What's Up(date) 12/16/2010




Iced #3 fairway

 

 Wow, we've had some cold, dry weather the past two weeks!  That cold, dry air can really take a toll on young ryegrass seedlings and I see some damage on a few fairways driving around the golf course.  Thankfully, it's 65 degrees outside today and we are expecting some rain this weekend.  The extremely low temperatures have really hindered our ability to get water on the golf course as we can not run water when the air temperature is below 32 degrees.  Given the fragile nature of our irrigation system, the attached photo is a good example of what happens.  Essentially the head stuck on and then ran all night creating a sheet of ice on the fairway that we had to route traffic around to prevent damage to the turf below.

In an effort to combat the freezing conditions some facilities use tarps to cover greens during excessively cold spells.  Knowing there are a few greens on the golf course that freeze when the temperatures get low we purchased a large tarp to trap some heat and keep the green a little warmer.  We are testing this out on the back side of #6 green this year.  This is the section of the green that gave us so much trouble this past winter/spring due to excessive tree shading and the frozen surface. 

I am hoping that by tarping the back of the green during multiple cold days, we will keep the plant warmer and keep it from going into a dormant state so that it will come out of winter stronger than last year.  Should you be playing on a day that we have deemed it necessary to leave the tarp on the green, please consider it ground under repair if your ball comes to rest on the tarp.  Generally we expect to completely remove the tarp during warmer spells, but we will leave the tarp rolled off the back of the green on days where the night time lows will be excessively low for consecutive nights.  There was a very distinct line of where the tarp was when we removed it this past week.

As the trees behind the green continue to grow taller, this green will continue to have shade issues and frozen conditions unless we can remove or thin the the trees behind the green.

I am sometimes asked during these days when the temperatures are excessively cold,  "What are you guys doing today?"  I wanted to take a few minutes to elaborate on cold weather maintenance and what we do when it is just too cold for grass to grow and the golf course is not busy.  As some of you may have noticed, we have begun adding pine straw to the beds at tee boxes and cleaning up some of the larger landscaping beds.  This is work that unfortunately gets pushed to the winter time because we simply do not have the staff to keep up with these periphery projects during the growing season. 

However, we also have an entire fleet of turf equipment that gets annual maintenance inspections, oil changes and lubes, cutting units sharpened, and equipment parts replaced. 

In our fleet there are:

• 2 heavy duty utility carts
• 8 general use utility carts
• 2 greens mowers
• 1 tee mower
• 12 cutting reels to be sharpened
• 2 fairway mowers each with 5 cutting units
• 1 slopes/surrounds mower
• 1 30 hp tractor
• 1 45 hp tractor
• 1 60 hp tractor
• 1 pull behind rough mower
• 2 pine straw sweeping machines
• 1 3-wheeled bunker machine
• 2 dedicated sprayers
• 1 dedicated greens roller
• 1 topdresser
• small attachment items that we use occasionally throughout the year. 

The winter time is the best time to do fluid changes and larger preventive maintenance on these pieces of equipment as the frequency of use is much less than during the growing season and we can really take our time to keep the equipment in top shape.  Most of the equipment that we use on the golf course is between 4 and 6 years old.  To put a number on this, our greens mowers have about 2000 hours on them.  A good equation to car miles is 100 miles per hour of use.  That would be the equivalent of having over 200,000 miles on a car!

Wrapping up, have a safe holiday during these upcoming weeks.  We look forward to seeing you out enjoying this warm weather!

Update for December 6

Lighting up lasers on 15 fairway!

I had to start with a fun picture because I move on to the not fun topic of frost and cold.

WOW, IT'S COLD!

We're expecting some very cold temperatures overnight this week and I wanted to take the time to insert an excerpt on frost and why it's so important to stay off frost covered turf.  Yes, it's frustrating to show up early and hear the infamous "frost delay" radio communication, but it's equally frustrating for us on the turf management side because we want to be out of the way and let you enjoy your round without being asked for the ump-teenth time, "When do you think we can go?"  All joking aside, I want you to understand that we do everything that we can to help you get on the golf course as early as possible.  On the positive side, it will definitely be warmer when you do get out there than it was during the frost delay!

• How can a footprint be a killer?
  
  When it's a footprint made on a grass surface that's covered with frost. It's hard to believe that simply walking across a golf green covered with frost can cause so much damage, but the proof will be there in a few days as the turfgrass dies and leaves a trail of brown footprints. That's why most courses will delay starting times until the frost has melted.
• Why does frost cause problems?
  
  Greens are fragile. The putting surface, or green, is an extremely fragile environment that must be managed carefully and professionally. Remember that every green is a collection of millions of individual grass plants, each of which is a delicate living thing. Obviously, Mother Nature never meant for these plants to be maintained at 3/16 or even 1/8 of an inch for prolonged periods. This stress makes greens constantly vulnerable to attacks from insects, disease, heat, drought, cold -- and frost.
  
  
  Frost is essentially frozen dew. It can form when the temperature (or wind chill) is near or below the freezing point. The ice crystals that form on the outside of the plant can also harden or even freeze the cell structure of the plant. When frosted, the normally resilient plant cells become brittle and are easily crushed. When the cell membranes are damaged, the plant loses its ability to function normally. It's not much different than cracking an egg. Once the shell is broken, you can't put it back together.
  
  
  
• The proof is in the prints
  
  
  Although you won't see any immediate damage if you walk on frosted turf, the proof will emerge within 48 to 72 hours as the leaves die and turn brown. And, since just one foursome can leave several hundred footprints on each green, the damage can be very extensive.
  
  The damage isn't just unsightly -- putting quality will also be reduced until repairs are made. Those repairs are expensive and, in some cases, the green may have to be kept out of play for days or weeks until the new turfgrass is established. A short delay while the frost melts can preserve the quality of the greens, prevent needless repairs and may even save you a few strokes the next time you play.



#5 Fairway

Outside of the impressive frost delays, the golf course is looking great!  The overseed is really striping up beautifully and the greens are rolling well.  We have been working on getting the new pine straw into the beds throughout the golf course as well as sweeping up more straw as it falls to the ground.



We have a few herbicide sprays to finish up in the next week as the winds die back down to catch some Poa annua that has shown up and winter weeds in the roughs and greens surrounds.

I'm hoping that we will be able to do a micro solid tine aeration to the greens this winter a few times.  I have seen a little algae in some of the lower spots and have adjusted the water accordingly, but the roots still need to breathe.  The micro tines will allow the gas exchange to occur without disrupting ball roll in the least bit.





Weekly Update....gobble gobble

With the wonder of mobile technology, I am posting this week's update on my trip to see family in southwest Florida. This past week we have been busy with the beginning of winter maintenance.

Pine straw sweeping began as did pine straw bed replenishment. We are starting at the clubhouse and will be working the golf course beds throughout the months of December and January as time allows.

Work continues on 14 championship tee. We have begun removing the stumps and underbrush around the tee to allow sunlight and air flow through that small section of the golf course. In addition, we have been removing the stumps between 1 & 2. We have several (many) dead and dying trees to remove still and will continue through the winter.

The first fairway fertilizer application went great! We applied a nice slow release fertilizer at just under 1 pound of nitrogen per 1000 sqft to feed the new grass for about ten weeks. This takes us well into late winter and helps us prepare for a good transition. We will be working on adjusting irrigation run times the next week to provide a firmer fairway and prevent some of the ball plugging that is too common with the overseeded conditions.

Have a great Thanksgiving! Dugan and I will see you again in December....sorry no pictures this week, the iPhone does have it's limits.

Adding Photos from Last Week



Gravel pathway for cart access.

I mentioned some of the work that had been done last week in regards to the championship tee on #14 and wanted to add some photos for you to see the work in progress.

Spooky looking tee shot, not for the faint of heart!

  

Also I wanted to address the pink flags and tape that have turned up on the back 9 holes 16 through 18.  These are marking the wetland boundaries throughout the golf course for the Army Corps of Engineers and the state of Florida.  The last survey was from the late '90s and out of date.  These flags do not have any bearing on the golf course as it has been marked for play, but we are working with our Civil Engineering Squadron to replace the flags with something a little more appropriate for the golf course.  Please do not move the flags or tape nor enter into these wetland areas should your ball go into them.

What's Up(date) for November 8-12



#16 fairway striping nicely!



It's great to be out of the early cold spell we had at the end of last week.  Unfortunately, even though perennial ryegrass is a cool-season turf it still needs some warmer nights to get it going.  Night time temps last weekend were in the lower 30s and we ideally wanted to be in the upper 40s and 50s for good germination and emergence.  The low temperatures simply slowed the growth a bit and we are now seeing good emergence on the majority of the seed.  There are a few dry areas where the seed may be slow, but I am confident that it will come up nicely as we get back into the night time temperatures in the 50s and a little supplemental irrigation.



#5 Fairway



We've been working on re-establishing the championship tee on #14 and it is very exciting to see the work that has been done with the white rock pathway and tree removal.  We're going to be running an irrigation line to the tee and installing small irrigation heads to only water the tee and minimize wasting water in that area.  Our plan is to seed the tee for some late winter usage and sod with a shade-tolerant variety of bermudagrass called 'Celebration'.  We will also be adding this sod to some of the tees on the course that have declined due to excess shade and traffic.



A late week greens spray app included the second pre-emergent application to minimize Poa annua on the putting surfaces this year.  Also in the mix was a fungicide, some fertilizers and a wetting agent to get the spray mixture into the soil where it will be most effective.



#15 fairway

I'm attaching a few pictures of the fairways as Luke Survis and I went around the golf course this afternoon for an enjoyable round of golf.  We're looking forward to the rest of winter and this weekend's Retiree Chammpionship!



'What's Up'Date for the week of November 1st - OVERSEEDING!!!

This week we made the jump into winter with our overseeding of the fairways, par 3 tees, and driving range.  We had the same company apply the seed that does our spring time application for mole cricket control.  Instead of a rotary broadcast spreader, they use a blower system that applies the seed very evenly and consistently.  They are using a similar controller that we use on our chemical sprayer to monitor and control the seeding rate, quantity, and acreage covered.  A single applicator started seeding fairways around 7:30 and was finished by 1:30-2pm.  We spread the tie-ins to the approaches and tees and called it a day by 5pm.  The full overseed operation was completed by Tuesday afternoon with a few little touchups.

Then came the rain.  I was happy to see rainfall in the forecast this week to help with seed establishment.  Initially the rain started Wednesday as a nice, slow rain.  All was good.  Then the cells and system continued to grow and we got a few heavy showers.  As the rain slowed in the afternoon, Jeff and I toured the golf course to see how much, if any, seed had washed away or floated to higher ground.  To our surprise we saw little wash out except in a few spots and less floating seed than we had expected.  We actually saw in some select areas seed that had already sprouted and had put up first leaves on certain fairways.  I fully anticipate having some loss of density in a few areas and will be planning on spreading more seed to those areas, but I am very happy with the amount of seed we still found in the fairways after the rain.  As of 4:15pm November 3, we have recorded almost 2" of rain since the day started.

I'm attaching a video of the seeding operation to give everyone a better understanding of the speed and consistency that the application offers.

I was thinking this past month about how dry it had been compared to last year and pulled the records from Wunderground.com - Last October, the average temperature high was 78 degrees.  The average temperature minimum was 63 degrees.  The total rainfall was 5.8 inches.

This year we averaged 80 degrees high temperature, and 57 degrees minimum.  Total rainfall.............0.02"!!!!  What a drastic difference!  

Week of 10/25/2010

Looks like we are in for a nice spell of weather this week with a potential cold front rolling through the latter half of the week. 

We're taking the opportunity to do a light verti-cutting on the greens to remove a little thatch and stand the plants up a bit.  We are also trying to cut some of the runners that have shown up on some greens that have grown above the plants instead of staying in the canopy.

The whole process turned out nicely and we may do it one more time if the warm weather returns and stays around.  We are still working on removing sick and dead trees throughout the golf course as well as adding sand to bunkers, edging cart paths, late season weed control, and getting ready for the overseed next month. 

  

Overseed is coming!

Overseed is scheduled for the golf course on Monday, November 1.  The golf course will be closed that day.  In addition we will restrict cart traffic to the path only for several days following overseeding to prevent tracking the seed into the roughs.  We will be overseeding the fairways, par 3 tees, and the driving range this year.  Our watering schedule is yet to be determined, but should not affect you as you play the golf course.

We have lots of work planned this winter including tree removals, re-opening a tee on #14, edging paths, and hopefully building a nursery green.

I hope to do a better job keeping this up to date for you this year and will work to make a more consistent update throughout the winter.

The heat is here!

Wow, it's been hot this summer!!!  We've been busy on the golf course with various projects and working hard to deal with the abundant heat and humidity.  The crew has been working very hard these past few weeks dealing with the heavy rains and short week from the 4th into this hot spell we are in currently.  Please take the time to thank our great staff on the maintenance crew for all of their hard work this year.

This past week, we borrowed an aerifier from Jerry Pate Turf as a demo to aerify the putting green.  This is the same aerifier that we are considering purchasing for this quarter as our current aerifier is out of commission and we have been using Eglin GC's aerifier for the past year.  It's very smooth and provides great options for depth and spacing.  The benefit to the tractor mount is the wider unit, less wear and tear on the operator, and we only need one man to aerify as opposed to two or three previously.

After aerifying the putting green, we also topdressed all greens on the golf course.  The topdressing sand worked in nicely after a brush and roll operation.  Continued, light topdressing will assist in smoothing the surface, increasing the shot holding capacity of the green, and protect the plant from damage by mowers and foot traffic.

This past week, we got hit with some Armyworms.  The excessive rain and flush of growth on the turf really encouraged the insects to come out in droves.  We have been spraying as we see them and their damage.  Left unchecked, Armyworms can devour entire fairways in several days.  However, since they are only eating the green, leafy material recovery is relatively quick.  We sprayed the back 9 fairways last Friday and saw full recovery in affected areas by Monday.  As for pests, thankfully they are easy to control.

Upcoming work that we have planned:
*Dead, sick, fall hazard tree removal
*Edging concrete cart paths
*Fall aeration (tentatively set for beginning August)

I've been asked a few times about the status of #6 green.  I'm real happy with the progress that the green has shown.  You can see that we have been adding plugs to the thin areas still and will continue to do so.  At this time, we have decided to let that section grow up to collar length.  You may play shots that come to rest in this area as if they were on the collar of the green.  Please be careful not to take divots, however.  This area WILL NOT be marked as ground under repair.

A little time to update

Please forgive my absence in updates.  I let myself get too busy in May and forgot to update.  Thanks to those of our golfers that have asked about the updates and prodded me to get busy. 

It's been a rainy trend this week.  Let's hope for a drying trend this weekend so that we can all enjoy the golf course!

This week we started edging our greenside bunkers.  Nipping off the runners that are growing into the sand.  We'll follow the edging with some non-selective herbicide to maintain these edges longer.  Manually edging bunkers takes a solid 60 - 80 man hours and the herbicide helps to delay the frequency with which we have to edge.

Some of you will notice that the area between 10 and 16 as well as to the right of 10 is off color and getting a little thin.  We sprayed an herbicide to control bahiagrass and plan to continue the application throughout the golf course in our minimally mowing areas and under the pine trees.  This herbicide will help to keep the seedheads at bay for several weeks and allow us to focus our labor on the middle of the golf course instead of the areas so far outside the fairways.

We have a few upcoming events planned for next week: topdressing greens, removing weak/dead/fall hazard trees, and demonstrating an aerifier from Toro.  We will be punching very small quarter-inch holes in the putting green.  These will be similar to the size of holes we punched back in March...minimal disturbance and quick recovery.

Lots of action this week!

Added a picture of Dugan to end the week well...

Wow!  We started off the week a little nervous about the irrigation system.  It seems like we found the break, repaired it and the week has just gotten better every day!

Tuesday, we did the Chipco Choice application to tee complexes, fairways, and green surrounds.  The applicators slit the product in just below the turf canopy and the product will kill the mole crickets as they hatch from their eggs.  The great thing about this product is that it is guaranteed to deliver sufficient control in the treated areas until December 31. 

Thursday, we got a spray application on the greens containing some growth hormones for the grass, some fertilizer and a plant protectant from some of the problematic diseases that we might see at this time of the year.  We also had a wetting agent in the mix that helps us to use less water and keep it where we want it.  In addition to the spray application, we put out a granular fertilizer containing potassium, iron and manganese.  The potassium (K) is very important in our greens as it helps regulate water usage, assist in plant development and give the plant some extra strength in times of stress.  The other two elements are essential for color and pathogenic antagonism.  As I have discussed before, the manganese (Mn) has been scientifically proven to antagonize the causal agent associated with Take-All Patch.

On to the 4 greens that went without water for a long time.  I am very impressed with 3, 4, and 7 as to how they came through our irrigation-induced drought.  I am confident that in no stretch of time, they will look as good as the other 15 greens on the course.  As for 6...it was weak coming out of winter and this stretch did weaken it further.  However, I have looking at "grow-in" programs for Paspalum greens and am confident that within 8 weeks we will have near full coverage of the green again.  A combination of weekly fertilizer applications and light verti-cuttings will enhance the recovery.

Some of you will have noticed by now that we verti-cut the putting green on Wednesday and not the rest of the greens on the course.  I like to use the putting green as my test green for upcoming maintenance since we are without a nursery green.  We did a test run on the putting green because we were running our verti-cutters in a new fashion and wanted to see how aggressive the result would be as well as how the machine would handle it.  We gained some new insight and will be prepared to verti-cut the other 18 greens on the course Monday. 

I am attaching a few photos documenting tree shade on 4 and 6 greens and just how much tree removal will benefit the facility.

Why won't turf grow in the shade on #6?

Disregarding the hydraulic leak, notice the thinner turf in the foreground and how the whole green is covered in shade on #4.

FOUND IT!!!

After going without controllable water on the Front 9 since April 8, we finally found the leak in our hydraulic system. And it couldn't have come at a better time! This week we have the mole cricket control application going on, our second pre-emergent application to tees and green surrounds, and fairway fertilization. We really need to be able to run the water.


After the initial shock and frustration, I always try to find the good and bad in what would be called "character development" moments. I see this past week as a great opportunity for our success as a team. The maintenance team really put in a lot of effort to locate the valves to shut down running sprinklers and have a better understanding of the routing of control piping than we did. We also saw just how far we could push our greens before they started to show drought stress. Greens 3, 4, 6, and 7 went 11 days without a single irrigation cycle! However, it really shows when you compare them even to other greens on the front 9 that did get water. I am developing a plan to get them back into condition quickly.

As I mentioned earlier, we have alot of applications coming up. This is really a busy month and I can't wait to see the results of our work next month.

Thanks for your understanding of the recent irrigation dilemma and your support of our facility and maintenance team. We really appreciate all the kind words and compliments throughout this very stressful ordeal.

Water problems - Intended for Posting April 12, 2010

A quick note to explain what's going on the front 9. Sometime between last Thursday and Friday we lost the pressure in our 1/2" water line that keeps the heads down on tees and fairways for the front 9. Around the greens the heads use electricity to turn on as they are newer and were replaced during the greens renovation. The issue with the older, hydraulic system is that we can not put water in the main irrigation pipes to at least water greens while we look for the leak without every other head on the front 9 turning on thus using up all the available water and pressure to run the heads around the greens. Until we can find the leak, we are making getting water to the greens our highest priority. As such, some of the Bermudagrass on tees, fairways, and surrounds will likely go into summer dormancy. As rain and irrigation resume, they will come back to green and resume growth. Your assistance in keeping cart and foot traffic off these areas as much as possible is greatly appreciated. As we look for the leak, we are working on alternate temporary and permanent solutions including a whole new hydraulic line. Given this new challenge, we are doing all we can to still provide a great golf course and solve this problem.
Justin Wheeler, GCS. Gator Lakes Golf Course. (850) 200-7054

Course Update

Wow!  We have had some absolutely beautiful weather lately!  I hope you have been able to come and enjoy it with us!

The little rain shower we had last week really proved how all the hard work that the crew has put in this winter has paid off.  After the rain, I drove the golf course and noticed very little standing water, but instead there was water in the small swales and ditches running into our ponds.  We were able to accomodate carts on 90 degree restrictions on more holes than we would have normally after that type of rainfall.

The greens are starting to grow and I am happy with the progress.  Over the last two weeks we have really picked up our intensity on the greens conditioning.  First, we started with a 0.25" hollow tine aeration.  Our goal with this was to remove a little bit of organic material and open the greens for ventilation and water infiltration.  We had started to notice that the water was puddling and sheeting off the surface during rain events.  After the aeration, we fertilized with a high Calcium fertilizer as well as a Potassium, Manganese, Iron fertilizer.  The Calcium is critical with the paspalum as it promotes cell wall strength much like the bones in our bodies.  The Potassium and Iron help the plant to initiate growth and reduce stress in this transitional weather time.  The Manganese is a great soil fertilizer to antagonize one of the more serious diseases at this time of the year, Take All Patch.

The next week, we sprayed greens with more fertilizers and some plant protectants as well as applied a granular fertilizer.  The two critical fertilizers that we applied were Phosphorus and a combo product called Pro-Max.  We needed to apply the Phosphorus because paspalum does not initiate leaf growth until the roots are at a satisfactory level of depth and quantity.  Phosphorus and the Pro-max help to initiate root growth in the plant.  The difficult part of this application is that Phosphorus is not very usable in the soil, by the plant, until soil temperatures are above 55 degrees.  We are just now getting to those temperatures which puts us about 3 to 4 weeks behind last year.

This week was followed with more Pro-Max and liquid Iron.  If we use the analogy of a cup slowly filling and only when the level hits a certain mark growth will occur, then we are simply helping the cup fill a little quicker and hit that certain mark a little sooner as well as building reserves to continue growth.

On top of the fertility program, we are also doing a few different mowing techniques.  We have groomers on the greens mower that help to remove a little extra material and get the surface evened out while stimulating new growth.  This will help to alleviate some of the bumpiness that happens in the spring as the paspalum does not want to grow evenly like it would in the summer.

Unfortunately, we had a setback on two greens this past weekend.  We had a hydraulic line break on a greensmower on the back of #4.  After the repair, the new line broke on #14.  You will see a stripe going across those two greens.  However, the fast actions of the crew will help to alleviate major damage on those two greens as they worked very hard to wash the oil off the plant and stop permanent damage.

#6 green and those greens that were in winter shade this year are coming out slower than others, but there is growth occurring.  We are making extra applications of product and giving some extra TLC to those areas to get recovery this spring.  A plan is in the works to prevent the severity of damage again.

Course conditions and update

It's warming up again and we are getting ready for the marathon of spring, summer, and fall growing months ahead of us.  Beside the capital improvement projects that we have been highlighting we have a lot going on and getting ready to take place on course.

We began the first of our pre-emergent applications this past week.  This year we are making a split application of an excellent goosegrass prevention herbicide to tee complexes and greens complexes.  The shear cost of the product made us choose the high impact areas only.  In fairways and some roughs, we will be spraying a pre-emergent application that is excellent on crabgrass and hope to make a second application in April with another chemistry that will give us good control for the other summer annual weeds.  The next application to tees and greens complexes is planned for April also.  Due to the unpredictability of the types of rainfall we will receive this spring and the need to have the products watered in, we will be running sprinklers at night to get the chemical to the weed seeds.  There will be some wet fairways some mornings due to this, but we feel that the temporary inconvenience will save us greatly come summer time.

Onto the greens:  we are starting to see the color return to the Paspalum.  We are also seeing the Paspalum thin out a little.  This is expected because the nature of the grass will be to put all of it's energy into root development first and then when it's happy with the root mass it will begin putting up new leaves.  We have several steps planned to help the turf along.  First, we are doing a mini-tine aeration this week that will involve removing a small amount of turf.  The aeration will allow the fresh air into the root zone and allow the built up carbon dioxide and other gases to escape.  The aeration holes will also help us get necessary fertilizers and plant protectants down to the roots where they will be far more effective.  We aerified the putting green this past Friday to demonstrate the results and were very pleased with ball roll and quality.

Putting Green post-aeration

In addition to the aeration, fertility and spray applications, we will be using some of our new equipment to help the greens grow and smooth.  We purchased groomer blades and brushes last year that attach to our greens mowers.  Using these two products will help us to stand the turf up and thin out the old material.  This will in turf help sunlight to warm the soil and encourage the plant to begin new leaf generation and growth.  As our soil temperatures get into the 60s we will see a great new flush of growth from the plant.  I fully expect areas that were damaged from the freezing temperatures and winter shade to be healthy and green come summer time.  They will be a little slower, but we have developed plans to encourage new tissue and plans to hopefully prevent the occurance again. 

Innovation and Creativity:

In the past, when we would get large storms that would leave organic material all over the fairways, we rake the stuff loose and then blow it off.  This was a very time intensive process and could take two full days depending on the severity of the storm.  We built an attachment for our bunker rake that we are excited to try out and use this year.  Instead of having to manually rake the material loose, we will be able to drag the areas with the attachment and blow right behind it.  We will be making a tedious task efficient and speed up the recovery process for golfers and maintenance alike!

Course and Clubhouse Landscaping

Many of you have noticed a change to the front of the golf shop over the past weeks.  We have begun our capital project to renovate the landscaping at the golf course and have started with the clubhouse.  The staff removed the existing bushes and placed them throughout the golf course in pine straw beds around tees, by the driving range and at the front entrance sign.  The "new" plants have really spruced up the areas and they look great!

We have the plan set to install new Sabal palms along with a few Sago palms.  Interlaced in the beds will be some ornamental grasses, daylilys, and society garlic.  You should see the new palms by the end of this week if the weather holds.  We will also be installing some nice Magnolia trees in select locations to break up some of the larger low maintenance areas.  I'm really excited to see the result and pleased with the looks thus far.

As you see the staff members on the course please be sure to stop them and tell them thanks for their hard work.  It's been an interesting winter and they have really worked hard to deal with all the rain, cold and frustrating conditions to make the course better and more enjoyable for all.

I've included a few before and during pictures and will update with afters soon!
Before                                                  During

The new look to the front entrance sign!

Short Update

It's been a little while since I've updated our blog. The trend of cool and wet has continued through February. The positive spin to this is that we have identified lots of areas that have been holding water in fairways and have been grading in some small drainage swales to help this water drain off the fairways and into the roughs or holding ponds.

We fertilized the greens with a high iron and manganese fertilizer to promote color and antagonize some winter pathogens. We also sprayed the greens this past weekend to take advantage of what appears to be a warming trend. We're trying not to get too anxious to push the greens too quickly as the night time temps really need to be up in the 40s and 50s for growth.

Paspalum is a very different beast from Bermudagrass as it will put all resources into the roots before growing new leaves. To encourage the plant to grow new leaves, we will be spraying and fertilizing heavily with products that enhance root growth. In addition we will be some practices to open up the turf canopy to get light and heat to the soil.

I am out of town this week at the Services Agency for an Air Force superintendents training seminar. Some of the topics covered will be fertility management, water resources, and soil chemistries. With our hope to eventually utilize the water re-use plant on base this trip will be very informative and useful.

We'll see you out on the links this week!
Justin Wheeler, GCS. Gator Lakes Golf Course. (850) 200-7054

Drainage Update

We decided to sod the areas that we raised behind 16 and 17 greens this week.  With the constant rainfalls, the soil has been washing out and without sod we would have never stabilized the soil.  The slopes came out great and we can't wait to see the sod knit together this summer!

 

Last week's rainfall was another substantial one.  We are trying to stay positive and you will notice as you make your way around the course that we have dug some surface drainage swales in areas around the front nine.  We saw dramatic improvement in water runoff as we did this last week and are in the process of repairing these areas and blending them back in.  Again, the warmer weather will help the sod knit together and a ball in these areas can be played as GUR.  We are working to mark these areas as we develop and repair them.

The drainage work going on behind 13 green and between 14 green and 15 tee is still a work in progress.  The rains have really hampered our efforts in these two areas as they are just too wet to realistically get equipment into and on.  Hopefully we will get some better weather and continue the work on those two areas soon.

On a final note:  You will notice that the back 1/3 of #6 green is rather unsightly to say the least.  We have aerified that turf and topdressed to get air into the root system.  We are also in the process of getting some core samples into a rapid diagnostic lab in case it is a disease.  It is very possible that with the winter shade and frigid conditions that the turf was weakened.  Winter shade is a very serious problem on southern turfs and we are working to identify areas that trees can be thinned or marked for removal with new trees planted in less problematic areas throughout the golf course.  Below are two very telling photos of the putting green and #14 green.

More Rain is a minor setback

Well it's no surprise.  El Nino has brought more rain this past weekend.  We recorded 2.1 inches of rain Saturday morning.  The good news is that as I was leaving around noon on Sunday, the water had subsided a good bit.  Last week we received a little over 4 inches and it took about 7 days to get carts off the path.  I expect that if the week stays dry to be back in condition by Thursday.  Of course, there would be potential for more rain Wednesday and Superbowl Sunday...even sleet!

We went ahead and lined the cart paths with sod where we had done our dirt work this month.  It worked pretty well actually.  There were a few washouts, but not nearly as bad if the sod had not been there.  We'll be working on cleaning those up this week.

As we go into February, our plan is to continue with some of the drainage work that we weren't able to do in January due to the weather and excessively wet soil.  We will be doing some tree trimming in areas where some branches affect the line of play from tees.  And as the weather will inevitably begin warming up we will also begin our pre-emergent applications toward the end of the month.  I'm hoping to get pre-emergent down on the fairways, tees complexes and greens complexes twice this year.  The product that I have plans to use is hands-down the best available and provides unparalleled goosegrass and crabgrass control.

We'll follow up on activities and conditions as they occur.

Rain and more Rain

The course received about 4.25" rain this past Thursday.  I am attaching several pictures to show the extensive flooding.  Thankfully the water is slowly receding and as of Sunday afternoon the front 9 fairways are free of standing water.
Reggie spent some time on the Bobcat during the course closure to surface grade some areas and assist the drainage process.  Some of our soil work on the back 9 washed out as well, so we will re-grade those areas next week and lay some sod along the path to help stabilize the soil directly along the cart paths.

Unfortunately at this time of year there is no water uptake by the turf, so we just can not handle substantial rainfalls of that magnitude.

#2 fairway

Ponds out of their banks right of 6

#7 fairway?  Our new island green.

17 dirt work roughed in

Reggie and the crew have done an amazing job regrading the slope behind 17 green.  They added several feet of dirt to build the low areas up along the cart path.  Now during rain events, the surface run-off will run across the cart path into the low lying swamp areas and not collect along the cart path.

We have roped this dirt off, however due to it's location that would mean parking back in the fairway to access the green.  You will notice a plywood board section that we would like you to use for accessing the green.  This will help keep your shoes clean, help the flow of golfers on the hole and keep dirt off of the putting green.  Please pardon our mess as we work these low areas to drain better.

New Sprayer

Our new sprayer showed up this week.  We were very fortunate to be able to purchase a nice John Deere sprayer to replace our slowly failing older sprayer.  A few upgrades have occurred to this unit since the last one was purchased here. 

The new unit has various nozzles so that we can apply fertilizers and pesticides with the right amount of water and minimize chemical drifting to other areas or golfers. 

The new unit also has an automatic rate controller that will help us set our rates and control the application based on our speed.  This will give us a much more consistent application across the sprayed area and lead to more consistent greens color and pest protection. 

The biggest change was the addition of the "clean load" induction system.  This allows us to load the chemical concentrate in a safe working area and then mix it with the tank water and helps prevent accidental splashing and dust blowing back in our faces during the mixing operation. 

To top it all off, this is a diesel unit which will give us more years of use than a gasoline engine.

January Update

We've started our drainage project this month again.  We are going to first tackle the constantly wet areas along the cart paths and back of greens on holes 16 and 17.  The soil around the cart path is a very wet muck and the grade does not allow the water to drain to the lower side of the cart path.  We will be trucking in soil from our large pile on the driving range and then regrading the slope to get water across the paths.

Given that these areas are not in the immediate line of play, we have elected to save the cost of sod and will heavily fertilize these areas and push the bermuda grass into them.  We will likely take plugs from the surrounding areas and fill in to encourage faster regrowth.  Until these areas are filled in, they will be roped off.  We appreciate you treating these as ground under repair and staying out of them.

Root Pruning

December was a busy month for us on the golf course.  We saw unseasonably high amounts of rain fall and unseasonably low temperatures.  This is a result of the El Nino year that we have had.  The latest reports are that the trend will likely continue into February and then we will move back into a more seasonal pattern.

This past month we were conducting a practice called root pruning.  As many of you know and can see, the large pines that we have around the golf course have extended their roots into the fairways quite a distance. These roots are competing with our fairway turfs for water and nutrients.  Looking at the picture to the left, this is well documented by how green the middle of the fairway is and the drier grass along the edge.  Next year, we expect to see a significant improvement along the lines cut. 

To combat this, we used a trencher to cut the roots within the top 12 inches of the soil and give the turf a better chance for survival.  We hoped to get all of the front 9 finished in December.  Unfortunately, this turned out to be much more man power intensive than originally intended and we were able to finish holes 1, 8, and 9.  There is a wonderful piece of equipment that would take a 4 man job and make it a 1 man job, but at this time cost is a major prohibitor.  We may look into demo-ing the piece of equipment as it would make a nice addition to this necessary job.

Our plan for January is drainage along cart paths and in some fairways.  We'll accomplish some root pruning then also.

Welcome

Welcome to the Gator Lakes Golf Course maintenance blog.  We have decided to develop this blog as a means to communicate with our men and women overseas, seasonal guests, and annual members as to the events and practices happening on the golf course.

We welcome you to check in frequently as we hope to continually update with new happenings and provide insights into what we do on the golf course to provide the best facility possible for you.

Thanks for checking in and please stop in and say hello any time.