Several months ago, I had reported that we had planted some wildflowers throughout the golf course in hard-to-maintain areas to add some color and habitat. These areas are now in full bloom and looking quite striking. Below are some recent photos that I took to illustrate this.
Is it that time of year already again? Our fall annual flowers have been installed throughout the club. We still have a few small areas to do, but the bulk is in. We have kept the choices pretty much the same for the course and grounds with a few subtle changes. The next couple of weeks are critical to establishing the plants. We tend to chose plants that are drought tolerant and can survive frost without covering. Geraniums, petunias and begonias make up the bulk of the plant material. We will be installing impatiens in the rocks along #14 tee. Normally, the Ladies’ Beautification Committee donates their time to planting these at the 14th tee. Unfortunately, due to a mistake I made on the date, the maintenance staff will be planting these this time within the next few days. My apologies Ladies!! I would like to thank the LBC for donating the funds for these flowers.
Every fall, the golf course gets a blanket of pine-straw in all of the bedded areas on the course. This always provides a nice clean look and color to these areas. Below are a couple of shots at #2.
This summer has been a very busy one for the maintenance staff. We still have several items yet to do over the course of the next month. Among them are:
Below are other examples of landscaping that has been done on and around the course.
Bag-Drop circle done with peach hibicus and gold-mound.
#18 tee area.
Nasty hillside by fairway trap on #2.
#1 Tee
#5 Tee
Improvement to our ball-washer/tee-sign areas has been needed for some time now. We removed the rock that previously surrounded these areas and have planted some nice landscaping plants in place of the rock. The photos below are very typical of the work that was done. (Note that the actual ball-washers are missing.) We have sent them off to be refurbished. The ball-washers are quite expensive so it is worth the investment to have them repainted and repaired.
#5 tee has also received a facelift thanks to the Ladies’ Beautification Committee. This area will be seen on your right as you enter the tee area after crossing the road.
We recently installed ten Sabal palms near the cart path on #12. The main reason that this was done was simple. The way that the hole is designed, it is limited to only two specific entry and exit areas. These two areas are split by the bunker on the left hand side of the green. Heavy foot traffic, particularly for the front entrance/exit to the green makes it nearly impossible to grow decent turf there.
By mid-way through the season this area is often reduced to mostly dirt. What we have done is planted palms on either side of the entry/exit. Players will then be forced to walk through the pathway that we have provided which now consists of pine straw. I was careful to make sure that the placement of the trees would not affect the way the holes plays. In fact, an errant shot going left on this hole and destined for the preserve, may now be stopped with a little luck. I think it also adds some interest to the aesthetics of what is already a beautiful hole. We will remove the braces after the hurricane season.
