Take a Little off the Top

Annual tree pruning began this week.  Over the last 5 winters we've spent a great deal of time and money towards tree care, and by the end of this winters pruning we will have pruned each and every tree on the golf course.  Why do such a task? Trees are vital to the property, they need to be maintain for their health but also the safety of people on the golf course and the course itself.  Pruning helps remove dead branches, diagnosing severely damaged trees, opening trees up to increase sunlight, along with bringing balance and shape back to the tree.  Not addressing such things can eventually result in catastrophic events by falling branches or worse yet falling trees.

Pruning of trees along left side of 13 fairway

Opening up and shaping this Maple tree on 14

Removal of trees are always a controversial subject but are a necessity.  Storm damage, disease, insects, or health of the golf course are among the reasons why trees are at times selected to be removed.  4 years ago a complete tree inventory was completed by Kris Bachtell whom runs the Morton Arboretum.  With the inventory each tree was given a classification of health letting us know which trees need to be watched carefully or removed.  Each year we have trees that meet the need for removal; this season we faced Ash trees affected by Emerald Ash Borer, some Elms with Dutch Elm Disease, Maples with stem girdling roots, and other trees that were just unhealthy or negatively affecting the golf course.  Diseased and dying trees are immediate removals where as others it's a judgmental decision.  While pruning is taking place removals are being done as well following the stated above reasons.  Most do not affect the play-ability of the course one bit, the only impact is visual.  All removals have gone well and we are now placing logs to be picked up for free..

Each log does not represent one tree. 

Tree work was not the only task in full force this week.  Monday, being slightly warmer allowed us to get outside and do some drainage work and ice inspections.  Drainage work involved cleaning of catch basin drains as well as clearing paths for run off water to get to the drains.  Some ice is evident throughout the golf course, some warmup/melt days followed by cold is the cause.  Being proactive we inspected what we could and added a little black sand to the ice to help aid in melting when sun is available.  I don't anticipate having any damage although we do still have a good amount of winter to go.  Continued monitoring will take place throughout the winter and proactive measure will be taken.

Clearing snow from around the drain so water can get to it.

Here you can see a patch of ice with black sand applied in the top right corner, along with a shoveled drainage path through the middle.