ROCHELLE — Severed stumps and piles of dead tree branches remain scattered around Fairways Golf Course this week, and as the 2018 golf season steadily approaches, course director Mitch Hamilton is working hard to clear out the downed tree remnants while prepping the course for future improvements.

Twenty-four ash trees have been cut down around the 74-acre golf course this winter, and the trees were removed due to emerald ash borers, insects that feed on ash species. Hamilton identified 30 trees that were dead at the start of the winter, with the majority of them being ash trees. Six trees still need to be removed.

“It’s a park-style golf course so we have trees between each fairway,” Hamilton said. “Trees are expensive to maintain… They impede on sunlight, water and the grass. We’re getting rid of all the dead trees and the majority of them are ash trees that were affected by the emerald ash borer. We deemed these dangerous trees.”

But Hamilton found a creative way to chop away the dead trees. Hamilton initially thought the process would require 3 to 5 years to complete, but he said a group of locals who wanted the dead trees to heat their shop stepped in and cleared out the affected trees, helping Hamilton and the Flagg-Rochelle Community Park District save over $30,000.

“The only thing my crew and I will have to do is stump the remaining trees out and reseed where they’re at,” Hamilton said. “Taking out old wood that’s no good and actually pruning them to allow for the grass to grow will have us allocating $10,000 to $15,000 each year… We were far behind on pruning and maintaining trees but we’re getting caught up now.”

New trees have been planted between the fairways of the course to replace the dead trees impacted by the emerald ash borers. Hamilton said the long-term goal is to add white and burr oaks in the ground instead of ash trees that could be hurt by the preying insects.

Hamilton also said Fairways is working on a master plan with local architect Todd Quitno from Marengo’s Lohmann Golf Designs to further improve the golf course. While no live trees have been cut down this winter, Hamilton said they could be pruned or even removed to improve sights from tee boxes around the course as well as the playing experience as a whole. Hamilton said the master plan should be completed by the end of March.

“We have some tee boxes where only one-quarter of the tee box can be used because they’re so overgrown with trees,” he said. “Trees are impeding and people are hitting the trees which shouldn’t happen when golfers are hitting a free shot. We’re working with an architect to make sure we do it right. Planting of the trees will also be in our master plan.”

Work is continuing on new siding and paint for all the buildings at the course, and Hamilton said the project should be finished by the end of the spring. Hamilton also said that both the parking lot and the tennis court next to the parking lot will be resurfaced at some point in the future.