Knee Repair

On Tuesday March 7th I needed to get a torn meniscus repaired after an injury that was sustained last October. The surgery went very well and I am on the mend hoping to get back playing golf in a month or so. Here is a picture my wife took of me prior to surgery that I thought I would share.

Bunker Edging

The Grounds staff has completed the process of edging all of the sand bunkers. The results are very good and we are ready for the upcoming season. In the coming weeks we'll be rebuilding the edges of the green side bunkers on holes #2&#10. They have changed a lot over the years and need to be restablished back to their original design.

                                   

                                                           

The Panther Creek Country Club Grounds staff is currently looking for a motivated Panther Creek Member to become the BioBlitz Coordinator for the 2017 event. Below is a brief outline of what the program entails and there is a toolkit of resources for whoever wants to lead the event. Please contact me with any question and please share this information with anyone you feel may be interested.
Thank you!!!

PLEASE CONTACT:  Greg Willman, Golf Course Superintendent 546-1469

 PANTHER CREEK COUNTRY CLUB

Panther Creek Country Club in Springfield, Illinois is excited to announce it will host a BioBlitz event Between April and June of 2017. The free event is open to all families and community members.

  BioBlitz is a species counting competition organized by Audubon International to create awareness among golfers and the community about the environmental value of the habitats supported by golf courses. The program is open to any golf course worldwide.                                                                                          

About Audubon International

Audubon International is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) environmental organization providing people with the education and assistance they need to practice responsible management of land, water, wildlife, and other natural resources. To meet this mission, the organization provides training, services, and a set of award-winning environmental education and certification programs for individuals, organizations, properties, new developments, and entire communities. For more information, visit Audubon International’s website at www.auduboninternational.org.

2017 GOLF SEASON IS HERE!!!  I hope everyone has had the opportunity to get outside and enjoy some of the bonus days we received in February and now at the beginning of March. Here at the course we have been working diligently on refurbishing the golf course accessories, along with starting to mow some of the playing surfaces on the course.

Head Professional Pat Bayley and I will be putting an emphasis on filling divots, fixing ball marks, and course care during the 2017 season. This picture is of an unrepaired ball mark from the first couple days of play. The biggest issue with opening in February as we did this year is the soil temperatures are only in the mid-forties. This means the only grass growing is Poa annua. Bentgrass, which  is our preferred playing surface on fairways, greens, and tees, does not start growing until the soil temperatures hit 50 degrees. Unfixed ball marks and divots give Poa annua an opportunity to establish, which will increase the amount of our poa annua populations and diminish playing conditions over time. The diagram above shows the proper way to fix a ball mark. The correct way to fill a divot is to pick up and replace as much of the divot as possible and then put a small amount of sand around the edges to help seal the turf back down. After applying the sand step down the area level so the fairway mowers don’t catch it in the reels.  I think most of the time we do a nice job with all of these and I know some of our members are overachievers when it comes to course care, but if we can get everyone pulling on the same side of the rope, we will all be proud to be members at the club.

The grounds department has been exploring new ways to communicate with all of the members in the past couple of months. We have started a new turf blog along with Twitter and Instagram accounts. Our goal is to give the members of Panther Creek up to date information about what is being done on the golf course. We will be using both lines of communication on a regular basis.

 

Twitter: @PantherGrounds

 

Instagram: PantherGrounds

Golf Course Opening

Dear Members, Thanks for all of your patience! Beginning tomorrow, Wednesday February 22, we are going to open the course! The range tee and practice greens will open as well. Please be advised that there will be no tee markers or sand containers (in the coming week!) out and the restrooms will remain closed until we are sure that night time temps stay warmer. Please remember there may be some days when the temps dip below freezing that the course may not be available for play. We will try and communicate as best we can! Tee times will be accepted Sunday through Saturday and we will be closed on Mondays. We are looking forward to a great 2017 Golf Season and are excited to get an early start! FYI We are going to mow greens, change cups, and hopefully mow tees before play. On the right is Jaime Stash mowing the first grass of 2017 on the range tee.

Golf Course Update 2/16

Dear Members, We understand that this break in the weather has everyone excited for the upcoming golf season. While the conditions seem favorable to open the course, it is unfortunately not ready this early. Soil temperatures are still in the low 40's which prohibit any healing. Any ball marks, foot prints and divots will be long term damage that will take more time to heal. We know how the membership cares about course conditions in-season and this is why we must wait until conditions are favorable to open. We appreciate your understanding and support! Greg Willman, Golf Course Superintendent Pat Bayley, PGA Professional

Warm winter weather...

This is an article recently posted by a friend of mine Kyle Callahan who is the Superintendent @ Victoria National Golf Club in Indiana. This perfectly sums up the warm temps we are seeing and why we don't play on our greens.
Winter weather patterns change from year to year dependent on where the coldest air is located on the planet.  Transient weather patterns in the winter months can be the worst nightmare for turfgrass managers and the best thing for the golfer who wants to pull his clubs out.   On a 60⁰ day in the middle of January golfers don’t want to hear that “greens are frozen”, “temporary pins only”, or “carts on the paths”.  The region of the golf course will determine the frequency that these statements can be heard.  In the northern regions courses remain closed during winter months.  Most Midwest courses battle with the tough decisions of whether to open greens or close their course, dependent on the soil conditions.  Despite what the high temperature for the day is in the middle of January, golf course operators must make the appropriate decisions for the short-term as well as the long-term impact on course conditions in the spring and summer.

Every course must make decisions about winter play at some point.  Species of the plant, location of the region, and seasonal changes are a few examples that directly impact the complexity of the decisions for turf managers.  Planning for Mother Nature is one of the most difficult aspects of golf course management.  Soil temperature can trigger a lot of physiological effect in turfgrass.  Temperature variations change less rapidly in wet soils than in dry soils, because water has a large capacity to resist temperature changes compared to soil particles.  This explains why it takes several weeks of persistent cold weather to form an ice layer on your lake and vice versa on warming the lake. 

Previous cold temperatures and moisture in the soils will cause temperatures to rise significantly slower than the ambient temperature of the air.  As the frozen green thaws, not only does it become soft, it becomes very “squishy”.  Adding traffic during this phenomenon causes a “rutting” effect that takes additional maintenance and wear on the turfgrass that is not needed during non-growth conditions.  The other scenario is having a green that has thawed a few inches from the surface, but remains frozen beneath.  Bent grass roots are fibrous and have a weak tensile strength when sheered off or pulled.  Imagine, taking carpet from a living room and only having tack nails holding it to a sheet of ice underneath.  In a short matter of time the carpet will slide on the ice pulling the “tack nails” out as it moves.  This is the concern that turf managers have when allowing golf during winter months.  The opportunity for immediate turf injury is high in this scenario, but (like most issues with turfgrass) the damage may not be expressed until the spring or during stressful times in summer months.  Appropriate aerification and topdressing in the late fall can assist with reducing the moisture held in the top surfaces of the soil but is not a cure for extremely wet and cold conditions.

Living in the transition zone can give golfers a few bonus days in the winter months for golf.  However, these bonus days are not always going to be the first day that it turns 60⁰ plus degrees.  Turf managers do understand that golfer simply want to enjoy the course on a bonus day in the middle of winter, but must consider their membership needs and expectations for the entire year.  Smoothness of greens is the most common discussion among golfers during the season.  Maintaining the expectation is a 365 day process