Tree Work 12th Hole
- Michael Curtin
- Mar 18
- 3 min read
12th Hole Tree Removals:
Last Friday seven trees were removed from the 12th hole by Iron Tree Service. These trees were removed after multiple discussions last season between the Ipswich Greens Committee, the agronomy department, and the golf professional staff. These discussions focused on increasing pin placement options, improved shot opportunities/fairness onto the green, and planning for future work to the hole. Below will be some brief descriptions of what trees were removed and why along with some pictures.
Two hardwoods were removed from the left along cart path edge near the fairway drive off area. These trees were right up against the path and were also a major cause for the nearby poor section of rough. The combination of resource competition and wear from cart traffic has resulted in a significant portion of that area of rough looking unsightly and with lowered playability. We will now be able to renovate and improve the overall condition of rough between the fairway and cart path. This area is part of our long range rough improvement plan.
Three smaller hardwoods were removed to the right of the right greenside bunker. Last season talks with the Ipswich Greens Committee included discussions over how to improve the playability and fairness of second shot opportunities onto the 12th green. Committee members pointed out that a golfer could hit a seemingly good tee shot straight out into the fairway to the upper landing zone, but end up with their second shot effectively blocked by those trees. Removing these trees will allow for more fair shot opportunities from the middle/right side of the fairway and more pin placements options on the right of the green. The area of rough under those trees is also in poor condition with thin/bare turf and uneven ground. After the stumps have been ground this is another area of rough to be improved in the coming season.
Finally the two large pine trees in front of the left side greens bunker were removed. The roots of these trees were visible leading to poor turf conditions in the rough and also negatively affecting the right of the 12th approach. Due to the proximity of these trees to the nearby bunker any future major bunker renovation work to this hole would necessitate their removal. With greenside bunker renovation being a needed project in the coming years the decision was made to remove these pines now to better facilitate that future project.
Snow Removal:
Over the weekend most of the snow cover here at Ipswich melted away allowing us to see our turf surfaces for the first time since mid January. There was still significant amounts of snow and ice on portions of a few of our greens including both practice greens and 2. We decided to go ahead yesterday with the warmer weather and use our snow blower to remove the last 6-8 inches of snow from these sections of green to expose the ice below. By the end of day those greens were almost completely free of snow and ice cover. Below are some pictures of that process.
While the golf course is almost completely free of snow we are still a while away from having an opening date announced. Yesterday was the first day in over two months the crew was able to start the needed work to prepare the golf course for the coming season. There is a lot of cleanup and prep work to be done in the next few weeks. We hope to be bringing back the first batch of our seasonal staff sometime next week. These will all be staff returning from last season which will be a huge help early on in the year.
Another positive from the snow cover lifting is we were able to observe and conduct a visual inspection of most of our greens, tees, and fairways yesterday. No turf issues were observed that would impact opening or playability of individual turf surfaces. The turf still has a while before it "wakes up" but looks to have come out from a winter of snow/ice cover in good condition.
