Change of Venue

Due to accessibility constraints, I have made the switch to a different website for my blog.  Please continue to follow my updates, quips and ramblings at: stonebridgegcm.com.   Thank you for your trust and support.  I look forward to more frequent and topical posts.

Golf Course Report

January 2020

                As we head into a new year and a new decade, we have renewed ambitions for a successful future of the golf course.  Pinpointing trouble areas and employing new and innovative, science-based practices to enhance the vigor of our playing surfaces.  Through “real world” experiences and peer driven research, a few fertility and other agronomic changes were made to our program.  The results, to this point, have been crowd pleasing.  With colder weather and more traffic on the horizon, we are hoping that the herd can self-disperse, and our upgraded turf programs will weather the storm.  Either way, we will diligently work to provide the best possible playing conditions and hope to make you proud of your course. 

                Sticking with my plan of not recapping the obvious, we are all aware of the major changes made to the course and property over the past “off-season”.  However, it makes me incredibly proud to give credit to a few members of my team for initiating the idea and installing the brick pavers around most of the ball washer stations.  They take great pride in the work they do here at Stonebridge and many of their inputs go unnoticed by the golfers.  They do not fall through the cracks with me, I have profound respect and love for everyone on my team. 

                Enough with the love song.  We are all excited for 2020, the upcoming cooler temps, the multitude of golf events and even the long hot summer to come.  We like where the course is at this point and we have creative and motivated team to make it better. 

               

               

New Year Resolution

      In the past, most of the postings on this blog were simply cut and pasted from my Golf Course Report to the Green Committee.  They tended to be a monthly recap or a detailed projection of course conditions.  My goal this year is to reverse this cycle.  Instead of long drawn out explanations on a monthly basis, I plan to post on this blog quite frequently.  Short, concise pertinent information.  Pictures will be included and I am hoping to figure out how to incorporate video clips.  Stay tuned for the new format!

     Goodbye 2019 and Hello 2020.  

p.s.  Spoiler alert! I will be introducing a new addition to our team in my next update.

Golf Course Report

November 2019

            November id the “unofficial” start of the Golf season.  We kick it off with Women’s and Men’s Opening Days and we welcome back most of our seasonal members.  The golf course is in as good of condition as it has ever been heading into the onslaught of play.  All our major projects are completed and most of the little ones will be wrapped up in short order.  My entire team has pitched in with their efforts and ideas to make the course enjoyable for everyone.  With that being said, let’s all be prepared for the changes that lie ahead of us. 

            We have received close to 100% approval rating for the course conditions at this point of the journey.  Let’s all be cognizant of these warm and fuzzy feelings as the deluge of traffic and the colder temperatures are right around the corner.  Our department is confident we can produce the best possible conditions throughout the season.  We have added some new products to our arsenal, and we will tighten the intervals of applications to produce maximum growth potential.  With the elimination of most of the problems that hindered our previous seasons, a lot will be hinging on the awareness of those that are playing golf.  Signs, barriers and newsletters are ineffective if the golfer does not believe they are an integral part of the process.  Realizing that there are more golfers following your lead, the importance of reducing wear, fixing ball marks and filling divots becomes paramount.  If we all remember to stay on the provided cart path as much as possible and exit and enter each path at a different point each and every time, we are on the golf course, we will greatly reduce the wear and tear in our most traveled areas.  This rule of thumb should be adhered to by all members, guests, maintenance staff and rangers.  In the past I have labeled this initiative as “Take the Road less Traveled”, this season I am aiming for a sense of “Personal Pride”.  Play your round as if Jack Nicklaus is in the group behind yours.  The goal is to enjoy your time on the golf course and leave it in the best possible conditions for those that follow. 

            I am unbelievably proud of my team for all their hard work during a very busy and distracting Summer.  The course has improved dramatically over the previous year.  My hope is that Mother Nature will be kind to us, and that Jack Frost has decided not to come this far South.  We will stay very busy through now and December 31^st, a few more tiny projects and improvements before the madness begins. 

Golf Course Report

October 2019

Procrastination has gotten the better of me and I have put off this report for long enough.  Truth be told, I have penned two previous editions but neither one seemed to capture the levity of where we were, how we got here and our commitment to improving Stonebridge beyond expectations.  One of my drafts included an extensive list of accomplishments that would make any team proud, then I was reminded of the projects that did not make it into our busy schedule this summer.  My second draft was a bit more poetic.  I tried to shed some light on the challenges of dealing with ever changing weather patterns, from the record heat to 28 days of rain in August to the driest September on record back to record heat in October.  These are the times when motivation and teamwork really come in handy.  That’s when I decided to scrap the second draft, I simply couldn’t convey the love and respect I have for my team in a report.

Third and final attempt.  Our goal is, has and always will be; to make the golf course better each year.  I am immensely proud of the work that our team has amassed in my time at Stonebridge.  We have changed soil structures; we have expanded playing surfaces where possible and we continue to explore ways to improve your experience on the course.  My goal was not to list past projects or goals achieved, our list going forward is always larger than the list that preceded.  With that in mind, we have a couple of more projects to squeeze in before Opening Day.  I have had two separate consulting Agronomist help with our new fertility program.  One program was focused on the greens, which has already started.  The other is a Nitrate based program for our fairways.  This is a more readily available nitrogen source that should produce better conditions throughout the season.  We are hoping that the projects completed will both be effective and appreciated, even if they go unnoticed.

As they say, “the Proof is in the Pudding” and I believe our Pudding will be better than ever this year.

In the Midst of a Very Busy Summer

As we approach the end of our second course closure, I feel it is a good time to bring everyone up to date on what we have accomplished so far, what we are in the process of and what we have on the schedule for the remainder of the summer months.  

During the July closure we tend to be a bit more aggressive with all of our cultural practices.  This includes bigger, deeper aerification holes on the greens, complete aerification of all playing surfaces, more aggressive verti-cutting on all short grass areas and a heavy topdressing on all tees, fairways and greens.  We have also lowered the height of cut to promote a more prostrate growth. This lower height will carry through to our last closure where we will gradually raise the height as we head into season.  As you can imagine, the byproduct of verti-cutting and a lower height of cut is a multitude of grass clippings.  This, coupled with the 25 truck loads of sand that was applied to the tees, fairways and greens, is quite a mess to clean up.  Now throw in the fact that it has rained nearly every day, it really becomes a chore.  My staff has done an admirable job of keeping the drains clear of washed down clippings and staying on tasks as much as possible.  All scheduled cultural practices will have been completed before our opening on Saturday, however the inclement weather has effected our recovery timetable.  The good news is, the greens are always the first to be worked on and they should be in good shape by Saturday.

As for the on going projects in and around the property.  The directive to correct the "bottleneck" exit points on holes #2, #3 and #4 are still on our agenda.  The work on #2 is well under way and should be near completion towards the first of August.  Some minor earth moving is required for #3 and #4 to accomplish the recommended solution.  I have met with our contractor and we are scheduled to reshape and re-sod these areas in our September closure.  All three of these areas were brought to the attention of our consulting Architect and we are closely following his recommendations.  We have a long list of on course improvements we would like to get to this summer and we will start from the top and work our way down.  Mother Nature willing, we will check all the boxes.

Two other projects that are currently being tended to.  The parking lot is open for business but not quite complete.  We have some minor landscaping left to install and a couple of lampposts to put back in place.  Once this is complete, the next step will occur during the September closure when our contractor will return to seal coat and re-stripe the entire parking lot.  The other project involves the landscaped area as you drive from the Airport entrance to the clubhouse.  The Master Association will soon assume the maintenance responsibility of this area.  In anticipation of this change over from the Condo Associations, it was decided that the entire hedge would be replaced and additional perennial and annual  color will be added to enhance the entry drive.  This project will be completed in stages.  Hedge removal, hedge installation, re-establish sod lines, create perennial beds and finally add annuals in the fall.

There is more to come to this non stop summer.  I want to thank you all for your patience and understanding.  Once the dust settles, I believe that you will all agree that the end result was worth seemingly endless summer. 

One more update before we "Grip it and Rip it"

 As we continue to heal up from a very aggressive closure, I just wanted to give those that want to be in the know, a heads up on what to expect as we release the golfers back onto the course.  

The right side of #2 continues to be "under construction", most of the material was removed over the last 2 weeks but we have a long way to go to shape and grade the new area for cart path and sod.  Our goal is to reduce the amount of traffic that effects the front half of the Fairway, widen the playable surface and provide a bit of color to the process.  

As for the turf conditions.  The greens have healed up nicely and we will continue to roll and tweak the height of cut to provide optimum playing conditions.  The fairways are still holding a lot of sand at the top of the canopy.  This is a good thing, agronomically speaking.  The more sand we have in this region, the more thatch we can breakdown.  We have a few areas that are showing signs of heat stress.  The addition of our all black compost material on some of the Tees and Fairways and the lack of irrigation and rain due to Mother Nature and a power surge from FPL, has led to some scorching of turf.  Rest assured that these areas will recover quickly and with the addition of our new programs they will be able to handle added stress in the future.  

Stay tune, in the next few days, for pictures of the multiple projects that are happening here at Stonebridge.  

I am a firm believer in the statement that "If you are not moving forward, you are moving backyards"