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