Glen Eagle Maintenance (5/31/24)

 Golf Course

Still hot and dry here in SW Florida as high temperatures have been above the average all but 3 days in the month of May.

It was also the hottest May (averaging high + low temperatures) on record since they started keeping records in 1902!

That said, our 1st (of 3) maintenance closures is well under way and I want to give a big thank you to our team. Even in the extreme heat they have been killing it!

We started by backtrack verticutting 2 directions. Backtrack verticutting we go up a pass then directly back down the same pass. We do it this way because often times if you verticut with the grain, the vertical knives won’t “dig” in but instead they will ride on top of the grass. To make sure we get a good verticutting, we come back against the grain, removing more material. You can see this in the next two videos.

After the verticutting, a crew blows off the chafe and we are left with the finished product below.

 You can see the lines on the green where the vertical blades bit into the turf canopy…

and smooth surfaces verticutting provides…

At the same time we are verticutting greens, we are also Terra Raking Tees, Fairways, Collars & Approaches.

The Terra Rake stands up old growth which allows us to cut it off. This rejuvenates new young growth and removes the old scraggly growth. I think of it like getting a fresh haircut.

After Terra Raking, we circle cut to scalp off all that old grass.

This is the second circle cutting and you can see at the end of the video how smooth this process leaves the grass.

Day 2 we start aerifying greens…

Slow motion

Once the cores are pulled, crews pick them up and blow off the greens.

We leave the holes open one night and start topdressing on the third day…

To load the topdresser, we fill the material handler and transport the sand out near the greens. Each green can take approx. 3 small topdressers full of sand. The material handler can usually do two to three holes before having to refill.

Here are some videos of the filling process.

Next we brush in the sand. Brushing helps fill in the holes and improves distribution of the sand.

Meanwhile, while some of the team work on greens, other parts have been Terra Raking and scalping roughs

We also do a lot of blowing clippings to clean up the course from the work we have done.

Here are some still pictures of rough that has been Terra Raked and mowed. The ball was added as a reference for how deep the rough is once the old grass is pulled up. The scalping process helps us manage a finer turf quality throughout the year.

I’m sure I didn’t capture everything we did in the pictures and videos but you can see how many tasks our team works on in what is a somewhat choreographed maintenance dance.

Common Grounds

The Calusia along Radio Road east of the Glen Eagle gate has been installed. Now all we need them to do is grow, grow, grow.

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 (5/24/24)

 Golf Course

The end of May is here and still no significant rain. The 10 day forecast is looking completely dry and it seems like forever since the weather behaved like it “normally” does.

For the first time this year, Wednesday I saw the corner of the intake on the pump station. Seeing that intake out of the water is a significant sign that we have limited water left to draw out of the lakes. It doesn’t mean we are out of water but that we need replenishment asap. Replenishment is not something we can control as the only true source that provides enough water to increase the lake depth is thru rainfall. I addition to the dry weather, it has also been very hot with feels like temps well over 100 degrees for several weeks now. That heat is driving evaporation rates higher which is taking water from our lakes also. 

That said, we have been holding our own on course conditions. There are many hot spots but still a good amount of nice green grass out there too.

I grabbed this photo of #17 while out on the course on Tuesday.

We start our first summer closure next week. We will be aerifying all of our turf, starting with the greens. At the same time, we will be using our Terra Rake to stand up the turf to mow off old grass while removing thatch out of the soil surface. Other tasks will be scalping tees/fairways/roughs and applying 600 tons of sand to greens, tees and fairways.

I thank everyone who is here during the summer for their patience during our closures. I certainly understand the sacrifice of not having your course to play but firmly believe these closures are the key to our year around success.

Common Grounds

The Calusia has been delivered! They are being set out and will be put in the ground over the next several days.

Summer flowers were installed on Wednesday.

Caladiums between the buildings…

Mixed Pentas infront of the fountain…

Canna Lillies replaced the Salvia at the front entrance…

Mixed garden on the course…

And Lantana leading up to the bar lanai…

We also reduced the size of the Bird of Paradise, it’s amazing how big things grow in what seems like a blink of an eye.

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 (5/17/24)

Golf Course

The weather has been hot and dry and we are still seeing dry spots but 18 green complex is looking great!

We put the first closed Monday to good use last week; pencil tine aerifying greens, and circle cutting Tees, Fairways and Approaches.

Here’s a very short video (camera crew malfunction) of the aerifier running on the putting green.

Green after pencil tine aerificaiton.

This was needed as the greens were “sealed off” and water was running off, not reaching the roots efficiently.

Normally we mow turf in straight lines. Over time that allows the turf to grow in a couple directions (forward/back/etc.). Circle cutting pushes against that grain and gets a smoother more aggressive cut. It reminds me how some people grow out their hair or beard during the winter months when it is not so hot, then they often get a clean fresh cut reducing the excess hair for summer.

A video of circle cutting #8 fairways

Common Grounds 

Paulino was able to transplant 2 large False Agave plants that were donated last week. They were put along the roadway near hole 13.

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 (5/10/24)

 Golf Maintenance

With the 0.35” of rain earlier this week, the golf course is growing like wildfire. This is making a mess for us to clean up after mowing but is also making the course look much better. We are starting to get our definition back (as seen in the picture below of #8).

Clippings in the roughs have to be blown after each mowing. We will be spraying a plant growth regulator (PGR) next Tuesday to help control the vertical growth and reduce clippings for easier cleanup and tighter turf.

Our lake levels are still higher than normal for this time of year but continue to recede. The resulting shallow water has allowed excessive amounts of Cara to “top out”, be visible on top of the water. The result is large mats of Chara floating on certain lakes. Generally when the Chara is along the banks, our lake maintenance company treats it chemically. However, when it starts to consume the open parts of lakes they can bring in a boat with a rake on it to keep it from covering the entire lake.

Chara looks like a plant but doesn’t have true leaves. It is actually a filamentous algae that grows along the bottom of lakes. Most of the time, we don’t really know it is there because it stays below the waterline. It is only when the waterline gets low enough that the long stands of algae surface and become an eyesore. Once it starts raining Chara will become less of an issue. The reason Chara tends to be an issue in some lakes and not in others is generally the depth of the lake. The deeper the water, the less light penetrates to the soil on the bottom of the lake. Algae and other plants need sunlight to make their food so deeper lakes have less growth. They also don’t get as shallow when the water levels go down so if there is growth it stays submerged.

Here are some pictures and videos of the work that was done to remove “floating” Chara in a couple of our lakes this past week.

Before pictures

After pictures

The “tool” used to clean the Chara off the top of the lake is called a Truxor. It is basically a paddle boat with a big rake on the front.

A video of the Truxor entering the lake. I thought it was interesting that the operator station moves back and forth to keep the weight balanced depending on the weight of the material that is harvested.

Another video showing how the Chara is removed. I thought it was interesting how operator spins in circles, concentrating the Chara and floating debris to the perimeter of the pond so it is easier to remove.

Changing gears. You may see that the Copperleaf on #17 is not completely trimmed which seems odd. While trimming it Paulino noticed a birds nest with eggs in it so he left it in place until the eggs hatch. Once the fledglings have left the nest, we will complete the job.

Common Grounds

Ficus replacement is still ongoing, waiting on plant delivery. BTW, last week I said we were waiting on the delivery of Ficus, I meant Calusia. More pictures once we start planting.

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 (5/3/24)

 Golf Course

Summer is here! Temps could be in the 90’s this week, humidity is rising and wind is starting to slow down. With that rise in humidity, our rain chances have gone back up and there is at least some chance of rain every afternoon this week.

We did  have a brief shower which didn’t accumulate any measurable rain yesterday. Even though it didn’t provide measurable rain, it was still nice to see it and gives hope that more could possibly be coming soon.

The hot spots are still there but as I talked about a couple weeks ago, they have been reduced slightly by the extra humidity and reduction of wind. That has allowed the water we are putting out to do a better job at wetting our sandy soils. In addition, the areas that have not been dry are taking advantage of the same environmental changes and are really growing nice green, thick grass (see pictures below). I look forward to seeing the course when the rains start to help us and am looking forward to a great summer of grass growing.

Lake levels continue to drop about 6” every 10 days but are still higher today than they were all of February, March, and April 2023. I am still watering cautiously but also relatively confident that we are going to make it to rainy season (if we have one this year).

We are looking forward to our summer maintenance schedule. We will start closing on Mondays, May 13th and continue thru October 14th.

In addition we will be closed the following weeks for our more aggressive cultural practices:

May 28th thru June 10th

July 8th thru July 22nd

September 3rd thru September 9th

Common Grounds

Not a lot to report on in common grounds this week, we are still making progress on the Radio Road Ficus replacement. Irrigation is 99% complete, plants have been ordered and once delivered installation will happen pretty quickly.

The Ficus are being purchased from a landscape wholesaler in Homestead, FL and will be brought over with other orders in our area. I expect installation to start some time next week.

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!