Not only are the golfers happy with the course, our wildlife around the property are prosperous as well.
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Surrogate parents
Congrats to everyone, you're all surrogate parents to a new generation of wildlife on the course. I had all of the nesting boxes surveyed last week and we have some new members in the Club.
Screech Owl using one of the boxes
Great Crested Fly Catcher eggs
Tell tale Blue Bird eggs
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Walking the line
During the next few days my staff will be marking the original perimeters of the greens with white lines. This is where the putting surface was when we opened after the golf course renovation project in 2009. The Celebration's tenacious growth habit is spectacular for wear resistance and divot recovery, but not so good on putting surface encroachment. As you'll see when you play, some areas have encroached significantly. This summer the plan is to recapture the lost putting surface.
On April 27th I have coordinated with the golf shop to close the first tee at 1 o'clock so that my staff can begin the phased process of the project. They're will remain closed for the rest of the day so that someone doesn't step onto the recently applied herbicide and then track it somewhere unintended.
Here are the steps that will happen.
4/27 : spray a non-selective herbicide on the area from the outer edge of the putting surface to the inner edge of the encroaching Celebration grass
5/16 : spray a non-selective herbicide on the area from the outer edge of the putting surface to the inner edge of the encroaching Celebration grass. The area should be 90% dead but we want to kill as much as possible to make sure it doesn't come back.
5/30 : spray a non-selective herbicide on the area from the outer edge of the putting surface to the inner edge of the encroaching Celebration grass. The area should be 99% dead but we want to really kill as much as possible to make sure it doesn't come back.
6/6 : sod cut off the dead ring of grass around the front 9 greens. Afterward dead grass removal,aerify the putting surfaces and then push the billions of tiny fresh grass plugs into the empty troughs around the greens to replant the recaptured areas. Tamp down to start the grow-in process.
The tricky part of the entire process is to make sure we do not run out of aerification plugs. To prevent this from happening we will only strip the front 9 green's perimeters to start, and then will strip more as needed after I see what sort of progress is made and how far the plugs go. There is a chance we will need to extend the project into July if we run out of aerification plugs to refill the perimeter troughs
Click here for the USGA's publication on the process for more details
On April 27th I have coordinated with the golf shop to close the first tee at 1 o'clock so that my staff can begin the phased process of the project. They're will remain closed for the rest of the day so that someone doesn't step onto the recently applied herbicide and then track it somewhere unintended.
Here are the steps that will happen.
4/27 : spray a non-selective herbicide on the area from the outer edge of the putting surface to the inner edge of the encroaching Celebration grass
5/16 : spray a non-selective herbicide on the area from the outer edge of the putting surface to the inner edge of the encroaching Celebration grass. The area should be 90% dead but we want to kill as much as possible to make sure it doesn't come back.
5/30 : spray a non-selective herbicide on the area from the outer edge of the putting surface to the inner edge of the encroaching Celebration grass. The area should be 99% dead but we want to really kill as much as possible to make sure it doesn't come back.
6/6 : sod cut off the dead ring of grass around the front 9 greens. Afterward dead grass removal,aerify the putting surfaces and then push the billions of tiny fresh grass plugs into the empty troughs around the greens to replant the recaptured areas. Tamp down to start the grow-in process.
The tricky part of the entire process is to make sure we do not run out of aerification plugs. To prevent this from happening we will only strip the front 9 green's perimeters to start, and then will strip more as needed after I see what sort of progress is made and how far the plugs go. There is a chance we will need to extend the project into July if we run out of aerification plugs to refill the perimeter troughs
Click here for the USGA's publication on the process for more details
Monday, February 15, 2016
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.
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.
Friday, February 5, 2016
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.
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
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.
Friday, January 22, 2016
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.
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