It's all about the weather

Most people in Naples this time of the year are here because of the typically great weather.  It is no secret, right? Blue skies, sunshine and 80 degrees is the place you wanna be!!  It Almost seems like a myth this year.

I did some research on the University of Florida's weather station to see just how different our local weather has been and it is pretty surprising even to me.  Back in the fall I did a post called "Winter golfing season is almost here" click here for "Winter golfing seaon is almost here" and explained in detail the science behind the timing of the summer maintenance practices.  After riding the course with Trevor this morning and doing our usual weekly planning session I wanted to see just how far away from summer growing conditions we have gotten.  My "barometer number" of 140 for great winter plant health is based off of historical solar radiation output from the sun and years of experience putting the course through the greatest stress at the worst time of year.  Here is what we are getting now as compared to a few years gone by....quite different.

If you are wondering why the golf course is seeming to be "dull" for this time of year you only have to look at the highlighted numbers.  During the time frame of January 2013-2015 we averaged 140.35 units of solar radiation as compared to dismal 114.49 the course received in 2016.  The sun's energy is just not getting to the grass to fuel the photosynthetic process.  Days like today with 100% cloud coverage really cut down on the required solar radiation for the plant to be able to endure the punishment of winter time golf.

Now have a look at the rainfall totals.  We were blessed with an amazing 10 inches of rain in January.....that's crazy!!!!! All of that rain and cold weather cost the Club over 800 rounds of golf.

Also highlighted with the total amount is the amount that falls in less than 15 minutes.  The table shows that we do typically get a shower, maybe even a good rain...but 10 inches of rain is such an anomaly.  Also, in one of those winter storms we received almost .6" of rain in 15 minutes.  That is like a mid-summer rain event.  I remember back in 1998 during the last "Great El Nino", I was an Assistant Supt at Collier's Reserve back then, and the area received almost 7 inches of rain in February when historically we received almost nothing.  It caused a lot of problems with turf thinning out and an overall lack of turf vigor, just like what we are experiencing now.  Even with my large bag of tricks to make the course look good, we are primarily dependent on Mother Nature to give us the basics like sunshine to make the course look good. 

The sun is the essence of all the good that we are wanting right now, and quite frankly have come to expect.  Until Mr. Golden Sun decides to peek out from around the clouds the course is going to be at less than peak performance.  In anticipation of the sun eventually coming out, I had the entire course fertilized last week.  I wanted to make sure that the only limiting factor to make the course come back to life is the one thing we can't give it, sunshine.

Irrigation issues

I'm sure everyon has seen the Clubhouse green and number 1. The irrigation controller that controls the irrigation for these greens went down. Trevor checked the green on Friday and by Saturday the green had turned for the worse. The controller has been repaired and the putting surface is starting to green up, but the weather is fighting us at every turn as well. The windy conditions and low humidity are making water control difficult. Hopefully, by week's end the surface will be green again. 

Temperature inversion.

Today I got a report of some dead fish in the lake on 7/9....that's never good. I checked the chemical logs and nothing has been sprayed in months that would cause an issue. Then I remember that on Wednesday we repaired a main connection drainage pipe that dumps into the lake. This might not seems significant but trust me it was.

The end of the pipe in the picture was actually floating out of the water due to the hollow ribbing that gives the pipe structural strength. To fix it Kenny just added some weights to the end of the pipe and it sank back into the water. THEN, the water that was being held back started roaring out of the end of the pipe. All of this water was coming from the lake on 5. The rapid introduction of all the new water into a system that had stabilized after the rains seems to have caused a temperature inversion in water column which is believed be the cause of the dead fish. It is not due to a chemical or fertilizer application. 

Course closed

It started raining last night and continued into this morning with some very heavy down pours around 6 am. I have closed the course until 10:30 to allow my staff time to clean up the facility and repair the washed out bunkers. 

So while my staff waits for the sun to come up and the rain to stop I had them polish the million dollar's worth of equipment in my building. There's always something that can be done. 

Birding / Environmental Tour Available

The Club's annual birding / environmental tours will begin on this coming Monday. The tours are lead by Brian Beckner, a former Superintendent turned Ornathologist, who brings a wealth of knowledge to all aspects of how golf courses benefit the environment. 

There is still room on Monday's tour if you are interested.  Please call Diane to reserve your spot. The tour starts at 7 a.m. at the cart barn and last about 1.5 hours. 

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.