Common Milkweed, Ascelpias syriaca, beginning to flower and provide its delicate, pleasing fragrance that honeybees and other pollinators love. Monarch butterflies lay their eggs exclusively on milkweed plants (Common & Swamp -A. Incarnata) the sole food sources for their larva.

Golf Channel (& anyone else that wants to know the correct pronunciation) Poa annua is not “Po” and it’s not “Po Anna”!It is pronounced: Po uh Ann U uh (2 syllables, 3 syllables). If you wish to use just one word at least pronounce the first word correctly… Po uh. Get it right!

SOX Erosion filling today. Video below:

Started some erosion repair today, SOX Erosion Solutions, on the Channel adjacent to 11 Fairway. We're reclaiming/stabilizing some lost banks with a specialized mesh material which will be filled with a sand/soil mix then planted with sod or natural veg.Working 400' of shoreline.

Over past two days 60 tons of “rootzone sand” integrated into 18 greens & 5 Pract. Grns. Shallow & deep Aeration, rotary & hand brooming, multiple rollings, and irrigation to settle it all. Benefits: Firmer surfaces, improved air & water movement, enhanced root growth.

A calm and frosty morning before the “storm” of topdressing & aeration begins. More on this work later.

Great Day for Prairie Grass Burning! Fire reduces heavy biomass quickly and effectively. Returns nutrients to the soil, helps control unwanted species (aka weeds), and the darkened clean surfaces helps new growth get started quicker. Made good progress today but more to come.

Unfortunately Camp Skokie was followed by thunderstorms that left 1.5” rain in a short time at daybreak, leading to standing water and bunker washouts and play delay and cart restriction. Course is draining well but we’ll be walking only this afternoon. #When it rains it pours!

Was a beautiful night for Camp Skokie 2025. Perfect for sleeping out and for a serious bonfire!

Was a gorgeous “red sky this morning” but we didn’t have to “take warning”, as the saying goes. After brief cloudiness it was a perfect day to begin the holiday weekend. Forecast is a few more days like this before next chance of rain. Turf definitely breathing a sigh of relief!

Yesterday morn. this was underwater like this but gone by now. The entire drainage outlet…the East Diversion Ditch aka Skokie Ditch, leading to the East Fork of North Branch of the Chicago River, is obviously fully inundated. Taking much longer to drain today. 4” will do that!

Yesterday morning’s 1.8” was topped off with this early morning’s 2.2”. Upper left: 4” will create some new ponds! That water is not supposed to be in front of that green! Top Rt: our next spot for micro-perf drainage! Bottom pics: More sediment removal & wash out repairs today.

1.8 inches in less than an hour.

Was told by many course was beautiful. The drone footage by Western Golf Assoc. and cameras crews shooting for ESPN+ broadcast did a truly outstanding job! Can’t wait to watch the entire two days.

SCC staff & volunteers (members, & their children, nearby club Course Maint. Staff, & Equip. Dist. Reps.) all did an outstanding job preparing the course and helped provide a terrific presentation! Grns & Fwys were fast & firm, rough was fluffed and nasty, divots filled daily. 2/

Wow what a week! From Con-Am & Pract. Rd, last Sun.&Mon. to 72 holes stroke play (-5 was medalist) Tues. -Thurs., to 4 rounds of match play, Fri. & Sat., it has flown by. Weather was brutally hot & humid early, windy w/showers mid, beautifully mild to end. Challenging course! 1/?

Long time no tweet but with final Western Amateur Championship preparations nearly complete and Contestant-Am underway, I’ll get back to doing so. Greens are smooth and quick, rough is thick and challenging, contestants are excellent players and very gracious. Great week ahead!

While part of crew was busy on pond bank restoration, other part was busy spiking, heavy topdressing, aerating (solid 5/8”), brushing, cleaning, rolling, spraying, & watering 15 greens. Few more to knock out tomorrow as it takes a lot of time to incorporate 50 tons of sand!

Nice improvement today recapturing 4-5’ of eroded shoreline on 12th hole pond. Utilized Sox Erosion product and method with guidance/instuction from Jacob Willsey. Our crew got after it and knocked out approx. 150’ and filling it with 3 semi-load sand/soil mix. Sod follows soon.

As weather improves, course work increases, and golfers return this is an excellent article from the USGA Green Section. Please observe these suggestions to help keep our staff safe. usga.org/content/usga/home-p…