PLEASE help with our "French's Mustard Container Drive 2010-2011"

The "French's Mustard Container Drive 2010-2011" is moving along at a great pace! Getting closer to our goal of 100 bottles by April 1st. The Winnetka Golf Club Maintenance Staff would like to send a big THANK YOU out to all the family's whose mustard bottles were at the end of the containers useful life span. We understand that this is a process. It may take several months for people to use a 14 oz. bottle. We are prepared to wait...and wait...and wait. The golf course will always have a need for bottles for years to come. As we go through the Holiday Season please remember to use as much mustard as your family can handle in your cooking.

Feel free to put your name on your donation so staff can personally thank you next season. This will confirm your donation for next tax season.

Mustard bottles can be dropped off Tuesday through Sunday at the Winnetka Golf Club-Clubhouse located at 1300 Oak Street.

Veterans Day-Post

World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” - officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.” On October 8th 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued the first "Veterans Day Proclamation". November 11th became a day to honor American veterans of all wars. The restoration of the observance of Veterans Day to November 11 not only preserves the historical significance of the date, but helps focus attention on the important purpose of Veterans Day: A celebration to honor America's veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good.

We wish to honor all military personal past and present in commemorating this years Veterans Day. Coincidentally we have had three United States Marine Corps veterans from three distinctly different eras employed on the golf maintenance department over the last few decades. Unfortunately, Gil Schmidt the former Chief of the Winnetka Fire Department (during the 1970's) who was employed by the park district for 22 years until retiring in Fall of 2006 at the age of 82 had recently passed in Spring 2010 from a long battle with cancer. Gil proudly served our country during World War II in the Pacific, seeing combat throughout the "Gilbert Island Campaign" with some well known battles made into movies such as "Tarawa".

Mark Anderson, (Asst.GC Supt./Drainage Specialist) proudly served his country during a more tumultuous period in our history. He served with the 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Division from 1966-1969 attaining the rank of Corporal. Mark was "in the Nam" from July 1967 to August 1968. He was involved in numerous battles such as the Tet Offensive/Hue City, Khe Sahn, Phu Bi, Con Thien etc. Following is the cover of the recently published book "Lions of Medina" by Doyle Glass. Mark figures prominently in the book if anyone is into history or wants to learn about a three day operation where fighting was measured in feet, not miles or meters.



Our most recent former Marine is David Evanshank who has been employed since Spring 2007. David came on board just in time for the GC renovation and was instrumental with the new irrigation system installation. He wears numerous hats, some of which are Irrigation Technician, Spray Tech and Mechanic, responsible for all 90 actual reel-type cutting units/mowers and assists Rico Contreras/Lead Mechanic with other equipment repairs. David served from August 2000 to August 2005 with the 3rd Marine Air Wing attaining the rank of Sergeant. He proudly served in the North Arabian Sea during "Operation Enduring Freedom" immediately following 9-11.


Below is an S3 Viking about to land on the USS John C. Stennis.
THANK YOU, to these fine men and all the men and women who have served our country.


The following two video's were taken by David during deployment to the North Arabian Sea for "Operation Enduring Freedom" on the flight deck of the USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74). The first is a sonic boom during an approved flyover. The second is a F/A-18 landing; one of the jets David was a mechanic on.

Wanted Dead or Alive...mustard containers that is!!!

This unusual request for used French's Mustard containers (size 14 ounce and larger) can help us maintain your greens at Winnetka Golf Club. Every day the greensmower operators head out for their 5-mile walk in the 3 hours allocated for morning preparatory work. The mowing of "their" four (4) greens every day is only a portion of each operators morning task. They have a 50-penny nail and a special ballmark tool with one-inch long spikes, that in the hands a skilled individual can repair most any type of ballmark. They also bring with them two or three mustard bottles of green colored sand mixed with SR1119 Bentgrass seed to 'topdress' every ballmark and assist in filling any voids. These mustard containers take a beating and need to be replaced every few months. My family has asked for a moratorium on eating any more mustard... thus this unusual request during the upcoming off season. Thank you in advance. Mustard bottles can be dropped off at the Winnetka Golf Club -Clubhouse located at 1300 Oak Street.

Large-Tine Aeration and Sand Topdressing progressing great!!! Two more greens left to do on Thusday 10/28/10.

Staff aerating #15 Green and shoveling the sand topdressing across the green, filling every single hole 9-10"deep with sand. The goal is to increase water percolation and gas exchange for winter and next season. The objective is to provide firmer and even better greens for next year.



Staff finished eight greens on Monday October 25th. After a rain day on Tuesday and relegated to finishing the sand installation on Par-3 GC #8 Sand Bunker it was back to the "deep-tine aeration' on Wednesday. Ideal conditions (lack of dew) from the strong winds allowed staff to hit the greens at sun up. Eight more were completed today. Greens #10 and #14 will be completed on Thursday. The large Practice Putting Green was done one week earlier if you wish to compare the recovery. This aggressive cultural procedure was implemented (per U.S.G.A. recommendation) from Fall of 1993 to Spring of 1998 and allowed for the greens to play at the level seen this last decade or so. Staff will assess the greens next season and respond to their needs accordingly.


Arturo our main equipment operator with a ruler showing the 9 1/2" depth the tines penetrate.


Close up showing the 7/8" diameter aeration tine and the 9 1/2" depth as seen by the soil at top of tine.


Staff on #6 Green. Please notice Alberto "hamm-ing-it-up" as he fixes his hair for the camera! He is the orange coat in the middle. Double click on picture for close up.

Move over turtles, 'Uncle Buck' is here!

After not seeing a single buck...Wham! Three show up on Hole #18 with the largest being a 10-pointer and the others following his lead were 6-point young bucks. Staff also saw, but was not able to get a decent picture of a doe last month that appeared every bit as large as this buck. 10-Point bucks are typically seen here every two or three years. Remember you can click on the picture (up to twice) to enlarge the view.









White Ash (Fraxinus americana)/ Autumn Blaze cultivar Hole #10.
Yes, this variety is also suspect to the European Ash Borer aka EAB. The top 25 ash trees (including those pictured here) at Winnetka Golf Club are treated preventativly (in-house) for this borer, alternating years of injection and soil drench treatments.




My apologies to any and all loyal followers for not blogging once the weather dried up in early September. No excuse is good enough, but my priority was to get as much turfgrass recovery going once the weather cooled off. With not much rainfall these last several weeks, more than usual time was allocated to being on the course. Thank you for following this blog all season. Stay tuned as more posts are soon to follow...

When the turtles broke free...

Here are a couple of pictures of the baby Snapping Turtle(s) as we find them daily (this week) in the bunker on #12. Staff moves the babies to the pond to ensure the best possible chance of survival. Please note the incubation was over 80+ days...unless more than one turtle layed eggs!?!



Here is the picture of the Snapping Turtle laying her eggs in the #12 Green-side Sand Bunker on May 27th. Please see the June 9th blog!

Ruthless 'er Rootless summer for cool season grasses!!!

Some of the greens are starting to show mostly physiological stress from this season's challenging weather conditions. Today's blog is intended to give a brief explanation as to why and what is happening and what staff has been doing to keep the turf alive to this point and what corrective measures/plans are in place for the quickest recovery...University studies have documented that cool-season grasses such as bentgrass and poa have root mass loss when soil temperatures hit 80-degrees and 72-degrees respectively. When roots die back the plant no longer produces carbohydrates (fuel) while respiration (similar to people sweating) continues to cool the plant. An analogy would be fill your car up with gas and drive until it runs out of gas.

In 2010 we have had more 70-degree nights than any year since 1959. Soil temperatures basically follow the night time or low daily temperatures. July into August set a new record for consecutive days of 80-degrees or above. Near record rains in June and July further damaged root systems.

The greens at WGC have a history of poor subsurface drainage that can be managed to provide a near private club level putting surface (traffic notwithstanding) most every season. Hand watering has been the norm in July so as to not over water. This is critical until the green dries enough to use the sprinklers. Staff has utilized our 'Toro Procore 648' (the best greens aerator in the world) since mid July "venting" or solid-tine aeration to punch tiny holes (smaller than a pencil) and provide increased gas exchange as the July wet weather came around. This procedure has been ongoing with an average of three greens per day being vented providing from 50,000 to 60,000 holes per green. As most green's root system is only an inch or two deep staff has been concentrating sustaining and recovery methods in this zone.

#5 Green with Brown Patch/Rhizoctonia solani disease due to breakthrough from preventative fungicide spray program. Breakthrough was caused by application and equipment issues and exacerbated by these recent prolonged hot and very humid conditions. Greens #12 and #13 which have performed the strongest until last week have slight damage from a fertilizer burn due to the spray gun sticking at times.

#16 Green also with Brown Patch. When climatic conditions change the turfgrass will grow out and through the diseased spots.


Staff will continue venting the greens on a 7-10 day rotation and use prudent hand watering and sprinkler methodology until greens fully recover. Once weather conditions break and return to normal (or below normal for a week or two) from these high temperatures and high humidity the turfgrass should recover just fine in a few weeks. WGC has a 1/3 acre bentgrass Nursery Green that will be utilized once the weather pattern changes and the greens show what recovery is left in their reserves'. This situation brings staff a great opportunity to introduce much newer varieties of bentgrass through seeding and plugging than the varieties these greens were sodded to over twenty plus years ago. Since the technology boom of the 1980's and 90's university turfgrass genetics and plant breeding made tremendous advances. #15 Green has direct evidence built into it. In 2008 the first (and only to date) drain line was installed from the front left of the green to the back right side basically following the swale of the green. Sod from the Nursery Green was used on the drain line. The stronger, much greener turf is easy to see every day if you just look from northeast to southwest as you approach the green.

Winnetka OPEN today Sunday July 25th less than 24 hours after 4.12" rain!!!

Winnetka Golf Club takes over twice the acreage of storm water than the course itself. The primary function of the course is flood relief for the community followed by recreation. All greens were cut and rolled today. Sorry the gas carts are not running today.
Hole #1



Hole #5



Hole #9



Hole #15



Hole #16



Hole #18

Winnetka GC has 4.1" of rain in the official raingauge & why lightning should be respected!

Rico playing lumberjack on #7 Tee.
An Ash tree along the path from the old halfway house to #7 Green took a direct lightning hit last night. Splintering into hundreds of pieces some over 50 lbs. and thrown 175 feet. The debris (2 lbs. piece not in any photos) furthest located was 200 feet away on #4 Fairway!

#12 Tee showing the largest splinter and an impaled splinter.



Rico holding up the 80 lbs. largest splinter.



#12 Tee impaled splinter.



Close up #12 Tee impaled.



Debris #4 Fairway over 200-feet away!



Rico with longest splinter in #7 Fairway



Rico next to Ash tree.


Make sure to check in Sunday morning with the Pro Shop 847-501-2050 to see if the course drains down and can be opened for play. Carts will not be running on Sunday if course is open.

Winnetka National has a Fruit Orchard?!? AND why is #18 Pond orange???

#18 Pond has an orange color...why?

The pollen from the Hawthorne Tree is the reason. This a natural phenomenon and nothing is wrong.

The Winnetka National Orchard located adjacent to the Nursery Green and between #16 Tee complex and the #17 Hole. There are four (4) Apple Trees, three (3) Peach Trees, and also a Pear and Plum Tree. We used to have six assorted (sweet & sour) Cherry Trees but those were lost during the Great Flood of September 2008. The fruit is all edible and we have never sprayed any plant protectants (pesticides) opting for a natural approach. Just make sure to beat the deer to the apples as they push against the fence!

Peach Fruit

Pear Fruit

Apple Fruit

More Apple Fruit