Switching Practice Tees

As discussed in earlier messages, the practice tee (driving range) has really taken a beating. It gets a lot of use over a small area. The weather has not been conducive to fast recovery and we are left with a tee in rough shape. In order to give the main tee a break we are going to move our hitting area to the back of the range by #18 green. You are asked to refrain from hitting driver from this tee due to safety concerns. While this is a slight invconvenience, we see this as necessary to allow recovery of the main tee as we head into the peak of our season. In order to minimize the wear and prolong having usable tee space you are encouraged to practice using a divot pattern in a straight line. The illustration below shows 25 divots taken in 2 different methods. One is a scattered method and the other is a single line. A single line consolidates the damage to the tee and allows us to get a lot more use out of our limited space. Give it a shot!

This Is Florida, Right?

This is Florida, right? That a question I've had to ask myself a lot this winter. Sunshine state? Not so much. Due to the strong El Nino weather pattern we have had many cool, wet and cloudy days this winter. Since it is not cold enough for the grass to go dormant the grass plants continue to use their stored energy. Unfortunately, the cool, rainy and especially cloudy weather inhibits the grass' ability to make more energy through photosynthesis.  I am happy to see sunshine and 70's in this week's forecast. While the next few days probably won't make the grass grow much, it will still help in building carbohydrate reserves to help the grass weather the storm. We have seen some of the weaker or more trafficked areas thin. We will be giving these areas extra attention primarily with a green sand topdressing to help protect these plants.

   Thin area on #4 green