Buckthorn Removal Project

The Men's Club has been working since the winter of 2011 to remove Buckthorn from the golf course. The 2021-22 project, which was our 10th year of work was completed before the golf course rennovation project was underway (Nov 2022). At that point we paused to see what happens.

With the rennovation completed, and now in the grow in phase in early 2024, it was time to start again. With Andrew and David now running the show on the golf course for Kemper Sports, they were more than happy to put us to work. Under their guidance, we cleared the area to the East of the 4th hole on the Par 3 course (next to the sledding hill) and have been working in back of the 18th tee. We will continue on in 2024 whereever they point us!

Buckthorn is a very invasive plant/tree in our area. Our goal is to eradiacte it from the golf course. Where we encounter it most is on the berms along 14, 16, 17 and 18.

Here are some articles and presentations on what's so bad about it:

What is Buckthorn
All About Invasive Buckthorn - Matt Evans from the Chicago Botanical Garden ()ct 17, 2023)
Why Invasive Buckthorn is bad for your yard, the environment (Chicago Tribune 5-13-21)
Invasive Plant Webinar (Go Green Wilmette): discussion of Buckthorn removal at the Chicago Bontanical Garden and Canal Shores Golf Course.
Battling Buckthorn Trees (Chicago Tribune Nov 2022)

Here is the chronology of the Buckthorn Removal Project by Year (highlighted areas have descriptions and pictures linked):

2024 (Year 11) ; The focus is wherever Andrew and David wants us to work.

We cleared the area next to the 4th hole on the Par 3 course (next to the sled hill).
We cleared the area in back of the 18th tee down to the river. This will provide more sun and wind flow to the 18th tee. This is where the original project started in 2011.
Next will be the area along the berm between the 17th green and the 18th tee. Now that there is a cart path in back of the 17th green, this area is visible and needs to be cleared.

2021 (Year 10) : Focus is on the tees and greens:

17 green and 17 tee ( black and Blue tees and along the white tees)
14 green
16 berm left and near green
18 near green

2020: (Year 9) the Year of Covid; some work was completed by solo wokers

2019: (Year 8)

a lot of clean up around the course

2018-19 (Year 7) :

Trim trees on 1 : left bank, left near 10 tee)
Trim trees left of 3

2017-18 (Year 6) : our focus was to trim all the trees on the course up to around 6 feet (to allow mowers easier access as well as allow more sun and wind on the course).