13 Green

Over the weekend there was an irrigation malfunction on 13 green. Because of this, the green is showing signs of wilt. We will alter our maintenance program on this green to encourage recovery.

Open For Business

The golf course has been closed for the past four days for scheduled maintenance. The original plan for this week was to aerify and verticut fairways and approaches as well as greens. However, following the significant amount of rainfall experienced the week prior, we were forced to change our plans. The mowing of the entire golf course was behind due to all the rain and much time was spent catching up with the mowing. With most areas being saturated, it wasn't possible to perform the aerification and verticutting on fairways. Because of this, we shifted our manpower efforts to other projects. We were able to aerify greens with small tines, work on weed control, remove grain from the old tees, spread wall-to-wall fertilizer, weedeat the entire golf course, edge all the bunkers and work to remove invasive vines from many of the hedge lines. We also had time to install new drains around #10 tee.

Pedro aerifying #2 green

A few days later the greens are ready for play!

New drain line on #10 ready for sod

Today marks the opening of our new tees. Please keep in mind that while the tees are playable, they are nowhere near the finished product. Similar to the development witnessed over the past several weeks, the tees will continue to mature more and more each week. Not only will the grass density continue to increase, we have treated the volunteer weeds which will soon wither and die.

We worked hard over the past few weeks around the weather to get the height of cut down to a playable level. This height reduction results in the tees being less green than how they appeared previously. As the grass adjusts to the new height of cut, it will return to a normal green color.

At this point, most of the new tees are mature enough to facilitate play. However, we will be conservative on where we place markers in order to avoid thinner areas. Because of this, you may find tee markers at yardages different from where they normally would be. I do ask that everyone refrains from driving golf carts on any of the new grass. Nothing wears out grass faster than cart traffic.

We are still waiting for another load of sod to help us complete some of the areas plagued by washouts with the substantial summer rains. Due to wet sod farms and high demand for grass, sod has been very difficult to obtain this summer. I am told that hopefully this week another load will be available.

#4 Tee ready for play

#10 Tee

While from a distance the tees have a brown tint to them, a closeup of the tee displays a significant amount of green leaf blades

While we had hoped to manage thatch across the entire golf course, the weather had other plans. We did manage to address our old tees by lowering the height and cutting into the grain. The end goal is to provide a tighter, better playing tee surface. While these tees currently appear to be scalped, they will quickly recover.

#9 Tee following thatch management

These new green shoots were visible the day after the thatch program was performed

Finally, we were able to spread our quarterly application of fertilizer and weed control to the entire golf course. This application was scheduled for late July but because we have had so much rain, we were just now able to get it applied. A contractor uses a spreader truck to apply the fertilizer. This results in tire tracks in some areas. These tracks will roll out and disappear over the next week.

Tire tracks on 3 fairway

With all the rain, Fernando got creative on how to stay dry!

Time to Build an Ark?

Since late July we have had many days of weather that is not typical of Florida summers. While we are used to rainfall this time of year, it usually comes in the form of afternoon showers. In contrast, we have experienced many cloudy days where the rains start early in the morning. Until this week, most of the rains have brought relatively small amounts with each event, but their consistency and the lack of sunny weather causes the golf course to stay very wet. Today we received 5.1 inches of rainfall, bringing our August total to 9.8". Obviously, this has an effect on our everyday maintenance as we are very restricted on where we can mow, we have had to postpone fertilizer applications, the grass is unable to fully photosynthesize (make food for itself) and our workday productivity has been disrupted. Fortunately, the weather is forecast to turn back to normal beginning next week.

These boards floated off the footbridge on #8 all the way up to the cart path by the green

The red arrow shows how high the water reached on the wall by 18 green before receding

Although we've had a lot of poor weather for growing grass, the new tees continue to mature. Many of you have asked if all the rain has helped or hurt the grow-in process. The answer is both. We always welcome fresh rain water. The grass prefers that over reclaimed water, especially when it is young. However, the abundance of cloudy weather means the grass is not able to effectively use the sun for photosynthesis. Another detriment has been our inability to fertilize over the past week. The rain has also limited our ability to mow and sand topdress as frequently as we would prefer. Regardless, we continue to push forward and it won't be long until they are ready for play.

#4 Tee - August 1st

#4 Tee - August 12

#12 Forward Tee - August 1st

#12 Forward Tee - August 12

While the rain has delayed some of our work, we have still been able to make some headway this week. Due to rain and heavy demand, sod has been difficult to come by since June. After a month of having two loads on order, one load of sod came available Wednesday morning for the slope left of the back tee on #8. The remainder of that load was used to sod around a new drain by 16 tee that was installed Monday. While we had hoped to install a new drain on #10 tee Tuesday, Mother Nature had other plans. We hope for better weather on Monday to finish this task. We are also keeping our fingers crossed for a timely delivery of the last load of sod needed to finish work around the new drains and other areas that have been prone to washouts.

While much of the golf course was covered in water, this area by #16 tee only had a small puddle following 5.1" of rain. Signs of an effective drainage project.

This photo on #8 was taken while the guys took a well-deserved lunch break.

Pedro was pumping this standing water away from #10 tee in preparation for drainage installation. Unfortunately, we were rained out from completing the project. Fingers crossed for next week!

Golf Course Update - August 2nd

Over the past 7 days we received about six inches of rain. While that is much more than we wanted, we are fortunate to have received much less than nearby areas. With 1.75" on Wednesday night we were cart path only on Thursday. However, at times like these we are fortunate to have a well-draining property and no cart restrictions for Friday.

We've had continued growth on the new tees which cover more everyday. The increased fertility program appears to be having the desired effect. The tees that are furthest along are almost at 90% coverage. Last week it was mentioned that we used stems verticut from the new approaches to fill thin areas on some tees. These small stems have already begun to produce new growth. Recognizing the success, this week we replicated this process across many additional areas in order to push them along.

#4 Tee July 23

#4 Tee August 1

#12 Forward Tee - July 23

#12 Forward Tee - August 1

New growth from sprigs made when verticutting approaches

We spent much of Tuesday verticutting new sod installed as part of either last year's or this year's project. This is done to smooth the seams and unevenness of the sod. In the process, the machine removes material from the high spots without much effect on the lows. While it appears to be scalped for a few days, it doesn't take long for new growth to generate. We will soon be aerifying, rolling and sand topdressing these areas to also assist in reducing the bumpiness.

Fernando is verticutting 9 approach

Chris spent some time spot spraying weeds this week. As a result, you will notice the dying weeds and bleached turf in these areas. The grass will soon green back up and cover the void left by the dead weeds.

You may notice spots like these on the golf course as a result of spraying weeds with herbicide

Part of last year's renovation project along as well as this year's project was to expand the green sizes back to their original footprint. Over the years the taller bermudagrass has encroached on our greens, leaving them smaller with fewer hole locations. The greens that have been expanded each gained approximately 1500 square feet in size. Each week the new green expansions get healthier and blend better with the older green surfaces.

This hole location on #4 is only 18 inches away from the old green perimeter