Caution....Road work ahead

Flashing lights and lots of orange lines and flags on the ground can only mean one thing, something is about to happen.  So you know me, I just went right up to the guy and said "Hey, whatcha doing?" 
As it turns out, all of the upcoming work is because the County is getting ready repave the roads from Solana all the way to Northgate Drive.  Yet before they can repave the roads, they have to solve the flooding problem in the neighborhood once and for all.  I've been here nearly 8 years and it seems that at least once a summer the neighborhood gets a rain so hard, so fast, and so overwhelming that the street floods from my office on the corner of Burning Tree and Solana all the way to the Clubhouse.  I'm talking serious flooding, like several inches over the crown of the road type flooding.



only a few inches from the center of those 20 inch wheels

The reason the road floods is because a large number of the houses in the neighborhood have illegally filled in the drainage swales along the side the road.  Also, a large number of houses that did get permits to fill in the drainage swales did it so long ago using galvanized drainage pipe that the pipe has deteriorated and collapsed shutting down water flow.  For example this yard.  When it rains, there is no place for the water to go as the swale along side of the road was filled in.  Additionally, there is a drainage inlet in the yard, but the grass is so tall that the water in the road cannot get to it.  So the road itself then turns into the drainage swale.

The results of all this filling in the swales and failed piping has turned the roadway into the drainage channel. 



between 3 & 16 green after a heavy downpour

Fixing the drainage problem and repaving the road will be a good thing for the Club when its done.  The process however will take some time and probably will upset some of the homeowners in our neighborhood that come home and now have a drainage swale across their yard where it was grass before.  So if someone asks be sure to tell them the road project has nothing to do with the Club!!!  We did not request the drainage improvement.  It all has to do with the County needing to pave the streets and they can't until they can get the water off the road.

El Niño Is Still Growing And Set To Get Even Stronger In The Next Few Months

The end might turn out much different than the beginning.  I know we've all be sitting around waiting for Sum-iter to be over, we'll you might not have to wait too much longer.  Here is an excerpt from my friends at IFLScience who did a big article recently....

"As we move into the New Year, it looks like El Niño is set to get worse, according to NASA, as the weather system is still growing. The strong winds currently going from the western to eastern Pacific that are driving El Niño are showing no signs of waning, with other data on ocean surface temperatures suggesting that it still hasn’t reached its peak yet. The weather system has been implicated in the fires that have spread across much of Indonesia, the floods that have hit large parts of South America, and the Indian heat wave, all seen in 2015.
Researchers are expecting the effects of the system to hit the United States over the next few months, ushering in a period of cool and wet conditions in the southern U.S., while things could be turning warmer and drier over the north of the country. These predictions are based on the last massive El Niño to have occurred back in 1997. The development of the current event bears a striking resemblance to that which occurred 19 years ago, which created a dramatic ice storm over New England and caused chaos along the Gulf Coast."

Credit NASA

I remember the winter of 1997 and it wasn't a fun time to grow grass.  It was my second season as a grass guy and most had never experienced a winter like that before.  Subsequently, it is the type of winter that I am always hedging my bets against when preparing for our golfing season so fret not.  The course is in great shape and should El Nino start causing havoc, we'll batten down the hatches and ride out the crazy weather knowing we were ready for it.

Happy New Year...a personal message from the grass guy (this may not work on a smart phone or iPad)

A look back

Have you ever noticed these speratically placed trees along the sides of the holes? There's only one per hole, if at all. Ever wonder why there are so few?

To find the answer why, you have to go way back in time. The trees are called Southern Red Cedar trees. They are Florida natives up around the big bend area, just not here. Yet, due to their look and growth habit they resemble a type of cypress. 

Way back when, the trees were installed as 150 yard distance markers on each hole. 

Over time, and due to the ravaging affects of hurricanes, many of the trees were lost and not replaced. The next time you are out playing take a look and see if you can spot them. There are more on the back nine than the front nine. 

Christmas with the AC on.....

Welcome to Sum-iter 2016! You think it's Winter because it's December, but really feels like Summer and makes the grass grow like crazy. 

Mowed rough today....as we say in the grass biz "we baled hay."  I've been tending to turf for almost 20 years and can't think of a Winter like this. Don't get me wrong, the warm weather has been fabulous for the course, it's Really good right now. All of the growth has the turf super dense and is producing great lyes. 

In anticipation of the inevidable onslaught of carts and traffic, the crew has been using the extra warmth and some fertilizers to make sure that when everyone comes back the course is ready. Also, the range tee has been over-seeded and the grass part will open up on January 1st for practice. This year's ryegrass stand came in very nicely and I appreciate everyone's patience in getting it established. 

An update on the two putting greens....

The two practice greens are still a little scraggly looking. They are definitely better than what they were, but quite always away from greens 1-18. I've been very cautious about pushing them too hard to recover as I don't want to make them regress by giving them too much love. Efforts to spead up recovery still include a slightly higher nurtritional diet, increased height of cut and constant plugging out of damaged areas. I know it's not much of a consolation but we are not alone in our struggles with putting surfaces. Literally everyone of my colleagues I've spoken to, regardless of the size of their budget, have at least one green that they are struggling with in some way. That should tell you how unusual this Sum-iter has been! 

Fruit cocktail

Not sure if anyone has noticed the new trees I had planted behind 3 red tee, but instead of more of the same I planted some citrus trees.  They are called fruit cocktail trees! The reason why they are called fruit cocktail trees is because there is five different fruit producing stems on one trunk. The tree will produce oranges, limes, grapefruits, tangelos & lemons. So if you are going to pick a fruit, better make sure you know what you are getting, you may get a surprise. 

Know the difference between a Monarch, a Swallowtail, or a Red Admiral??

To help everyone identify the different kinds of butterflies in the pollinator gardens, I installed a couple new signs for easy reference. One is on 6, right of the green, and the other is on 10 down by the red tee.