Huron Hills Flagpole.

The flagpole at Huron Hills had fallen into disuse in recent years because the crab apple trees flanking the pole had grown over into the space were a flag would fly.

The old flagpole.

Looking up from near the base of the pole.

Originally, we had thought about many options to remedy this situation. We would need to prune to much of the trees to make the flagpole usable again. We also thought about completely removing one of the trees. Neither of these options were suitable.

The next option was to pull the old flagpole out and move it to another location. This would have been feasible, but upon closer inspection, the old pole was in need of some scrapping and new paint. We then began researching how much a new pole would cost. During this investigation, I found a company in Rochester Hills that makes flagpoles. Because they are local (more or less) the cost of them delivering and installing the pole was not much more than just getting a new flagpole from another company. We opted to have them install a 30 foot tall, anodized aluminum flagpole in between the clubhouse and practice green.

The American flag with the Huron Hills flag beneath it.

Here you can see the old flagpole embedded in the trees on the left, near the parking lot.

Huron Rain Shelters

The rain shelters at Huron Hills were in desperate need of new roofing. In addition, the shelter near #13 green had been hit by a falling tree limb and needed some repair. Last week, we had a contractor come in to take off the old cedar shakes and put modern shingles on them.

The shelter near #13 green. Notice the moss growing on the wooden roof.

This corner needs repair due to a tree limb.

Workers remove the old cedar roof near #6 tee.

The shelter on #6 tee looks almost as good as new.

#13 shelter before.

#13 shelter after.

The damaged corner before.

The repaired corner.

The damaged corner from inside the shelter.

The corner after repair.

July 2013 Weather Summary

July was interesting. It started out warm and wet, turned hot and dry and then ended cool (for July) and wet. We had four straight days with high temperatures above 90 degrees (July 16-19.) This happened during the week leading up to the City of Ann Arbor Golf Championship. The low temperature during those four days was 71.1 degrees. The 19th had the highest temperature for the month at 92.5 degrees, while the lowest temperature recorded was 48.4 (July 25th.) The average temperature was 71.7 degrees.  From the 24th until the end of the month, the high temperature did not get above 78 degrees and lowest daily high temperature (65.5) occurred on the 28th. Certainly not typical July temperatures.

For the month, Leslie Park Golf Course recorded 2.93 inches of rain. The ninth had the largest single rain event at 1.25 inches. From that day until the 20th, we had no rain. This was also the hottest stretch of weather during the month. Ten days is not a long time to go without rain during the summer. Just last year, we went 21 days without rain during July. Thirteen days had a measurable amount of rain and six days had over a tenth of an inch.

The highest wind gust recorded was 39 mph (July 9th) and the average wind speed was 1.4 mph.

Tree Update

Last week, I wrote about some storm damage that occurred on July 9th and June 27th. This past week, we replaced the large cherry tree on the dogleg of #4 with two 4 inch diameter maple trees. Usually, the city of Ann Arbor does not plant many maples due to almost 50% of the mature canopy within the city limits already being maple. Leslie Park Golf Course, however, is situated in a predominately Oak/Hickory Forest. In conjunction for the need for fast replacement of the cherry tree due to the strategic location on the hole and the upcoming City Championship, it was decided to plant maple trees. We chose a vareity of sugar maple called "Legacy" and a red maple called "Autumn Blaze."

The Autumn Blaze is nearest to the former location of the cherry.

In this view looking back toward the tee, you can see both of the new trees. They have the thick bed of mulch under them.

The cherry that fell was in the roped off area in front of the new tree. The stump was dug out and the hole filled with soil, then seeded

More Storm Damage

On Tuesday, July 9th, Leslie Park Golf Course experienced a rain storm that dumped 1.25 inches of rain on the course. Most of this rain came down between 5:45 PM and 6 PM. There were also some isolated wind gusts of much more than the 39 mph the weather station recorded. One of these wind gusts came from #13 tee and blew toward the clubhouse. Along this path it knocked over benches, trees, table and chairs. One of the casualties to this wind was the cherry tree next to the gate crossing Traver Road.

View from the road toward the clubhouse.

Right on the fence.

From the clubhouse.

The boxelder behind #10 tee.

Just like the cherry, the tree was tipped over due to lack of roots and saturated soil conditions.

After cleaning most of it up.

You can still see the boxelder behind #10 tee. Due to the creek conditions, this tree will be left temporarily.

We need a new fence.

Gypsy Moth Update

I am happy to update you on the gypsy moth caterpillars that I wrote about a couple of weeks back. (HERE) The caterpillars have declined significantly and the oak trees have started forcing out new leaves. Hopefully, this will mean that all of these trees will survive.

New leaves in the canopy

A closer look at the one inch long leaves.

These trees look much the same as they would in the early spring.

June 2013 Weather Summary

June 2013 was a wet one in Ann Arbor. The monthly rain total was 8.12 inches. The Average for the month would be 3.68 inches, so we got more than double the normal amount.   On four separate days, Leslie Park Golf Course got over one inch of rain. Both the 27th and 28th got over the one inch mark, while the 12th got the highest total for the moth at 1.83 inches. Twelve days of the moth had over a trace of rain and 9 of them had over a tenth of an inch. Just over 4.5 inches of rain fell on the 24th through the 29th. In other words, the last week of June had more rain than we would see in the whole month under normal conditions.

The high temperature for the month was on the 23rd, at just 87.7 degrees. The lowest temperature recorded was 40.7 degrees (3rd.) That means we did not have any days above 90 as well as zero days below freezing. The last time that happened was back in September of 2012.

The highest sustained windspeed at the golf course was 24 mph. The average windspeed was 2.2 mph.