Glen Eagle Maintenance (4/26/24)

 Golf Course

While the golf course is still dry, there is still good turf to be found. Hole #12 is one of those places. In general most of our par 3’s are in pretty good shape. I have a couple theories of why that may be. First is their size. Since they are smaller, it is likely that irrigation efficiency is better due to tighter irrigation spacing. Second is that they haven’t endured a season’s worth of cart traffic like many other areas of the course, and third, they don’t generally have mounded areas like many other holes do. Mounds tend to dry out faster than lower areas. Regardless of why, I am glad that not every area of the golf course is brown. It is driving me just as crazy as it is many of you. Time to do the rain dances. 😁

Hole 13 is looking pretty good too…

I have had a few people ask me if the greens need water. As you can see in the picture of 13 green the color is not as green as we normally see. That is not due to the greens being dry, it is due to a reduced amount of fertility. The reduction in fertilizer initially started when the spreader we use to apply granular fertilizers broke down. As the plant “leaned out”, the greens became better playing surfaces. 

For the health of the greens, we don’t want to restrict fertility during certain times of the year or for too long. For example, going into aerification season, or during periods of high play. These are important times to have higher fertility which will allow the turf adequate food to repair itself from the mechanical damage both can cause. Next week we will start to increase granular fertility as we move into summer.

I am always trying to find different areas of the course that I haven’t taken pictures of before. I was on 18 looking over to 5 and thought this was cool angle that I might not have used before.

Common Grounds

The ficus has been removed and irrigation work has begun. Irrigation should finish next week, then installation can begin.

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 (4/19/24)

 Golf Course

We are still battling hot spots but at least some parts of the course are still green. 😁

I was having a conversation this week with someone about how dry the course looks. They were a little surprised because they know our lakes are higher than normal for this time of year. What they didn’t know was while this year we have water in the lakes, the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) limits the amount of water we can use via our water use permit.

A lot of times when I bring up our water permit, people are surprised and don’t know that we can’t use an unlimited amount of water until the ponds are empty. I know I mentioned the water usage last week but thought I would take a minute and go thru how our water permit works.

The permit is a running 12 month total. Water usage from May 2023 to April 2024 (now) is combined to give us 12 months of water usage.

Our permit allows us to use 8.96 million gallons (mg) per month with an annual allocation of 73.25 mg.

The allocated amount is calculated based on many factors including crop type (turf), soil type in our area, 100 year drought and rain data and others.

Adhering to the 8.96 mg/month is doable most months but the tricky part is not pumping too many months at that rate which would exceed our annual allocation of 73.25mg.

Instead of giving us 107.52mg/yr (12x8.96), the calculation takes into consideration that normally, June thru September we are going to use very little irrigation. It also takes into consideration that during the winter months usage is going to be reduced as turf growth has slowed down. Therefore the annual allocation is reduced to 73.25mg/year.

In most normal years, meeting the annual allocation is doable but as you know the last 12 months has been anything but normal. We had to irrigate more than normal last summer which is effecting how much water we can use between now and rainy season.

Also contributing to the course dryness has been the low humidity and unusually high winds we have experienced this spring. Nature is always trying to strike a balance. When the air is dry, water is pulled out of the ground, plants, lakes etc to “fill” the open spaces in the air with moisture. Process like evaporation, and transpiration (Evapotranspiration) are greater when the wind is high and humidity is low. The greater the “holding capacity” or drier the air is, the more water it will try to take from the plant.

Soils type also effects the hot spots. Once they become dry, some soils become hydrophobic and water will no longer penetrate into the root zone.

These natural struggles are constantly being fought on the course. Some areas faring better than others. The good news is that Celebration Bermudagrass is tolerant to the dryness and will snap right back once we start receiving rain.

In the mean time, we are watering as much as we can; applying wetting agents thru fertigation, foliar sprays, and granular applications to provide the best conditions possible.

Common Grounds

Ficus project is still ongoing with irrigation work looking to start this weekend or early next week. I will get some pictures of the irrigation next week to pass along.

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 (4/12/24)

Golf Course

It truly amazes me how quickly Mother Nature can change her mind and how that can change course conditions.

We went from this…

To this in just over a week.

While temperatures are climbing, the low humidity and extremely windy conditions are what is really drying the course out. Low humidity increases evaporation while the wind sucks the moisture out of the plant. As summer gets closer, temperatures will be an increasing factor but humidity will rise and help retain moisture in leaf tissue.

In the mean time, we are doing what we can to add extra water to the dry areas and using tools like wetting agents to help the water penetrate thru the soil. You can see the suds from the wetting agent (picture below) we are injecting into the irrigation water.

I often get asked why we don’t mow the fairways and rough higher. I always explain that we do mow them higher than most other courses but given the limiting factors in the winter, slower growth and cart traffic, I could mow them at 6” and it wouldn’t matter grow that high.

I was on #5 this week and saw a good example of what I am talking about. The picture below shows the effects of traffic around the drain in the fairway. You can see that the turf around the drain is much more plush and not nearly as matted down as where carts go around the drain. I thought it was a good visual to pass along as an example of why our lies are often so tight.

Common Grounds

The ficus project continues…

Removal of stumps this week a likely into next, then irrigation will start. Once irrigation is in, plants can be put in the ground. The landscape company is removing the smaller stumps first and will go back to get the bigger stumps out last. The larger stumps may have to be hand dug to keep from damaging the wall.

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 (4/4/24)

Golf Course

We missed the rain on Wednesday night but the weather after the front has been really nice! We won’t have many more fronts cooling us down and soon it will be summer so we have to enjoy it while it lasts!

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that Dr. Kammerer was here to discuss agronomics. We received the report from the visit and things look pretty good. I am always interest in the root efficiency samples he takes. This time our roots looked very good which is especially nice considering the weather we have had over the last year.

Click the link to get the latest report

Agronomic Report (3.19.24)

Common Grounds

The 3-year Ficus replacement project has begun with the area outside the community along the East side of Radio Road wall. This area has severely deteriorating Ficus that Collier County could require us to replace to remain compliant with our PUD. It will also make a huge improvement to the look of Glen Eagle as people pass by our property.

The process is to remove the bulk of the vegetation by cutting the foliage off the plants…

The next step will be to grind or remove the Ficus stumps. Then fix and/or add irrigation so that the Calusia will thrive and grow as quickly as possible. Once irrigation is complete, planting can begin. I am hopeful that will be putting new plants in the ground before month end.

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!