
• Dead Ash tree removals
• New tree plantings
• Greens aeration
• Tee aeration
• Fairway aeration
• Aeration to ALL course rough areas
• Equipment repairs and improvements
• Stump grinding
• Chip removal from stump areas
• Soil, seed, fertilizer and strawing of stump areas
• Seeding of thin fairway areas
• Tall Fescue seed incorporation at greens surrounds
• Pruning of shrubs and ornamental grasses
• Winterization of irrigation systems, course restrooms and irrigation pump houses
• Applications of chemicals and fertilizers to all surfaces
• Rock work in an attempt to control erosion to creeks and other waterways
• Native rough areas cut to 6-8 inches

As you can see from this list, many areas have been addressed in some fashion.  The course has played fast and firm for most of the latter part of the year.  This is much easier to achieve with less precipitation.  We will continue to deliver the best conditions possible considering the hand we are dealt.  I hope you all have enjoyed Stillmeadow Country Club in 2016 and rest assured that we are taking the necessary steps for more of the same in 2017.

Thanks,

Klint Ladd

Golf Course Superintendent

Fairway Aeration

Fairway Aeration Update:

The rain yesterday had halted our progress on the cleanup portion of fairway aeration. However, the ground was still firm enough to continue aerating. We have aerated the entire front 9 fairways and were able to get about half of those cleaned up. We will suspend the back 9 aeration until Wednesday 9/28 so that we can get the front 9 cleaned today and still have the back 9 playable. If the rain stays away moving forward, we should be able to get the back 9 aerated and cleaned to completion tomorrow. Finishing touches will be completed on Thursday.  Thank you for your patience.

Klint Ladd 
Golf Course Superintendent

Thank You

Special thanks to Stillmeadow member Bill Batchelor! The maintenance team can always count on Bill to help out throughout the year with various maintenance task. We appreciate what you do!

Klint Ladd
Golf Course Superintendent

Course Closed

The course will remain closed for the rest of the day as we have experienced a tremendous amount of rainfall. We will re-evaluate tomorrow morning and will hope to open the course then. The members lounge is open today.

Thank you,
Klint Ladd
Golf Course Superintendent

Course Closed

The course is currently closed until further notice due to rainfall.  We will update you here upon any changes to the course status.  You may also call the golf shop at 513-495-1234.

Thanks,
Klint Ladd
Golf Course Superintendent

The Irrigation Battle Begins

The worst day of year for the Stillmeadow Turf and Maintenance crew is usually sometime around early March every year.  It is the day when we turn the irrigation system on.  In the last 5 years we have poured countless time, energy and resources into the irrigation system.  This hard work has paid off as we continue to see less issues on a yearly basis.  However, we still see a lot.   

The biggest culprit since our arrival at SCC has been the swing joints for the quick couplers.  This a port that has been installed at various locations around the golf course.  These ports allow us to quickly connect a hose to the system for handwatering and other various task.  Many of these quick couplers are part of the original irrigation system and how the course was watered on a nightly basis before the installation of double row sprinkler heads.  The quick couplers are supported by galvanized steel piping which is where the majority of our problems occur. The following photos show the rusted hole in the steel piping along with some photos of the repair process.  In most cases the couplers are removed and the main line is then repaired.

Pre-emergent Application to tees, fairways and rough

Yesterday at Stillmeadow Country Club, we applied over 100 acres of fertilizer combined with a pre-emergent herbicide.  Thanks to Advanced Turf Solutions for doing an awesome job on the application.

Progress Updates

Over the last 4.5 years, the current staff at Stillmeadow Country Club has worked diligently to maintain smoother and firmer greens.  We have been able to achieve this as well as other benefits through regular sand topdressing to the green surfaces.  One of the additional benefits that probably gets overlooked is the positive changes that can be made to the soil profile if the process is done correctly.  

Organic matter is constantly being created in any turf area.  This is caused by dead plant material and will occur even when the turf stand appears healthy.  This occurs where the bottom or "crown" of the plant meets the soil.  This is known as the thatch layer.  The thatch layer causes many problems, especially when trying to maintain turf in a putting green setting.  The primary concern would be that a thatch layer can become like a sponge that ties up water, nutrients, chemicals and fertilizer from getting to the roots of the plants. 

There are different ways to combat thatch.  Verticutting and core aeration would be two of the better known ones.  Frequent topdressing is another and a great tool when you consider the benefits to ball roll and playabilty that you can also achieve.  The goal with sand topdressing is to apply enough sand to match the rate of organic addition to the point where layering is not evident.  The USGA makes recommendations to help turf managers have an idea of what these quantities would be in each area of the country.

Now we would like to show you a picture of a soil profile taken from #8 green

The greens at our club were originally constructed out of native soil which you can still see on the right hand side of the picture.  You can see areas where clean sand has been added to the native soil by our team.  This was done by the process of deep tine aeration and topdressing.  Sand throughout the profile allows for better water peculation and ultimately allows for a faster drying surface after rain and irrigation events.  As we move left in the photo the next area was years of hard work by previous superintends and their staff's to incorporate sand for all of the previously mentioned reasons.  You can also see pockets of new sand where our team has also contributed to this area.  The next area is organic layering.  This area was created by years of improper cultural practices including a lack of sand incorporation.  Much like a thatch layer, this layer will act like a barrier that will tie up water, nutrients, chemicals, fertilizer and will ultimately end up reducing rooting past this layer.  Moving left, the top area is what we have been able to achieve in just 4.5 years.  You will see some minor organic layering in this area which means we could be even more aggressive.  However, overall it is a fairly well blended area of sand and organic matter that should allow for the movement of water, and nutrients through the soil while also continuing to push the black organic layer further down to a level where it becomes less of a concern.

We are proud of the progress we have made and wanted the membership to see that there is always more going on than meets the eye!  All of this behind the scenes effort, finances and planning shows the end result of a better putting surface and a better overall product to our membership for now and in the future!

The end result

Tree Transplanting Project

The Stillmeadow Turf and maintenance crew has wrapped up the transplanting of native trees found in wooded areas and brush lines. These trees have been strategically placed across all 18 holes and have made a huge and immediate impact. In total, over 70 trees have been transplanted. Many thanks to all members involved in raising the funds to make this project the success that we believe it will and can be in the future.

With gratitude,

Klint Ladd
Golf Course Superintendent