Glen Eagle Maintenance (9/23/26)

 A Little Rain, a Lot of Sand

Last week’s final maintenance closure of 2026 turned out to be a pretty rainy one. While the rain didn’t cause any issues with our greens aerification, it did throw a bit of a wrench into our fairway topdressing schedule.

We had planned to topdress the fairways on Thursday, which would have given us several days to work the sand into the turf canopy before reopening. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans, and the rain pushed the work back until Monday.

That meant we opened Tuesday with some very wet sand still sitting on the fairways—not exactly the finished product we were hoping to present!

Our team is working on it daily, dragging the fairways to disperse the sand and get it worked into the turf. However, with the amount of moisture we’ve had, there is still some thick, wet sand in areas. The good news is that the forecast is calling for drier weather beginning tomorrow, so we’re hoping the sand will dry and spread much more naturally as we get toward the end of the week.

We also have three holes remaining to topdress after getting rained out on Monday. We’ll continue working through those areas as conditions allow.

We appreciate everyone’s patience while we get the course cleaned up. Having only a one week  maintenance closure in September limits the amount of time we have to complete some of these larger projects before we need to reopen, and sometimes the weather has a vote in the schedule too!

The bridge at 3 tee was completed this closure a looks very nice! This completes our bridge work for 2026.

Davis Entrance & GE Boulevard Improvements

Our landscape removal work is now complete at the Davis Entrance and along the medians on GE Boulevard. The irrigation system is currently being checked and repaired, and once that work is complete, we’ll move on to installing the new plant material.

The project is currently looking like a mid-October completion.

We also took advantage of the week to trim the trees at the Davis Entrance. This will allow the Christmas light installation to move forward without any tree-trimming delays once our lighting vendor is ready to begin.

So, while the rain may have given us a little extra sand to deal with, the work continues—and we’re making progress on several projects around the property. We appreciate your patience as we put the finishing touches on the course and continue improving the areas you see every day.

I look forward to seeing everyone on the course, and as always, if you have any questions, flag me down or shoot me an email. I always enjoy talking turf!

Glen Eagle Maintenance (9/16/26)

A Good Week for Rain—and Maintenance

We’ve had a bit more consistent rainfall over the past week, recording 3.11 inches in total. Only one of those rain events produced more than an inch, which is just about perfect. It gives the course a good soaking without leaving us with the “too much of a good thing” scenario that can lead to poor playing conditions and more difficult maintenance.

This week, we are closed for our final maintenance closure of 2026. Our primary focus will be greens aerification, sand injection of the greens (https://youtu.be/n4b_tkB1b80?si=zGLnF_fimianO1Km), and several additional project items around the course. These maintenance closures give us an important opportunity to tackle work that is difficult to complete while the course is open and being played every day.

Here is a quick video showing some of the work that went on earlier this week…

We also worked on painting the tee markers. This proved to be a lot of work (we have close to 150 tee markers) but well worth it, while not quite new, a huge improvement and should look great against our newly re-grassed tees…

New setup for cold towels at 5 tee…

Last bridge (for 2026) re-decked…

The Davis entrance median landscape improvements are also progressing nicely. Most of the removals are now complete, and we’re continuing to move forward with the improvements. It’s exciting to see the area beginning to take shape, and we look forward to seeing the finished product.

I look forward to seeing everyone on the course, and as always, if you have any questions, flag me down or shoot me an email. I always enjoy talking turf!

Glen Eagle Maintenance (9/9/26)

The Rain Came…and Then It Left

Well, the rain finally showed up (last week) and then apparently decided it had somewhere else to be.

We received 0.3” of rain yesterday afternoon, but that came after six straight days without a drop. According to reports, Naples is currently 6.93” below normal rainfall for the year. September normally brings us around 9” of rain, and so far we’ve received just 1.8” this month.

So, while we’re certainly happy to see the rain, we still have a ways to go before we can put a serious dent in our annual rainfall deficit and pull us out of the moderate drought conditions we continue to see. Until we get some more help from Mother Nature, that nearly 7-inch deficit is going to stick around.

The good news is the forecast looks promising. There are good chances for additional rain over the next 7 days, and at the moment, we have plenty of water available to meet our needs. So, for now, we are in good shape. We will keep our fingers crossed and let the clouds to their part.

Despite the being a bit behind on rain, the golf course continues to look really good, including our new tees. The work that went into getting them established is really starting to pay off, and it’s great to see them become part of the golf course.

Course

Tees

Superintendent’s Revenge

We did something a little different around here for Labor Day. Some may say I went a little crazy but we call it the Superintendents Revenge. We normally are so serious about the quality of the course and the perfection of the course setup but for one day that all went out the window.

Lucas talked to me about doing this tournament a while ago and it took me a bit of convincing to get onboard. In my entire career, I had never done this type of event and I was a little skeptical about how it would turn out. Would the members enjoy it? Would my staff enjoy it? Would anyone still be speaking to me after the tournament?

As the day came closer, and I started coming up with a plan to get my revenge, I couldn’t wait for the day to get here. In the end, we had 99 people sign up for the tournament, which is quite a few more then we normally have for an tournament this time of year and both members and staff had a great time with the event. There were plenty of laughs, some very interesting looks, and even a few choice words directed my way…all in good fun, of course. A perfect time, near the end of summer to not take golf so serious and have a little fun with it.

We are looking forward to this becoming an annual event and I am already thinking of ways I can get my revenge next year.

For those of you who were not in town, here are pictures of all the challenges from the tournament.

Hole 1 - Raised cup

Hole 2 - Pin placement on the hill near collar

Hole 3 Tee - Hit thru the Hay Bales

Hole 3 Green - Hit thru the carts

Hole 4 - Pin in the bunker

Hole 5 Tee - Blower, blowing on player while teeing off

Hole 5 Green - Rakes around cup

Hole 6 - Pin cut in collar directly behind bunker

Hole 7 - Hose on green

Hole 8 - Tees behind palm trees

Hole 9 - Blower on pin/cup

Hole 10 - Putt with bunker rake

Hole 11 - Choose your cup (normal size)

Hole 11 - Choose your cup (miniature)

Hole 12 - Put opposite handed

Hole 13 - Use kids clubs to tee off

Hole 14 - Scattered tees on the green

Hole 15 - Random course accessories on the green

Hole 16 - Drainage pipe across the fairway and approach

Hole 17 - Ring of flags and stakes

Hole 18 - Range balls on the green

Of all the challenges, the pin in the bunker on #4 and the blower facing the pin on #9 were the most talked about. My personal favorite was the blower on #9. So many good putts were blown away, often further than where they started.

Now that we had our fun, we will focus on our last maintenance closure of the year, starting next Monday (9/14) going thru the following Monday (9/21). Greens will be aerified, topdressed then injected with sand with a process called WetJecting to prepare them for the what looks like could be a challenging season with the El Niño predicted. Fairways will be heavy topdressed too - more on all of that next week.

Common Grounds Update

Quick update with more to come in next couple weeks.

We are working on adding some plants at the clubhouse, just some small changes and fill-ins.

Also, our Davis and Glen Eagle Blvd Capital Landscape project starts today. We are removing the current landscape (except trees) in the center islands coming into the property and replacing them with a new design and plants. I will be taking pictures along the process and posting them here. Please pardon our mess while the old landscape is removed.

I look forward to seeing everyone on the course, and as always, if you have any questions, flag me down or shoot me an email. I always enjoy talking turf!