Baby It's Cold Outside!

Brrr!!! It’s been a little chilly by Florida standards. Aside from the need to bundle up, what does this mean for our golfers? It means we need to be extra mindful when caring for our golf course. 

Winter started early this year with several cold fronts pushing through in November and December. While they might not have seemed cold compared to northern winters, they definitely have been noticed by our turfgrass and landscaping. Many cloudy days with temperatures in the 60's means that the plants are not photosynthesizing or able to make food for themselves to grow. In fact, when we think the weather is perfect for golf in the low to mid-70's the plants are just able to wake up a little. In reality, it's those high-70's - low 80's days with bright sun that the plants need to truly wake up and start growing again. 

While we had a few spurts of unseasonably warm weather in December, we have had many waves of cooler, cloudy days that are unfavorable to our turf's growth. This detrimental effect on growth is becoming noticeable in areas of high cart traffic as well as some minor thinning and significantly slower ballmark recovery on greens. 

Over the next few days, I will be writing blog posts that focus on how we can best care for our golf course as we progress through the winter months. In the meantime, think warm thoughts full of bright sunshine.

This photo goes back to one of the many "gray days" in December.

Golf Course Master Plan and 2019 Project Presentation

On Wednesday, January 9th, there will be a presentation in the main dining room at 10:00am. As your golf course superintendent, I will be giving a general overview of the Golf Course Master Plan, it's purpose and overall implementation.

In addition to the Master Plan overview, I will be highlighting the upcoming project plans for 2019. To continue momentum from projects in 2018, we will be working on additional bunkers, green surrounds and tee complexes. During the presentation, you will learn what features will be improved as well as timing and coordination of the project.

I look forward to seeing you on Wednesday. If for some reason, you unable to attend in person, we will also be broadcasting live on the Isla Del Sol Facebook page.

New Cart Staging Area

Happy New Year! Well, it only took the Grounds Department 3 days to pick up our project momentum where we left off in 2018. You will notice a lot of activity around the practice putting green and first tee over the next week. Preparation is underway for the addition of asphalt to the south and west of the green. This area will become the new staging area for golf carts. This will free up approximately 16 much needed parking spaces in the parking lot! 

Please be patient and attentive next week as there will be a need at times to reroute cart traffic heading to the first tee. 

Once the paving is complete, the wall will be painted, the fence pressure washed and stained and new landscaping installed.

Never Stop Improving

While we had a busy summer with golf course projects, the work hasn't stopped. You may have noticed a few things going on around the property.

First, a few weeks ago we started working on restoring another lake bank. This one wasn't originally planned for work this year. However, it was discovered that a 6-inch irrigation mainline had been exposed on number #17 as a result of significant erosion. In order to prevent a potential blowout of the irrigation, it was decided that we needed to immediately address this lake bank by using the same geotube method employed on other banks over the past few years. We will not only repair the area with the exposed pipe but also take the opportunity to restore the entire shoreline.


Notice the white pipe just above the water. That is a 6-inch irrigation main.


Arturo is guiding the hose to allow for the proper deposition of fill.

Another project worked on this week was at the practice putting green. Fernando and a crew of employees worked to install a brand new irrigation loop for the practice putting green and reroute the feed for the first hole. This work is being performed to allow for future expansion of a golf cart staging area.


Jason and Pedro are trenching a line for the new irrigation pipe while Fernando and Cristino work in the background.

Over the next few weeks you can also look forward to seeing new plantings installed along the fence by the first tee.

Project Update - September 28

We come to the end of another big week here at Isla. We continue to progress on multiple projects while also working to maintain the golf course and grounds.


The most exciting aspect for many is the new sand going into the bunkers. Early in the week we sprayed the grass on the bunker floors with RoundUp to minimize future issues of grass growing up through the sand. After the bunker floors were sprayed, we began hauling sand. The sand was spread to a consistent depth of six inches across the entire bunker floor, then compacted to approximately 4 inches using a plate compactor. We compact the sand to minimize the chances of having plugged or fried egg lies. Once compacted, the sand is then redistributed as necessary to maintain the proper depth and slope. Finally, the bunkers are hand-raked to perfection. The bunkers on holes 4, 5 and 14 are complete. You are to play them as you would any bunker. The bunkers on 6 and 13 will have sand installed next week. Once sand is installed, those bunkers will also be in play.


Fernando, Phil, Cristino and Glen are shoveling sand into place in the #14 greenside bunker.



Phil is using a plate compactor to pack the bunker sand.



The finished bunker on 14.


It is important to understand that these are new bunkers. New bunkers have the potential to get soft, especially without rain. Soft bunkers are prone to plugged and fried egg lies. While bunkers are a hazard, we do hope to minimize this extra penalty of a bad lie by keeping the sand compacted. I am happy to say that the shots witnessed so far have all had good lies and were very playable. I have even witnessed some excellent recovery shots by our members!


This shot was executed nicely to about 5 feet!


Many of you have asked about whether or not any of the sod is Ground Under Repair. At this time, only the bunkers on 6 and 13 are Ground Under Repair, along with #1 tee. All other locations are in play unless marked otherwise. This includes the paspalum sod around the greens. However, if your ball comes to rest in a seam between two pieces of sod, you may take relief without penalty. The first tee is coming along nicely and will be ready to open once it can be mowed without scalping.


Jason is mowing the new paspalum sod surrounding #14 green. This sod will be mowed as a collar throughout the upcoming winter. As the temperatures increase next spring, we will look to regain lost square footage from our greens where applicable.


Another major project kicked off this week. Construction of a new privacy fence between the first tee and the shopping center has begun. This is the first step in beautifying this area. Once the fence is complete, new landscaping will be installed to enhance the first impression of our golf course.


New fence along #1 tee.


Another major project nears completion. The lake bank project on #9 is in its final stages. We are ready to grade the soil and lay sod. This work is scheduled to take place the week of October 8th.


Looking at the 9th hole from the 18th fairway.

Project Update - September 14

After much delay, the teeing grounds on hole #1 are complete! We faced several delays due to rain at the sod farms, but were finally able to get the sod installed yesterday and today. While all the previous sod was installed by our employees by hand, the sod on number one was installed by a contractor. We used roll sod on the first tee. Almost like carpet, the sod comes in a big roll. A machine then rolls the sod out flat. While this is difficult to do on green slopes due to the bunkers, roll sod is ideal for a tee location. There are much fewer seams with the rolls which makes it easier to get the tee surface flat and smooth.

The new tees are quite remarkable in terms of making the golf hole feel more connected from tee to green. There is significantly more square footage which will be helpful in managing wear during the busy winter season.

Once the sod on #1 tee has sufficiently established roots, we will begin mowing it. It will take a few weeks to get it established, but we hope to be playing off the new tees by the first part of October.

The work completed on the rest of the golf course is maturing nicely. We continue to mow the new sod and will begin lowering the heights of cut next week. The bunkers and surrounding slopes are holding strong and we are also lowering mowing heights in these areas. You may notice some scalping of the grass in some areas. While not ideal, it is common to see some of this as we lower cutting heights.

We plan to open hole #15 later next week.

The bunker sand is scheduled to be installed in the new bunkers the the week of September 24th.


The newly completed first tee. Now with three tee boxes!


A machine is being used to unroll new sod onto the first tee.


As always, we get an early start in the morning.

Project Update - September 6

We continue to move towards the finish line on the bunker and tee project. The new forward tee on #15 was grassed today. This means the only sod installation remaining for the project is on #1 tee. We were scheduled to install the sod on Friday but heavy rain at the sod farm has delayed the installation date until this coming Monday. Fortunately, this gives our employees a little extra time to finalize irrigation installation and final grading.

We mowed the sod on holes 4, 5, 6, 13 and 14 yesterday. After further examination, our current plan is to reopen those holes to play beginning this weekend. The bunkers are marked and will be played as MANDATORY Ground Under Repair. We don't want anyone to walk on the bunker slopes at this time and ask that you do not remove the ropes or stakes for any reason. Because of this, the ground under repair will extend vertically to allow relief if your next shot might be interfered by the ropes and stakes. If your ball or stance lies within the marked area, if your swing is impacted by a rope or stake, or if your next shot might be impacted by the ropes and stakes you may take relief. To take relief you must drop within one club length of the nearest point of relief no closer to the hole. We will be restricting all cart traffic from the newly installed sod including those players with blue flags. This is important in minimizing the stress on the new grass. Thank you for following the restricted guidelines.


Chris can be seen leveling the new forward tee in the distance.


Phil, Cristino, Pedro and Placido work hard to install the new irrigation on #1 tee.


Ground Under Repair (GUR) has been clearly marked for all new bunkers. Please take relief from all marked areas.