Glen Eagle Maintenance (1/31/25)

After last week’s very cold and overcast weather, this week has been about as perfect as possible. Sunny and warm is much better for the course and players alike.

Last Saturday (during Winter on the graphic above) we were on frost watch. I was on the course monitoring the conditions specifically for frost formation. Frost would mean potential delays in tee times, something we would like to avoid if at all possible. Turns out the winds were sufficient, as expected, to prevent frost on Saturday.

While I was out there I got to thinking, I know from years of monitoring the weather that frost doesn’t develop when there is wind but I didn’t know why. So what do we do these days if we don’t know something, we search the internet for answers. Here is what I found…

Frost forms when the temperature of surfaces, like grass, car windows, or leaves, drops to a point where water vapor in the air directly transitions into solid ice (a process called deposition). This usually happens overnight when the temperature drops low enough and the conditions are right. Here are the key factors that make frost form:

1. Clear Skies and Calm Winds:

• Clear skies allow the Earth to cool more effectively at night because there are no clouds to trap heat (clouds can act as insulation). Without clouds, the heat from the Earth radiates away into space.
• Calm winds are important because wind can mix warmer air with cooler air. When the air is calm, the cool air near the ground stays in place, allowing temperatures to drop more significantly.

2. Cooling to the Dew Point:

• The air must cool down to the dew point, which is the temperature at which air becomes saturated with moisture and can no longer hold all the water vapor it contains. If the dew point is below freezing (32°F or 0°C), frost can form.
• Once the surface temperature drops to or below the dew point, moisture from the air can start to deposit as frost.
• Turns out our dew point was 33 degrees and air temp was 40 which also helped to prevent frost formation.

3. Surface Temperature Below Freezing:

• For frost to form, the surface must cool to below 32°F (0°C). Even if the air temperature is just above freezing, surfaces like grass or metal can cool down further, radiating heat away into the open sky and reaching temperatures that are below freezing.

4. Moisture in the Air:

• There needs to be enough moisture in the air for frost to form. If the air is very dry, even if the temperature drops low enough, frost may not form because there isn't enough water vapor to freeze.

5. Deposition:

• When surfaces reach freezing temperatures, water vapor in the air changes directly into ice crystals without first becoming liquid water. This is called deposition, and it's how frost forms. The ice crystals can form on anything exposed to the cool air, like car windows, grass, or tree branches.

Summary:

• Clear skies → More cooling overnight.
• Calm winds → Air cools more efficiently at the surface.
• Temperature drops to the dew point → Air can’t hold all the moisture.
• Surface temperatures drop below freezing → Frost forms from the moisture in the air.

The key to frost forming is the combination of clear skies, calm winds, and enough moisture in the air, with surface temperatures dropping below freezing.

Another question I had was why the temperature always drops right after daylight so I went to the my consultant (the internet) again. Here’s what I found…

The temperature drop right after sunrise is a bit counterintuitive, but it happens because of the way the Earth's atmosphere and surface interact with sunlight.

Here’s the basic idea:

1. Night Cooling: During the night, the Earth’s surface and the atmosphere cool down because they’re not receiving direct sunlight. This cooling continues into the early morning hours.

2. Sunrise and Energy Absorption: When the sun rises, sunlight begins to hit the surface. However, it takes some time for the energy from the sun to warm up the ground and the air near the surface. The ground may still be cold from the night, so the heat doesn’t immediately get transferred to the atmosphere.

3. Morning Dew and Radiation: The cooling can also be influenced by dew, which often forms overnight. As the sun rises, the air may cool enough for dew to evaporate, which can momentarily absorb some heat from the surrounding air, causing a temporary dip in temperature.

4. Inversion Effect: Sometimes, especially in valleys or low-lying areas, a temperature inversion can occur, where cooler air gets trapped near the ground beneath warmer air. This can cause the temperature to drop even after the sun comes up, as the inversion slowly breaks down.

This early-morning drop can be brief, though, as soon as the sunlight starts to warm the surface, temperatures typically begin to rise fairly quickly. But that initial dip is a combination of cooling from the night and the time it takes for the sun’s warmth to kick in.

These weather factors play a big role in how we maintain the golf course and the outcome of that maintenance has on course conditions.

Sunrise Saturday Morning (40 degrees)

Now that the sun is back out, it was a busy week for maintenance…

Removing Dead Pine on #5

Cutting Back Stump at 9 Tee

Adding Plants at 3 Tee

Filling in Area on 9 where Tree was Removed

Cleaning Equipment

I wanted to take advantage of the improved weather so I brought in the spray trucks…

Wall-to-Wall Fertilizer Application

and the solid tine aerifiers…

Pencil Tine Greens Aerificaiton

Slow Motion Video of Solid Tine Aerification

Checking the Aerification Depth

Almost 7”

Rolling After Aerification to Smooth the Surface

Cutting Cups After Aerification

Applying Command (https://takecomand.com/) to Weak Areas 

The Command helps weaker areas in many different ways. It does have an “Earthy” smell for about 24 hours but is well worth the temporary aroma. We will try and use it sparingly and only where necessary.

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 (1/24/25)

 Yuck, yuck, yuck! That’s all I can think of the weather this week.

Cold temperatures (40s/50s) with complete overcast skies, and drizzling rain for 3 days straight; certianly not what we are use to here in SW Florida.

The word on the street is the sun will make its come back staritng tomorrow afternoon with better weather forecasted for next week.

Even with the poor weather the greens are in good condition. Other areas like tees and roughs while in ok conditions overall, are not taking the cold and cloudy nearly as well.

The weather kept me from getting any good pictures of the course but Gustavo was able to get some of the team as they worked in and out of the rain.

Trimming along the cart path behind 18 green

Solid tine aerifying, blowing and rolling weak tees

Quickly I wanted to mention that the box that holds the sand bottles at #1 tee is on order and will be replaced as soon as the new one comes in.

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 (1/17/25)

 The golfing season is in full swing! So is the maintenance team!

The temperatures have moderated a bit but still cold for the Bermudagrass.

Light topdressing, rolling on cold days instead of mowing, and applying slow release fertilizer help keep the turf protected from the cold.

Replacing some sod along GE Blvd and at the Davis entrance where a dead Oak tree was 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!

Glen Eagle Maintenance (1/10/25)

 Ok, ok, whoever brought this cold weather with you, you can send it back home 🥶.

As you know, it is not uncommon for temperatures to dip into the 40’s here in Naples. What is uncommon, is multiple days in the low 40’s with high temps that haven’t gotten out of the lower 60’s. The good news is it looks like after today the temperatures will be improving and be in the 50’s and 70’s for 4 or 5 days before we get cold again middle of next week.

In the summer I talk about our warm season grass stressing out when the temperatures are too hot. Bermudagrass likes a combined daily temperature of 150 degrees (65/85 for example).

So this time of year, the grass doesn’t stress out, it shuts down. Our combined daily temperatures this week have been somewhere between 100 and 110, 40 degrees lower than the turf would prefer.

This “shutdown” comes during the time of year when we are adding heavy amounts of physical stress to the turf by means of cart and foot traffic. Tee and greens slopes along with entry and exit points to fairways will be impacted the most by the slow down in growth.

The good news is with turf growth reduced, the course should play firm and fast.

You can see in this picture of #7 that the longer grass stays greener than the the shorter turf on the greens. This is likely due to less carbohydrate storage due to shorter root length.

Despite the cold weather, still pretty green on the course overall…

On cold weeks like this when the grass isn’t growing very much we get a chance to work on detail work.

Edging concrete cart paths

Pressure washing and detailing equipment

Trimming trees at the shop to allow trucks to enter and exit without breaking off limbs

Cleaning up where tree was removed at Davis Entrance

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 (1/2/25)

Happy New Year! I wish everyone a healthy and prosperous 2025!

The end of 2024 was good to the course with 2.95” of rain on Sunday.  The rain brought the lakes up 8” and allowed us to turn off irrigation for 2 nights. That was a huge boost for the turf and for the lakes that were surprisingly low at the time.

The warm weather and rain along with our fertility plan has the turf growing and the course looking really green for the New Year!

The maintenance team has been working on course details like adding rock around the course accessories…

And at the clubhouse where plants were damaged when the gas tank for the kitchen was replaced…

During the winter when the sun stays in the Southern sky, days are shorter, temperatures are cooler, and traffic increases, we take extra precautions to keep the turf healthy, especially greens. Here is an example on #8 green. Sandy is walkmowing the left third of the green at a slightly higher height than our normal height. That side of the green is shaded most of the day from the oak tree on the South side which makes it more susceptable to disease during times when recuperation is less than optimal. Since the growth on that side of the green is reduced due to the shade, mowing it two or three times a week at a higher height allows it to get thru challenging conditions without a noticeable difference in putting speed.

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!