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