Cart Damage to 5 and 7 Greens

Last night someone stole a security golf cart from one of the neighboring condo associations and went for a joyride. They made numerous “donuts” on greens 5 and 7 and drove through some bunkers. While the damage could have been much worse, it is disheartening to have something like this happen. I don’t expect any long term negative affects to the golf course as a result of these actions. We did find a windshield in the greenside bunker on #5. The windshield had “Security” printed on it. I urge any of you living on Isla Del Sol to check your condo association’s security cart to see if it is missing its windshield. It is also possible that your cart is missing. I would also encourage you to make sure those responsible for your security cart to not leave it parked with the key in it. We have a lot of visitors in town this time of year, and unfortunately some people find vandalism to be fun entertainment. Please keep your eyes and ears open.

#5 Green

#7 Green

Do you recognize this windshield?

Hurricane Irma - The Aftermath

Unless you live under a rock, you most likely are aware of the recent natural disaster named Hurricane Irma. (If you do live under a rock, you were probably much safer than anywhere else in Southwest Florida.) Irma graced us with her presence last Sunday into Monday. Unfortunately, she was not a nice guest and left our property a mess. The Grounds Department has been working since Tuesday to clear the golf course of debris which includes close to 100 fallen/damaged trees! A big shoutout goes to Fred Curtis and the Golf Department, a few other club employees and even a couple members who have all pitched in to keep the recovery process moving along.

The cleanup process began by clearing all greens of debris. We had very limited staff on Tuesday and the greens were one area where we could make an immediate impact. Obviously, the greens are the livelihood of the property and needed to be tended to quickly. I am relieved to say none of the greens suffered significant damage.

On Wednesday we had the staff and equipment to begin clearing trees off of condos and from roadways. Work also began to clear obstructions from cart paths to make travel easier when hauling debris. This work has continued through today and will continue into next week.

For the safety of both employees and members, the golf course will remain closed into next week. Fallen trees present a safety hazard to anyone walking near them as they can cause someone to trip, bang their head or even potentially roll on and crush them. We continue to inspect trees that are still standing for evidence of cracked limbs that could fall onto anyone below. We had a number of palm trees blow over from the winds. On Monday and Tuesday, we have a machine coming that will help us stand the palms upright and hopefully save as many as possible. I am currently expecting that we will be far enough along to open for play on Wednesday, September 20th.

While what we experienced isn't ideal it could have been much worse. For the most part, the storm was weakened and missed hitting us directly by the time it made its way this far north. We did lose a significant number of trees but the majority were melaleuca trees (also referred to as punk trees or paperback trees). These trees are actually an invasive species in Florida and and not commercially valuable or desired. For us, they create a safety hazard when the wind blows. They tend to split easily and, as we observed this week, blow over.

Thank you for your patience as we continue to work hard to put your golf course back together. Here are just a few pictures showing what Irma left us.

Large Australian Pine next to the Red/Gold tees on #2. Notice its size next to my cart!

Several palms snapped in two

Other palms blew over - we will try to save these

Several large melaleuca trees blew over between 14 green and 13 tee.

A large Australian Pine on #3


Golf staff helping to remove fallen trees left of 3 fairway


Dino getting in on the clean-up action!

Aerification By The Numbers

This past week the grounds maintenance department worked long hours in the hot Florida sun. It was a very productive week with everything going as planned. There is still clean-up to be performed on some fairways, but overall everything looks healthy and should recover well. The men in the grounds department worked exceptionally hard this week. If you see them, please pass along your appreciation.

Some statistics on the week:

• 3,600,000 cores pulled from greens
• 62,726,400 cores pulled from fairways and tees
• 60 total acres aerified 
• 75 tons of bulk sand used to topdress greens
• 61,600 pounds of dry bagged sand injected into greens
• 8 men moving 30 tons of sand bagged in 50# bags (7500 pounds moved by each man)
• 130 collective acres of grass mowed
• 900 man hours of work (that would take 1 person 112.5 8 hour workdays to complete)
• 1 partial solar eclipse

Holes punched and filled on greens


Fernando aerifying #18 fairway


61,600 pounds of bagged sand (1232 50# bags) soon to be moved by hand one at a time

What A Difference A Month Makes!

A month ago we were aerifying greens and verticutting fairways. While we are still recovering in just a few spots, the majority of the golf course has responded favorably. Happy 4th of July!

 

A green 1 month ago

 

13 green today

Hydraulic Leak On Greens

Few things are more painful to me then unnecessary damage to our golf course. This morning one of our greens rollers had a hydraulic leak. A small drip, it was not immediately noticed by the operator. Several of the greens were affected. Fortunately, it was a small leak. I expect the spots to go brown but hope for a speedy recovery since we are in the peak of our growing season. Other than appearance, I expect little affect on playability.

 

Happy Birthday to the Greens!

10 years ago today our greens at Isla Del Sol were planted with a new grass called Seashore Paspalum. At the time, our greens were Tifdwarf bermudagrass that were 11 years old. The Tifdwarf required winter overseeding, had numerous pest issues and was not tolerant of the poor water quality that we often receive through our reclaimed irrigation water supply. Seashore Paspalum presented an option that was much more tolerant of the inherent issues we face at Isla. While it took some time for the new greens to mature, Isla has built a strong reputation of having beautiful putting surfaces and has become a go-to source of information for other facilities looking to maintain quality seashore paspalum greens.

 

Mission Accomplished

Last week the golf course was closed to perform extensive cultural maintenance practices including greens/tees aerifications and fairway verticutting. I am happy to say that all went well. It appears that the fairways will fully recover faster than normal. From what I have seen, they look great. The greens also look very healthy and should take the normal 10-14 days to fully heal. (As I write this, the rain is pouring down which always helps to speed recovery!) You may notice on a few of the greens where a small area of turf may have lifted and is in need of repair. This is a normal occurrence due to the aggressiveness of our aerification program. Over the next week we will repair any spots that are in need. We will also be aerifying and topdressing the collars and approaches on Tuesday.

The grounds department also took advantage of the closed days to perform some other tasks. One of which was the hanging of new driving range nets. Another task performed was the spraying of Round-Up in the area between 10 and 18 fairways. We will be removing the turf in this area and replacing with a waste area similar to the ones on 1, 3 and 5. At the same time we will remove the old, dying bottlebrush trees and replacing with palm tress. The addition of the waste bunker aids playability, improves aesthetics, reduces the need for chemical and fertilizer inputs, and requires less manpower to maintain. You will see this work completed over the next few weeks.

   Just a few holes on 6 green

   Jason and Jesus hanging new nets

   Dark area between 10 and 18 will become a waste bunker

Necessary Evil

The golf course will be closed May 30th thru June 2nd for greens aerification and fairway verticutting. Aerification involves the pulling of cores from the green surfaces and backfilling the resulting holes with sand. The sand helps to maintain pore space allowing for the exchange of water, nutrients and air. Verticutting of fairways results in the removal of grain and thatch. While the golf course will be in recovery for a couple of weeks, both aerification and verticutting produce healthier grass and better playing conditions in the long run. 

 

We worked out the kinks last week aerifying the chipping and nursery greens.

What's Up With #2 Bleaching Her Hair?

You may notice some grass that looks almost white on number two. This is part of a trial I am conducting to gauge the effectiveness of a specific herbicide on killing goose grass. Following the warm winter our goose grass population seems to be worse than normal. I am looking for an efficient and cost-effective way to control it. If found to be effective, I intend to apply this product while we are closed for aerification. By the time the golf course recovers, the grass should also be green where we apply this product. 

Trial On #2

 

 Healthy Goosegrass

Family Milestone

The Sunderman family reached a milestone this weekend as our oldest child Trent graduated from Lakewood Ranch High School. Many of you probably remember Trent as the youngster from over 10 years ago when I first started at Isla. Or possibly the musician who joined me at the pool bar to play guitar a few years back. He is now a high school graduate! Trent plans to attend Florida Atlantic University is Boca Raton in the fall where he plans to major in architecture. 

 

Don't Wait To Read This Post. Golf Depends On It!

Many of you know that I am a current board member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA). The GCSAA has nearly 18,000 members and provides services in 78 countries. GCSAA is dedicated to serving its members, advancing their profession and enhancing the enjoyment, growth and vitality of the game of golf. One of the ways we fulfill our mission is through our philanthropic organization, the Environmental Institute for Golf (EIFG). The Environmental Institute for Golf fosters sustainability through research, awareness, education, programs and scholarships for the benefit of golf course management professionals, golf facilities and the game. 

The EIFG is currently conducting an auction of golf rounds to raise money to help support its mission. This auction is called Rounds 4 Research. Through this auction there are over 1000 golf courses nationwide and beyond who have donated rounds of golf to be auctioned off to benefit the EIFG. Through this auction you have the opportunity to gain access to some facilities otherwise difficult to access as well as possibly pick up a great deal at other facilities. Some bids start at under $100 per foursome! This is definitely worth your time as a golfer to check out. Please check this out and share with any golfer friends.

Don't Delay! Auction ends May 7th at 10:00 pm EST.

Visit Rounds4Research.com to check out the available courses.

A Little Thirsty

Over the weekend some of the greens showed signs of being dry. Low humidity and high winds caused some wilt of the leaf tissue. The greens have bounced back nicely although a few areas still show signs of the drought stress, most noticeably #4. Any remaining areas should recover fully over the next week.

 

Front of #4 Green

#3 Lake Bank Completed

Last week the grounds team was able to complete the lake bank project to the right of the cart path on #3. This should improve safety as well as protect from undermining of the cart path. Of course we should also point out that it looks great!

 

#3 BeforeProject

 

 A Few Photos After Completion of the Project 

Thank You... Whoever You Are

I must say thank you to whoever drove their car into the hedges by the front circle in the entrance. While I don't condone your method, I do like the results. 

 

Hedge after a car plowed into it

 

Newly installed landscaping 

A Little Upgrade

We decided it was time to add a little class and upgrade our yardage markers. Enjoy!

 

 

And in case you forgot what the old ones looked like...

 

A Little Rest For The Grass

Each winter our practice tee experiences a lot of use. Between practice, warm-up and lessons our tee receives thousands of divots each day. This coupled with cooler weather and slower grass growth leaves our practice tee in rough shape by this time each year. In an effort to improve practice conditions as well as provide recovery time we have installed artificial tee space. As opposed to a permanent artificial tee, we chose to use mats which will allow us to store them inside during the summer months which should extend their lifespan. These mats are thick enough that you should be able to use regular golf tees. (You may want to experiment with length to match your tee height on the golf course.) In an effort to recover the grass on our practice tee as quickly as possible, we will begin using the artificial tee immediately. 

 

Irrigation Left #11 a Little Wet

Unfortunately, last night there was an irrigation head in front of 11 Green that stuck on. Instead of running for a few minutes it ran for hours. This does happen sometimes a small bits of debris can cause the valves to stick. The unfortunate result to the golf course was a really soggy approach and flooded bunker. We apologize for any inconvenience.

 

Bunker on #11 showing signs of being flooded.

Related to this, there is an isolation valve that shuts off water heading to number 11 Green. This valve resides by number 17 Tee. Fortunately, this valve closed allowing us to turn the water off to the approach on 11. Unfortunately, the valve would no longer open back up. That is why you will see a hole excavated next to 17 Tee. We are obtaining the necessary parts to make the repair and should have this all back in order by the end of the day tomorrow.

 

While some of you seemed surprised, I do still remember how to use a shovel!