Bittersweet Golf Club Acreage



Native Hardwood Forest

Bittersweet Golf Club occupies 200 acres of land accordingly:

Greens 3 acres
Tees 3 acres
Bunkers 1 acre
Fairways 19 acres
Rough 75 acres
Water 29 acres
Native Forest 29 acres
Native Prairie 2 acres
Wetlands 39 acres

The aerial photo below was taken in 1988. That land that is Bittersweet was part cropland, and part native forest & wetlands. (double click to zoom)

1988

The photo below was taken in 2007. (double click to zoom) The native forest and wetlands were remarkably well preserved during development of the golf course and surrounding neighborhoods. Bittersweet truly is a wonderful environmental asset for the Gurnee community. And the golf course is located, within walking distance, for many people to enjoy.

2007

Sprinkler Auditing

This summer we performed audits of our Hunter Sprinklers in side by side comparison with the Toro 800 series sprinkler. This test was performed during windy conditions and the Toro sprinkler provided a much more uniform distribution of water in the gauges than our Hunter Sprinklers. There is no doubt that we would be able to provide a greener golf course, with less water and electrical consumption, if we replaced the Hunter Sprinklers with new Toro sprinklers.

Gauges are placed every 15 feet from center

Hunter Sprinklers

On any given week of the golf season we repair at least 10 Hunter Sprinkler leaks on the golf course.

Note that the components of the Hunter Sprinkler  are all made of a light gauge plastic. The sprinkler body is prone to leak at the base. The valves are prone to frequent failure, and the electrical solenoids are unreliable. This sprinkler was designed for commercial landscapes – not for golf course use.

We feel that it is in the best interest of the club to begin replacing the Hunter Sprinklers, as they fail, with new Golf Course Sprinklers that will stand up to the flow and pressure demands of the golf course.

This will cost much less than what we are wasting in parts and repair costs. And it will free up the man-hours that are needed to improve the golf course so that we can make it more profitable. Moreover, the new sprinklers would consume much less water and electricity to provide a green golf course.

More Leaks

Irrigation Leaks on the Range

Virtually all of the block valves on the range are leaking. When they were originally installed the contractor encased them in concrete. It takes one full day to repair one valve.

Irrigation Quirk

We continue to find oddities in our irrigation system. Today we replaced a broken isolation valve on the 13th hole. Note that the 6 inch mainline supply to the 3 inch sprinkler feed is connected by a 2 inch valve. Why would you put a 2 inch valve between a 6 inch main and a 3 inch supply line?

And we have a two inch line running right over the top of the supply line?

Generally when you close a big section of the golf course to do an irrigation repair on a hot day you can get just a little bit edgy, but with this kind of stuff you just have to laugh out loud.

Three Yearlings

I have been watching these yearlings since May. But this is the first time I have seen them without their mother. You get a better appreciation for how beautiful they are if you zoom on the photos by double clicking.