Golfers in the Mist

Some early morning pics from the course.

Daily Inspections

There's an old saying for a golf course that goes..."The biggest problem with a golf course is that you have to leave it outside." This is so true and is also the reason why it is important to inspect the course every single day!

The picture below is of 15 green. The brown spots around my knife and the flag is from a disease outbreak that occurred Tuesday and Wednesday. We caught it early and sprayed the greens with a fungicide on Thursday to kill the fungus, but this is a perfect example of what can drastically go wrong over night on a course.

Turf fungus is always around, usually kept in check by a balanced environment (and my routine preventative fungicide sprays to keep the scales tipped in my favor). However, on Monday we received almost two inches of rain and that was enough to tip the scales in favor of the fungus. The wet conditions and the cool temperatures were enough to allow the disease to have the upper hand. Thanks to the watchful eyes of Casey and Kenny (one of my assistants and my spray tech), they caught the disease early and were able to take care of it before a lot of damage was done.

If you see me and my assistant out on the course driving around looking like we are just staring at the grass, that because we are! Along with a lot of other things too of course, but our job is to see the problems before you do! With a big work space to cover, that means moving around a lot.

Golf, it's good for everyone and everything

Ever walked through a thick forest and wonder why you do not see all the wildlife that you see on a golf course? The answer is simple and it has to do with edges. Edges create diversity and diversity creates welcoming habitat for animals.

If you think about the golf course compared to the forest, it makes sense. You can't go 50 yards on the course without running into a variety of different edges; the edge of the littoral, the edge of the lakes, the edge of landscape grass beds...they're everywhere as compared to a forest that has massive amounts of land that is all the same.

Look at the pictures and see where the birds are hunting. They are not hunting in the middle, they're hunting on the edge. They are hunting there because this is where the smaller fish live. If you were a little fish and didn't want to get eaten, where would you hide? You'd hide on the edge because that's where all of the aquatic plants are that provide you cover. During the reconstruction I planted all the lakes with aquatics to help stabilize the banks, but also to increase the diversity of the aquatic eco-system knowing that there would be an increase in wildlife activity as a side effect. When you are out on the course and you see a hawk or eagle, where are they roosting? They usually are roosting in a tree that is on the edge of a stand of trees, right?  They are waiting to spot their prey that is also attracted to the edge of the stand of trees.

You can see in the pictures nature using the edge effect to perfection. The Great Blue Heron, the Craine, the Cormorants and the Wood Stork all know that the edge is where all of the activity is going to happen. Wildlife does not typically look to hunt and feed in a mono-stand environment. This is why you see more wildlife on a golf course than you do in most pristine national forests.

Morning Glory

The best time of the day to be on the golf course is either really early or really late. Any photographer will tell you it's all about the light and that's so true when it comes to bringing out the natural beauty of the golf course. Here are a couple pics from this morning's ride around. The softer light and the long shadows combine to create some beautiful images to feed the golfer's soul.

Flower pics

I was riding the course this morning and was inspired by the beautiful flowers around the course.

Winter? Not here in Naples

If it wasn't for the recent visit by Santa, you wouldn't have known that it is winter here at The Country Club of Naples.  The temperatures have been so moderate, well really warm, that it's almost been too hot for this time of the year.  Trust me, I'm not complaining.  It's just that it has been unusual.  I remember last year being brutal cold in the beginning of the season.  In fact we had several frost delays!  The only delays we have had lately is in putting on enough sun screen.  With all the great weather the course is absolutely beautiful.  The staff has been working hard to prepare the course for the core of our golfing season coming up.  We are all ready, just waiting on everyone to return.  So pack those bags, forget about those snow shovels and get on down here for some great golf.

See you soon...

Range use. Practicing how to practice

Have you ever given any thought on how you practice at the range?  I'm not talking about all the stuff Tony would go over with you.  I'm talking about how you use the grass.  Now before I lose you to the thought of the "The green's keeper has lost his mind!" just follow me for a minute and I'll make my point quickly!

I want you to look at the picture below.  In it you'll see a typical hitting station on a practice facility with one minor difference.  There's something about a section of the turf in this hitting station that you typically do not see when people are hitting balls.  Can anyone see it? 

 Here, let me give you a hint.  This is something that you typically do not see.

I'm sure most of you do not pay much attention to it, but the area inside the circle is what the grass should look like when you are done hitting practice shots.  You should strive to use an entire piece of the turf, sort of like a sod cutter.  It is completely OK to consume all of the turf like this on bermuda grass.  The number one reason this sort of shot grouping is better is that is consumes the smallest about of practice space in the hitting station.  During high season, if you are going to the range in the afternoon and everyone is using the practice tee in a willy nilly fashion by spreading out their divots, there will be no place to practice.  It is often times impossible to to find a piece of turf large enough to hit off of, let along stand on that hasn't been chewed to pieces.  Secondly, the turf's recovery is primarily from the biomass in the bottom of the divot, not from the sides.  This means the grass recovers by growing straight up, not by growing from the sides across.  Recovery is quick.  Thirdly, in the game of golf we are taught to always try and leave the course in as good or better condition as when we used it for the next person that comes along.  That's why we rake bunkers and repair ball marks.  Consolidating divots on the practice tee means you are respecting your fellow member by giving them the ability to use a wonderfully prepared practice facility just as you did.

So next time you are practicing on the range, remember to practice good practicing.  The person who uses the station after you will appreciate it!