ROLLING HILLS GOLF COURSE

Pierce Ln./Stamper Ln. Road Construction Update

2010-01-04T12:31:00.004-06:00

ATTENTION GOLFERS. ROAD OPEN. Notice in picture above that all barricades are still in place and signs are up that say road closed but there is access thru for local traffic only. STRICT speed limits of 15 MPH are being enforced so please beware.

Notice barricade on left with speed limit sign going North toward Rolling Hills Golf Course. Various construction material remains on part of the road.

View of Pierce Lane looking South from the Stamper Lane intersection.

Thanks go out to Mayor McCormick, village employees, engineers, and the road construction crew for pushing for the partial opening of this major Godfrey roadway by the first of 2010.

New Years Day 2010

2010-01-04T10:58:00.004-06:00

New Years Day 2010 brought our 33rd annual and longest running area first tournament of the year plus open house. We have had to cancel a couple due to ice but snow does not stop us. To the right of the snow man you can see the green where we started manually shoveling an area around the pin for the golfers to putt. We had two different 2" snows the week between Christmas and New Years.

Pictured above is #2 green with some remaining snow and ice. Exposing the dark green allows the surface to warm enough to melt down this remaining snow and ice.

We are able to utilize backpack blowers with dry snows as seen above.
New Years Day 2010 brought temperatures that maxed out at 20 degrees with wind chills in the single digits. That being said we still managed to have 54 golfers.

Flooding in #11 Fairway

2009-12-11T15:17:00.002-06:00

Pictured above is a flooded(& frozen) #11 fairway. Why does this happen?

Years ago the valley on number 12 was always wet so we installed some underground drainage that runs into a well located in front of the white truck above.

The pump in this well forces the water up the hill and dumps it into our irrigation pond. We have had some issues with this pump kicking off during bad weather which then allows the water to flood the fairway.

Pictured above is the 36" well on the right where the pump is located and on the left is the electrical transformer. The blue box seen contains the breaker that we have had trouble with kicking off during storms.

Holiday Gift Specials 2009

2009-12-07T10:44:00.003-06:00

Looking for the perfect gift. Consider Rolling Hills for your gift certificates this holiday season.

Frost Damage

2009-12-01T09:53:00.003-06:00

Pictured above here is an up close look at frost. Normally in our area frost can occur anytime between the dates of Oct. 15th and April 15th of each year.

This picture illustrates why we do not allow golfers out when frost is present. While the plant is in this frost mode the cell walls are frozen and will rupture and die when stepped on. The foot imprints illustrate the rupturing of the plants cell walls.

Turf damage from a foot print on a green while frost is present.

Although this turf damage will recover in the coming months, this creates an opportunity for POA ANNUA invasion along with other weeds.

Tee Markers Off Course For Winter

2009-12-01T08:48:00.006-06:00

Winter rates typically go into effect around November 1st of each year. Pictured above is #1 tee looking down the fairway. Tee markers are removed for the months of Nov.-March which allows us to paint and re-condition the markers for the season ahead.

We also get down to a skeleton crew in the Winter and lack of tee markers on the course means we do not have to worry about rotation. A view from the ladies tee on #9 Exec. with no tee markers present.
Feel free to use any part of the tees you like while the markers are off the course. Please try to not hit from areas that are excessively worn.

Hurricane Katrina Volunteer Work In The Lower Ninth Ward

2009-11-29T08:42:00.007-06:00

In February 2009 I had the privilege to attend the Golf Industry Show in New Orleans. This show brings the club managers, owners, and the superintendent associations together for industry updates and educational opportunities. Obviously there are still areas in and around New Orleans that are still devastated from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. I decided to volunteer two days of my time at the Show and work with the St. Bernard Project. This is a group who have been recognized nationally for their efforts in rebuilding homes in the St. Bernard Parish area of the lower ninth ward which was totally devastated by the flooding. Pictured above are three of the individuals that I worked on the house with who were associated with the Americorps group. For more information on the Americorp program you can go to www.americorp.gov. This is a federal volunteer program for young adults between the ages of 18-24.

Flooding in this lower ninth ward area came up to the gutter line of this house pictured in the background. In the foreground is a FEMA trailer given to the homeowner by the federal government. Only about 30% of the homes in this area have been rebuilt as some decided to take the buyout and move on. Others such as this homeowner decided to live in one these trailers until their homes could be rebuilt by volunteers.

These homes had to be totally gutted and rebuilt with volunteers. The two days I worked we drywalled, taped, and painted. To the left of me is a storage box for building materials. Really a great experience and time well spent. The St. Bernard Project has been recognized for their efforts in this rebuilding effort and you can find out more at www.stbernardproject.org

Dollar Spot Disease 2009

2009-11-24T14:39:00.004-06:00

Did you ever wonder what these areas pictured were on our greens this year?
2009 was a tough year at Rolling Hills and many other courses in the St. Louis area for this disease called "Dollar Spot".

Our fungicide program here at Rolling Hills is based on the "as needed" concept. During optimum disease pressure months we are continually scouting for signs of any disease.

Normallly fungicide applications for Dollar Spot can keep you free of disease for 14-21 days. In 2009 however there were occasions where at the 10th day we started to see disease outbreak. Low fertility and abnormally wet conditions only aided in the disease outbreaks.

Although there are advantages to low fertility based golf course greens, such as smoothness and green speed, the low fertility in 2009 worked against us. For more information regarding Dollar Spot you can read on it at www.ces.purdue.edu/extmedia/BP/BP-105-W.pdf

2009 Irrigation Winterizing

2009-11-24T09:26:00.014-06:00

Here is a picture of the air compressor used to blow the irrigation lines free of water.

Hose runs from compressor in to pumphouse

Air hose attached to main irigation line that heads out to course

The first step in winterizing the system is to plug into all of the quick couplers seen above on the course and blow them free which will ultimately empty most of the main line water.

Here is another quick coupler being blown out. These quick couplers are located at all greens, front nine tees, and some landscape areas.

We have to ability to fill the back nine irrigation lake by pumping from the front nine lake. Pictured above we are forcing water out of 4" fill line into lake.

Another picture of 4" fill line from front nine lake to back nine lake being blown out.

Once quick couplers are blown we then move on to the regular irrigation heads. Pictured above we are blowing out the clubhouse grounds.

#14 Fairway heads being blown out...

#16 Fairway heads being blown out...

#16 Fairway heads again.

Winter Cart Covers For Our Golfers

2009-11-20T14:06:00.002-06:00

Pictured here is one of our new RXV EZGO golf carts with cover ready for your Winter enjoyment. We have up to 20 of these covers so come out and see us.

Re-Sodding of Tees

2009-11-20T13:43:00.005-06:00

Our tee sodding in the Summer of 2009 started with #2 White and Red Tees. Because of the stress that golfers impose on a golf course, from time to time grass replacement is necessary. Some other tees that were re-sodded in 2009 include....

#9 Red Tee

#11 Red Tee

#12 Red Tee

#15 White/Blue

Pierce Ln./Stamper Ln. Road Construction Update

2009-11-20T11:08:00.005-06:00

Here is an update on the road construction on Pierce Lane. They were hoping to allow access thru by 1/1/10. This picture is from bridge back toward Rolling Hills
There will be a sidewalk on the left.

The left half of the road has been poured looking South from the bridge.

Looking North down towards the bridge

A look from the Stamper/Pierce intersection which is open. Sidewalk to be on right.

#17 Tee Renovation

2009-11-20T07:45:00.002-06:00

Graded and leveled tee on #17. Picture from the front of tee back toward #16 green. Notice the shade on the back left of tee. The tree that creates this shade will be removed to allow more sun since we are converting the tee from a cool season grass to a warm season grass-zoysia-which needs more sun.

View toward #17 green with newly sodded tee in forground.

Dan drenches new sod in for the final step.

Picture of finished product with now dormant Zoysia. Bottom left of picture is where the old oak tree was that provided too much shade.

#12 Tee Renovation

2009-11-20T07:22:00.002-06:00

The first step the this renovation was removal of old sod and leveling of tee.

Jordan, Jordan, and Dan admire zoysia sod during installation. A starter fertilizer was applied to tee prior to laying of sod

In the foreground is the Kubota tractor used for rolling out the 30 yard zoysia rolls. The rolls are picked up then rolled out backwards.

Sod is immediately drenched in and kept closed until sod has tacked down. In this instance tee was sodded in the middle of August and was open by the first week of September.

A picure of the finished tee after the Zoysia has gone dormant.

Winter Tree Removal

2009-11-19T13:18:00.002-06:00

The back nine here at Rolling Hills has some older trees that need to come down. This is a Cherry tree right of 10 green

Notch, cut, and giver a push (;

See the pinched saw.....

this is what happens.

A few parts and the saw was back at it. We are looking for a home for the cut up Cherry wood.

2009-11-18T15:28:00.005-06:00

There are little thing we try to do in the off season to fine tune the course. Trimming off the lower branches of these Spruce right of #18 green will allow you to more quickly find your ball if you happen to push one.

Keeping these limbs up off the ground will also eliminate any hiding areas for valuables.

Off to the burn pile.

New Golf Cart Fleet for 2010

2009-11-18T15:05:00.003-06:00

Picture of our new 2009 EZ Go RXV golf carts. 72 new carts ready for your enjoyment. We are committed to providing you a quality product and experience here at Rolling Hills. Come out and see us this Winter as we also have no less that 20 carts with covers to use free of charge.

Synthetic Teeing Area ONLY in Winter

2009-11-18T14:55:00.005-06:00

The above picture is the area immediately in front of our synthetic teeing area on our range. The turf is obviously exhausted from the long season. This area has been aerated, seeded, and fertilized this Fall 2009. Please stay off.

The area at the bottom of the above picture is the same area as the previous picture.

We made quite a financial investment to our driving range tee in 2009. We would sure like to keep it nice for years to come, and by having golfers use the synthetic area only in the Winter this will sure help.

Driving Range Rebuild January 2009

2009-11-18T14:17:00.009-06:00

2009 Driving Range rebuild finished product. 195' long by 6.5 width. 12' area to the opposite side of bag racks was sodded with bluegrass and the rest in Westwood Bermuda - you can see the line between th two different grasses.

A close up picture of the new synthetic material, dense enough to tee a ball up. A view of some similar synthetic material installed on the back of our range. The material came in three 65' rolls that we rolled out and seamed together. Hoping for a life expectancy of 10-15 years.

This excavated area was dug to a depth of 6", filled and compacted with 3/4" clean rock then topped with ag lime for leveling. We installed a synthetic teeing area hoping to lengthen the life of our grass teeing area. Golfers are to use the synthetic area only in the Winter while the grass is dormant.

This Bobcat 753 with metal tracks was used to move tilled area out to edges to enlarge teeing ground.

Here is a picture of our driving range tee upgrade in January 2009. Tilled, graded, and enlarged old worn out Westwood Bermuda tee.