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Eat your greens

There’s more green to the Village Links of Glen Ellyn in Glen Ellyn, Ill. than just the course. Not only does superintendent Chris Pekarek care for the turf of the municipally-owned course, he’s been helping provide some of the fresh produce for the course’s restaurant.

“We’re always trying as an organization to look for ways we can do things a little differently,” says Pekarek. “It was just a way to differentiate ourselves and to save a few dollars on the bottom line.”

This season, Pekarek and crew are raising naturally-organic produce like lettuce, zucchini, peppers and tomatoes and herbs like cilantro and parsley in Earthbox containers. They’ve started with 24 boxes on pallets, each using the bottom-watering system and potting soil, growing the plants from seed.

“This is a highly-successful way to grow the plants, primarily because of the soil mixture,” says Pekarek. “By growing plants on-site, less water is used than traditionally as well.”

Cutting back on water usage is responsible, but it also saves money in the long run. But even for the initial starting cost of about $750 for the boxes and soil mix this year, the return should pay off quickly. The containers should last about 10 years and the soil mixture about five before needing replaced, he says, so the cost is easy to spread through that timeframe.

“I feel confident we’ll do more than $1,000 in vegetables this year,” says Pekarek. “But it’s more about the quality of the food and the sustainability issues we should all be dealing with.”

The portability of the vegetables gives the course the opportunity to extend the growing season, as the pallets can be easily loaded indoors under a frost warning. Since the plants are grown on the course, there is no shipping cost, and the results are fresher than coming from a traditional supplier. Using organic, locally-grown plants brings a feel-good factor to the food for customers as well. The plants themselves take almost no upkeep, he says.

“It really doesn’t take much time,” says Pekarek. “The most time-consuming part was putting the soil in the containers. Just as someone is finishing cleaning their mower, they fill the water reservoirs, which takes about five minutes.”

If the project finishes positively this season, Pekarek hopes to expand to about 100 boxes next season.


Roll call

The Old American Golf Club, The Colony, Texas, named Russell Birkhimer director of agronomy.

Anthony Williams, director of grounds for Stone Mountain Golf Club in Stone Mountain, Ga., was named 2011 TOCA Environmental Communicator of the Year.

The Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club, Norman, Okla., hired Cody Elwood as head golf course superintendent.

Waverly Golf Course Superintendent Doug Snook, CGCS, was inducted into the Iowa Golf Hall of Fame.

Paul Voykin, former superintendent of Briarwood Country Club, Deerfield, Ill., was named to the Illinois PGA Hall of Fame.

Too much of a good thing

While many superintendents are struggling to find enough water to keep the greens green, superintendent John Boden is trying to keep water off his course. During the last three weeks, Smith Center Municipal Golf Course in Kansas has seen 19.75 inches of rain in heavy storms barreling through the area, he says.

Water washed over three of his greens on the 10-hole course, growing from the borders of Spring Creek, a waterway that ends up in the Waconda Reservoir through the North Fork of the Solomon River about 10 miles south of Smith Center.

“All from September of last year through April of this year, we haven’t gotten much rain,” says Boden, “but then in the past few weeks we’ve gotten more than 19 inches.”

Reaching beyond the edges of Spring Creek, the water is breaking up the rock cart paths and dragging debris inland, giving Boden’s team hours of cleanup work as it drains away. Three logs are blocking off parts of the greens as natural obstacles.

“Our worst problem right now is the water is cutting the banks out of the course,” says Boden. “It’s coming up and eating away at the edges. The way it’s going, this fall or winter we’ll have to haul rock or concrete in there to reinforce those banks.”

Besides the debris and worn edges, Boden is worried about a possible heavy fungus attack on his buffalograss roughs and bluegrass fairways and greens, thanks to all the moisture and shifting summer weather.

On the upside, the course is doing most of the draining on its own, thanks to a sandy soil. Once the rain stops falling and the water starts moving on its way, the whole course can be playable in six to eight hours, he says.

“The first three holes are really muddy,” says Boden, “but other than the bunkers, we don’t have to pump anything out. After about six to eight hours, it looks like it’s dry, and it’s hard as a rock.”

Fish crossing

Though it may not have gotten the same recognition as others, Lawrence Park Golf Club in Erie, Pa., had as much to do with the steelhead moving upstream at Four Mile Creek as anyone else.

Nearby Napier Park had several areas for kids to fish, but due to obstructions in the creeks from Lake Erie, the sought-after steelhead couldn’t make their way inland. Ken Anderson, biologist with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, started the process of placing several fish-passage devices, but knew he had to get others on board.

One of those others was superintendent Jerry Rice of Lawrence Park Golf Club. The fish came through the private land of the course; a small dam a few miles inland from Lake Erie supplied water for the golf course irrigation, but also stopped fish from moving freely in the creeks. The course gave permission for the land, and an Alaskan Steep Pass Fish Way was installed to help fish pass the dam. Within hours of installation, fish were making their way along the creeks toward the public fishing area.

Helping anglers reach their quarry won’t even slow down play on the course. Golfers aren’t asked to play around those fishing, and the devices would have no effect on the waterflow through the course.