tropical storm fay passes through naples

Our General Manager, Patrick Dorbad and myself assesed the damage to the golf course this morning at about 9:00 AM. I am very happy to report that there was no major damage to the community or the golf course. There were some power outages in the area, but the power was on at the club. The winds probably reached 50 to 70 mph as the storm came onshore at about 5:00 AM. We did receive a lot of rain. Probably more than 5 inches in all. There are a few trees down on the golf course including two Washingtonia palms one behind #10 green and one behind #3 green. Our plan is to spend the day on Wednesday cleaning, cutting and hauling as much debris off of the course as possible. I fully expect to have the golf course open and playable on Thursday morning. Our lakes are as full as they have been for three years.

Click on the thumbnails below to view some pictures taken this morning.

Greens Aerification

Today we aerified our greens for the third time this summer. This time we used small tines spaced fairly close together. the plugs are then removed and the greens are topdressed liberally followed by a drag brush. The greens tend to recover quicker from this type of aerification since the holes are much smaller.

ball-washers

In a previous post regarding tee sign and ball-washer landscaping, I noted that the ball-washers were missing and were being refurbished. We sent 22 units out to be stripped, powder coated and worn or broken parts replaced. Considering that one new ball-washer like this one costs nearly $400.00, this was a good investment. We have found that we can get about two years out of the paint. What we have now are virtually brand new ball-washers.

Naples Sunrise

I caught this amazing cloud at sunrise recently.

Herbicide Application

During the next few weeks I am going to be applying a rather aggressive herbicide application to some of the rough areas to try to eliminate our worst weed at this time, Tropical Signalgrass. Signalgrass looks somewhat like crabgrass, but is much, much more difficult to eradicate. The mixture that I will be using is a “hot” mixture. This will cause some injury and burning to the desirable bermudagrass and the turf will appear rather brown and dry looking. While I will be injuring the bremudagrass, it will bounce back withing 7 to 10 days. Those of you that are here and playing the golf course will undoubtedly notice this.

Fairway Aerification Underway

Today, we began the second of three aerifications on the fairways. Much Like the verticutting, this is a necessary practice which will improve the overall health of the turf. We generally only do two of these a season, but I have decided to do a third one in late September.

New Grass Plantings

#1 Tee

#5 Tee

Mole Crickets

While the recent rains have certainly been a welcome sight, there is another sight at the golf course that is not so welcome. That is the sight of mole cricket damage to the turf. Mole crickets are the single biggest problem we face on the golf course during the summer months in Florida. There is no reason that I can think of where a mole cricket has a place on this planet other than apparently it makes a delicious snack called Camaru in Thailand I’ve read. Given the fact that I won’t be snacking on any of these guys in the near future, it is quite a battle to control them. They can and do cause significant damage to the turf. In addition to the damage that the crickets produce, the armadillos, raccoons, and possums dig for these tasty treats as well. In June we applied a fertilizer that is coated with a long-lasting insecticide. Because of the expense, we only applied this product to the fairways, tees and greens. The areas that are left untreated are monitored weekly for infestations. It seems like we are treating for these insects constantly throughout the summer season. The crickets are most active during the full moon cycle. Mole crickets damage turf by feeding on the plant roots, stems and leaves and by tunneling through the soil.

Areas converted to “coquina”

We decided to change the look on a couple holes recently by converting what used to pinestraw to “coquina”. I have the coquina in parentheses because is is the same material that we use on the cart paths. The material has been firmed up and gives these areas a new look.

Below is a photo of the right rough on #3 where we planted all of the palm trees after Wilma.

This area is to the left of the fifth green.

New sod for #7 cartpath

The area between the cartpath and the road at #7 has always been an eyesore so we replaced the old, nasty bermudagrass with St. Augustine sod and added a few plant groupings.