winter sunrise, looking East from the shop 

Winter '2012 - '13

Update on what's been going on at IHCC since the season ended.

This winter has been quite cold so far, but snow free except for a quick little burst here and there.
We (our winter staff is myself, Phil (asst), Pat (mechanic), Miguel & Lisandro) were able to get a few things accomplished, working around frozen ground.

We began to reconstruct the hellacious mess of a bunker on the right of #7 green.  We deemed this to be one of the worst conditioned bunkers on the course and began renovation work in mid January.  Phil does a fantastic job on our old skid steer, moving earth and recontouring the materials.  We incorporated Stephen Kay's Master Plan design into our work and will have 3 much smaller bunkers where the oversized previous one existed.  The bottom photo, taken from the rough on the right of the previous bunker, shows a rough view of what is to come.  We hope to have workable ground in late February so we can get this finished up sooner than later.



Super Storm Sandy cleanup also continues... We had a large track excavator here last month to pull the enormous stumps from the rough between 10 & 18, including the monster Oak stump near 17 green. Norse Tree Service also spent two weeks here cleaning up dead or hazardous tree situations.  There are still some locations that need work.  Norse continues to provide excellent service to our club. The tree work required is extensive and expensive here at IHCC. Many of our trees have health issues including most of the Ash trees between 8 & 15.

Green Ash Borer Larvae

Borer damage

Ash tree ravaged by borers

The above pictured tree located near the 8th Championship tee, snapped during the wind storm the last week of January. The center of the tree was loaded with borer larvae as well as large carpenter ants. From the outside, it did not look bad, but snapped like a toothpick and 70' of tree slammed into the ground. Fortunately, this occurred late at night when nobody was close to the tree. We will be taking a hard look at all our Ash trees for safety reasons as soon as we can get Norse Tree back on site.

Thanks for checking in, JohnnyP.


Split & seasoned Firewood is available for pickup at the maintenance facility...call 757-0555 for more info.




and on my brightside....my pride and joy, (6'3" sophomore) Nick and his Smithtown West hoopsters play for the League 3 title tonight (2/5) at Riverhead.  GO WEST !!!
The varsity is currently ranked #14 on LI with a 13-3 overall record, 11-2 in league play.
 

(btw..Northport's varsity, ranked #5, is a powerhouse - beat us by 3 in a holiday tournament)