Winter Update: Jan 23rd

9th Hole Monday Morning (1/20/2025)

Ipswich has experienced a bit of a cold and snowy start to 2025. Almost all of the snowfall from last weekend had melted away as of Sunday afternoon. Just in time to get another four or so inches of snow Sunday night. The following week looks to be particularly cold with multiple days of single digit lows and highs well below freezing. The Ipswich Agronomy team has been busy with course accessory refurbishment and some removal of brush/debris from select areas. The frozen ground recently has also presented favorable conditions for some contract work we had planned. This work includes tree removals by Iron Tree Service and a bathymetric survey of our irrigation pond by Williams & Sparages.

Tree Removal:

The focus of this winters tree removals was on addressing a number of safety concerns around the course. Around 18 trees were removed from the golf course specifically from the 3rd, 4th, 8th, 9th, and 18th holes. Most of these trees were white pines in various states of decay. Some were dead while others had large cavities of rot visibly forming.

Trees Removed:

• 3rd Hole: 1 uprooted pine removed and a maple on the left edge of the fairway pruned at the request of the ICC Greens Committee. Four trees were also removed from the tree grove between the 3rd green and 4th tees. This included a large dead pine, a dead maple, and two pines overhanging the 3rd fairway.

  
  

• 4th Hole: 1 storm damaged pine and 1 dead hardwood removed from the right edge of the hole past the fairway bunkers.

  
  

• 8th Tee complex: 3 trees removed to the left of the white tee along cart path. One of these trees was dead and the others were removed in conjunction with a proposed tee renovation of the 8th white tee and surrounding rough during the coming 2025 season.

  
  

• 8th Hole: 2 pines damaged in storms last winter were removed from the right-side of the hole before the wooden bridge along with a declining oak.

  
  

• 9th/18th Holes: 4 trees removed from tree grove at the bottom of the hill below the 9th green. This included two unsightly completely dead pines clearly visible from the clubhouse back deck and other compromised pines with rot cavities forming. Also a large pine with significant rot cavities was removed at the end of the 18th fairway. This also resulted in an improved vista of the 8th hole from the clubhouse deck.

  
  

• 6th Well Area: A handful of dead trees surrounding the control panel for the well on 6th were also removed. These trees posed a significant risk of falling onto the electrical control panel of the well.

Some of the visible damage/rot:

Completely dead pine on left

Video of cavity from pine on 18

Tree Work in Progress:

Sennebogen Tree Care Handler

Lots of moving parts

Before and After's:

3rd tree grove Before

After

8 tee before

After

View from above 9 green before

View from 9 green back towards 8 after

Storm damaged pines on 8

Pines on 8 after

Compromised pine 18 before

After removal

Sucker growth pruned off oaks behind Clubhouse

6th Well Area:

6 well area before

After

Bathymetric Survey:

The cold weather also provided a good opportunity for our planned bathymetric survey of our irrigation pond to be conducted. This study will map the underwater features and depth of the pond along the 5th hole. It is from this pond that all the water used by our irrigation system comes from. Essentially we will know what the pond looks like below the surface of the water. This information can also be used to help inform us as to how much water the irrigation pond actually holds at a given time during the season based on water levels. Such information will be a tremendous help when it comes to the management of our water supply under the guidelines put forth by the Massachusetts Water Management Act. The Bathymetric survey is also needed for the permitting process for the repair to our intake line to the pump house and to ensure we position it in the deepest area possible.

Other Work:

We have continued with clearing woody brush growing along a number of the ponds around the course. A section of the first pond on the 6th hole was recently done and the pond between 9 and 18 is planned to be done shortly. Marcelo and Juan have also been busy trimming the sucker growth off trees around the course.

As stated in the previous winter update we have ordered and received our first batch of a 100 replacement drainage covers. When outside conditions allow the crew will be starting to go hole by hole replacing any missing or damaged drain covers in the fairways and surrounding rough. We will continue to order these drains in batches as needed to finish replacing the old drain covers.

Special Thanks:

We would like to thank Catherine and John Randall for donating a pair of bluebird houses for the course. These houses are a different style then what we currently have out on the golf course and reportedly do very well for use in fields or native areas.

Also, a thank you to Trevor Miller who built and donated three customized bat houses for us. Bats are great natural mosquito controllers with a single bat being capable of eating thousands of insects a night. We previously had a few bat houses around the golf course but most of them have been destroyed by storms or falling trees over the years.

Both the blue bird houses and the bat houses will be installed on the golf course in late March/early April.

We also received our first piece of new equipment this year from Invited. It is a new bunker machine to replace one of our older machines This should be the first of a few pieces of equipment we are scheduled to receive this season.

Newer model of old rake.

As many of you might already know, Matt has been nominated for Invited Superintendent of the Year. Matt will be traveling to San Diego in early February with the other finalists where the winner will be announced at the Golf Course Superintendents National Conference.

Below is the letter from Jay Abbot the VP of Agronomy for Invited: