Saturday, April 28, 2012

Bluebird update

Thought everyone would like a quick update on our baby bluebirds this morning. As expected, they're getting bigger quick! You can already see their blue coloring starting to show.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Course update

Next week the flowers along the front of the Clubhouse are going to be removed.  This is needed so that my staff can get into the bed and re-pipe the irrigation system that waters the flowers.  Over the years many design changes have taken place and additional irrigation heads kept being added without the proper piping to supply water, think of it as add-on's added to add-on's.   All of our current flowers are scheduled to be replaced during the first week of May anyway, so now is a great time to do the repairs.

Some of you might of noticed that we have started aerifying some of the thin or worn areas in fairways and teeing grounds with solid tines.  This solid tine aerification is more of a venting, it doesn't create the huge mess traditional aerification does.  After the area is aerified, a heavy dose of organic fertilizer is applied to the affected areas to promote recover and water holding.  The process will take us about two weeks to be able to get around to all of the areas.

Early next week the maintenance staff should finish up edging all of the cart paths.  This process is long and tedious work, but it makes the paths look so much better.  Additionally, the staff is going around and trimming back the landscape grasses that are starting to hang over onto the paths.  Our goal is to maintain the paths so no landscaping hits the carts as they drive the paths. 

Thursday, April 12, 2012

New members at the course

I had the bird box guy out today and we were checking boxes and came across something new. It was first noticed when we were approaching one of the nest boxes that I had identified earlier as having Bluebird eggs, a high pitched noise of some sort. At first we thought it was a snake inside the box eating the bluebird, but then all of the sudden the female bluebird came shooting out. Still hearing the shrill of a sound and now being even more curious, I had to find out. After popping open the access hatch on the side of the box it was obvious where the notice was coming from...BABY BLUEBIRDS!

We have a couple of boxes on the course with baby bluebirds in them. In the picture below you can see a picture of our newest members. Although they're not much to look at right now, it's pretty awesome to know they are there.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

News from South Florida Water Management...it's getting dry out there



District-Wide Conditions for April 9, 2012

The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) is issuing the following briefing:
The region remains under a water shortage warning.

April and May are the height of the dry season in South Florida. Limited rainfall, an increase in temperature and higher evapotranspiration rates reduce water resources at a faster pace at this time of year.

The 16-county region remains in a below-average dry season, with March rainfall at only 56 percent of the historical average. As water levels continue to decline, there is a potential return to water shortage conditions in the coming weeks. Water conservation is essential to stretch supplies through the remainder of the dry season.

Lake Okeechobee Levels
Today
12.06 feet



Historical Average for Today
14.12 feet

This Date One Year Ago

11.58 feet



One Month Ago
12.84 feet


One Week Ago
12.32 feet
 
Water Conservation Measures
South Florida is under the District’s Year-Round Landscape Irrigation Rule that limits residential and business landscape irrigation to two or three days per week based on location

Some city and county governments have adopted local ordinances that differ from the District rule and may further limit landscape irrigation. To determine watering

days and times in your area, contact your local government or visit

Note: Customers of the West Palm Beach and Lake Worth utilities remain under local orders that limit landscape irrigation to one day per week.

Permitted water users such as nurseries, agriculture, golf courses and utilities are required to continue following the water use conditions in their permits.

Copies of water use permits can be found in the Application/Permit records search online at www.sfwmd.gov/ePermitting

For information about water conservation, visit www.savewaterfl.com

Information about current weather and water conditions can be found at www.sfwmd.gov/waterwatch.

# # #
Media inquiries can be directed to:
Rochelle Gilken
South Florida Water Management District
Office: (561) 682-2800 or Cellular: (561) 670-1890


Thursday, April 5, 2012

How does the Augusta National do it

It is that time of year again when we all huddle around the TV and marvel at the perfection of Augusta National's golf course. Without a doubt they have their system down, but when it comes tournament time...they take it to a whole other level. A colleague of mine took the picture below while volunteering at the tournament. How many guys can you count that are raking the one bunker?

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Pool Cabana soffit repairs

A quick update about the pool restrooms. Last week it came to my attention that there was some sort of water leak allowing water to get behind the stucco right above where you enter the pool restrooms. As you can see in the pictures, the water had rusted the metal corner bead used to hold the stucco in place so badly that the rust was showing through the outside of the stucco. After tearing off the stucco, Roberto found that the soffit boards were rotted a bit too. This leak has been going on for a while.

The good news is that this afternoon I have a contractor friend coming out to take a look at the problem and help me figure out how it is going to get repaired correctly. So not to worry, its a small issue but I wanted to get it fixed before the rainy season comes.


Monday, April 2, 2012

BLUEBIRDS ARE IN THE HOUSE!

I was out checking the course this morning when a magnificent male bluebird dropped down right in front of me on 13 fairway, grabbed a bug and flew off to the cypress hammock between 10-13 towards a bird box that was recently put up. Being curious as to the success of our new bird box program I decided to take a peek.

Check out what I found. Momma bluebird sitting on a nest of eggs.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Board of Directors Approved A New Golf Course Maintenance Fleet of Equipment

I just wanted to take a minute to thank Mr. Dean for all of the new mowers I recently purchased.  A few months ago I approached Mr. Dean privately and expressed concern about the reliability of our current fleet of golf course maintenance equipment and how my ability to produce the very finest turf conditioning for the Club is jeopardized because of the lack of capital replacement money the last couple of years.  In true leadership form, and wanting all members to enjoy a truly fine tuned golf course, Mr. Dean authorized me to purchase a new fleet of mowers.

With all of the new machines on the market to choose from, it was not an easy decision.  The market competition is very fierce, which allowed me to apply tremendous leveraging pressure on all the major suppliers in hopes of them getting our million dollar purchase.  In some cases, equipment manufacturers were willing to give 20-35% discounts.  In the end the deciding factor was all about the machines that were going to save us the most resources like equipment repair, durability and fuel savings...mainly fuel savings.


See below for a picture of the type of machines that Mr. Dean approved me to purchase.  He said I could get as many as I need.

















I think my staff is not going to like the new machines so much! April fools, sorry couldn't help myself.