Golf Course Report

May/June 2018

What a difference a year makes.  The first thing I always do when I write these reports is too re-read the ones from the previous year.  Last year our drought persisted until the last week of May, this year we have had the wettest May on record.  Last year it was dry every day until our closure, then it rain 11 inches in 11 days.  This year it rained 25 out of 31 days in May and was dry for all but one day of our closure.  In stark contrast to last year, I am quite happy with the work completed on the golf course.

Unfortunately I do not have any fancy pictures this year of the high tech machinery used to accomplish our goals, as I found myself on a tractor more often than behind a camera.  I am very excited about the new Fairway aerification process.  The rented machine will pull more material than our previous unit and is a lot more efficient.  We are also scheduled to topdress our fairways 3 times this summer. In previous years that number was always limited to one.  This new summer fairway program will enhance the playability and resiliency of our fairways throughout the entire year.  Close to 20 Dump Truck loads of sand were applied to the fairways during this closure.

The greens were Dryjected on the first day of the closure followed by a core aerification and heavy topdressing.  The ultimate goal with these combined practices is to remove Organic Matter and dilute the profile to create optimum pore space.  This was all followed by multiple application of Calcium based fertility to mediate the soil pH.  This allows the proper exchange of nutrients from soil to root to shoot to leaf.  

The tees underwent a similar battle, aerification, and topdressing and specialty fertility.  As we always try to perfect our putting surfaces sometimes we overlook how we get there.  Last year we added some new grass, this year we will be leveling and expanding some teeing areas.  I am not a status quo type of person, if you are not moving forward, you are getting passed by.  In this regard, I welcome and encourage Member input.  This is your course and I want nothing more than to provide you with the best possible test of your skills.  As a matter of fact, we made a slight change to #1 during this closure specifically because of member input.  I took the suggestion and analyzed the end result, a slight alteration to the original suggestion provided improved playability, traffic dispersion and hopefully member satisfaction.  I am sure we will all hear the good and the bad.

One more agronomic topic to touch on that will persist throughout the summer.  The lowering of the height of cut is a practice that helps reduce grain, improves the effectiveness of verticutting, improves the topressing program and dictates growth habits in the short grass.  The roughs were lowered this week from 1.5” to 1.25” we will hold steady there until we host the PGA Section Tournament on July 6.  Following the tournament we will incrementally lower the height until we reach .6”.  This should take us right into our last closure. From there we will slowly bring them back up to seasonal height.  The tees and Fairways will follow the same program.  They will go from .5” all the down to .25”.  At one point this summer our tees and fairway will be running like greens and our roughs will be sitting up like fairways.  This may be a good time to lower your handicap! 

With a full slate of cultural practices going on and many more tweaks to the course to come, I am looking forward to 2 more closures as successful as this one.  Perfection is only attainable if you are willing to grind. I am blessed with the most amazing team in all of golf maintenance.  I have literally challenged other clubs to a “Crew Olympics” knowing that we would take home all the Gold!  Stonebridge is lucky to have them and I am blessed to be able to call them my friends.  They have bought in to my vision and take a lot of pride in their work.  What they accomplished in the last 11 days is nothing short of miraculous.  My guys are the best guys!

P.S.  The next closure begins on July 17^th. It will encompass many of the same practices employed in this closure.  I will make it a goal to add photos to my next blog post. 

Golf Course Report

April 19, 2018

The April Report is always filled with a little bit of - exhaustion, from the seemingly endless Golf Season; relief, from surviving the onslaught of 25,000 golfers in a four month span; optimism, from the light at the end of the short tunnel ahead that will allow my team to begin the process of making the course even better; and of course a little bit of pride, love and admiration for my team, they began this season under the most adverse conditions and constantly went above and beyond expectations.  We end each day at the time clock with a fist bump, a handshake and/or a hug and this year that interaction has a little more meaning.  We rise and fall as one, we are a True Family.

It is interesting to look back at the ups and downs, the goods and bad and the successes and failures.  Typically they all tend to revolve around weather.  From a record breaking wet summer to a not so nice storm named Irma followed by months of clean up.  This led right into a very cold January, record breaking heat in February, back to a seasonable March and now we are getting late cold fronts in the third week of April.  On a daily basis, weather effects our decisions on cultural practices, fertility, irrigation, mower set up, and a multitude of other functions.  That is the blessing of having a team that can adapt on the fly with the ever changing conditions and plans. 

We are all looking forward to the summer.  Well maybe me more than others. We have plenty of projects planned that will improve the golf course from a playability aspect and enhance the aesthetic value of your round. I anticipate some re-planting of perimeter buffers, some widening of playable surfaces, leveling and expanding a few tees, replacing the asphalt on #11 with concrete, a concerted effort to improve fairway conditions and a few other tricks up my sleeve to give Stonebridge a new look for next Season. 

My pursuit for perfection continues to motivate me to take Stonebridge to places it has never seen before.  If you think this year was good, wait ‘til next year!

Male Wood Duck

Osprey Cleaning Fish prior to delivering to the nest

               

 A Few Pictures From the Tours!

Screech Owl

Happy Customers!

Great Heron

Wood Ducks

Red-Bellied Woodpecker

BlueJay

Purple Martins

Osprey

 Only a few Tours left, sign up early! This is just a sampling and they only get better!

Golf Course Report

March 14, 2018

The “Ides” of March are upon us.  And with that comes, what most of us call, the turning point in the Season.  We have planned, prepped, pulled off and survived the first 2 ½ months of the Golf Season.  With our 3 Marquee events recently completed, a sigh of relief could be felt throughout the recent staff meetings.  That feeling of “rounding 3^rd and heading for home” does not mean we are pulling our foot of the gas.  We aim to finish the Season strong. 

On the maintenance front, I am somewhat pleased with how the golf course has held up considering the “Jekyll and Hyde” type of weather we have experienced.  The frigid January, record breaking heat in February and now back to some cooler temps for March.  Imagine dressing your child during this time; long-johns to shorts and a T-shirt to sweater weather.  This analogy rings true for maintaining a golf course.  As the climate changes, so does the mowing heights, irrigation frequencies, fertility requirements, disease pressure and many more variables.  That’s the fun part, out smarting Mother Nature!  Doing more with less is always our goal.  With the proper cultural practices and impeccable timing, we can produce conditions that require less fertility and a lot less irrigation.  Every year we add new tools and new products that aid in achieving these goals.  This summer will be no different.  We will start early and often, in an effort to be better than this year.

As we head down the home stretch, we will continue to try to stay one step ahead.  We will take our attention to detail from our Guest events and apply them to our upcoming Club Championships.  I promise to be a little kinder and gentler when it comes to green speeds and pin positions.  Good Luck!

Golf Course Report

January 2018

                The New Year brings new beginnings, new goals, a fresh outlook and resolutions that we swear we are going to keep this time!  The New Year also gives us a chance to reflect on the year that was.  Instead of rehashing the obvious (incredibly bad Summer Weather), I would like to remind everyone of a few positives that came from the odd year of 2017.

                2017 brought us a new Driving Range Tee.  The entire tee was stripped and regraded.  Drainage was added and it was sand capped to resemble a green.  Finally it was sprigged with Celebration Bermuda grass.  This will allow us more flexible use throughout the year and faster recovery from wear and tear.  During this process we also installed a new “state of the art” TurfHound artificial mat teeing area.  These multi-length mats provide a more “real feel” impact for pre-round warm up and extended practice sessions.  Next we focused on the Chipping Green.  The practice bunker was expanded and the bunker face was lowered to increase the effective hitting area by more than 60%.  The West side of the chipping green was reshaped to soften the slopes and provide chipping and pitching options from a variety of distances and lies.  Next on the agenda, we tackled the poorly draining, heavily shaded #1 Tee complex.  A bit of “out of the box thinking” led me to design the island tees planted with a new cultivar of Zoysia grass that has done well in shaded areas at other properties throughout the South.  Finally, and probably the most noticeable for all of our returning members and guests, we completed the transition from soft path material to grass.  This was a summer long project, as we had to remove quite a bit of old material and add fresh soil before the sod was planted.  We also had to dodge a few weather delays while pouring the concrete for egress and ingress additions.  Once the project was finished we added close to 2 acres of turf to your golf course.  Drop in the bucket for most places but a big addition for Stonebridge. 

                The golf course evolves every day, every year.  In an effort to stay ahead of the game, I like to consume every bit of information concerning golf course maintenance.  We are currently at the forefront of the industry when it comes to fertility.  Our approach to soil science based organic feeding has been copied by many turf mangers throughout the region.  This program results in a reduction in synthetic fertilizers, less irrigation, lower disease occurrence and a decrease in insecticides.  This program was first employed on the greens and will be phased in to the tees and fairways as applicable. 

                Other BIG changes for 2017 were in the management portion of my team.  Wayne McDermott, our long time Equipment Manager, retired this summer after 24 years on the job.  I was very fortunate to spend 6 years with Wayne.  I will always consider him a friend and he will always be welcome here.  The other change was more structural.  With my ever expanding responsibilities and to do lists, I felt it was best for everyone involved that we eliminate the Assistant Superintendent position and actively search for a qualified person for the a Golf Course Superintendent position.  My passion is the golf course, but the needs of the community are wide ranging.  Re-installing this position will allow me to confidently go about my other business knowing I have a qualified professional looking over my baby.  I was lucky enough to have Wayne help me find his replacement.  He had a few recommendations and he sat in on the interviews.  In the end we hired Vance Julian, a legacy of sort.  His father was the leading Equipment Manager in the industry for more than 30 years; Vance sort of grew up turning wrenches and sharpening mowers.  He has a lot of energy and will certainly outlast me!  As for the Superintendent position, Joe McColgan joins us from the East coast.  His multiple years of service in management positions at various clubs throughout the state was impressive, but most of all he graduated from the same turf school I attended (albeit at a much later date). 

                I am excited about this year.  We have an infusion of youth to ramp up our energy!  We have a great opportunity to make a major impact on the entire property in the near future.  As we prepare for the busy “tournament” season, we always have our minds set on the summer ahead.  Planning, scheming and plotting to be the best.

Back from the Woodshed!

      Irma has kept us busy and I promised myself I would not write a blog post with frustration clouding my sensibilities.  Today, we topdressed greens.  A small victory for our staff as we look to get back to taking care of the golf course on a full time basis.  Granted, the afternoon duties included tree trimming, debris removal and stump grinding but we are making progress.  Going forward, more and more time will be shifted towards preparing the course for the "Tournament" season.  

    As you might recall, even before Irma, we were in the midst of a record breaking summer.  Our rainfall totals from June 1st through September 30th were close to 100 inches.  This is usually the time that we do a majority of our preparation and agronomic cultural practices that enhance the conditions for the coming season.  The most effected programs are the herbicide and fertilizer applications.  To compensate for the loss of efficacy during the summer, we took advantage of the fair conditions of October to aggressively treat the weeds, that led to some off color areas throughout the course that will soon recover.  The recovery will be enhanced by the fact that we have had the opportunity to apply our scheduled October Fertility coated with a Pre-Emergent herbicide to prevent winter annuals and two liquid fertilizer applications.  We have an aggressive schedule set forth over the next 4 to 6 weeks that should produce excellent playing conditions. 

    I am looking forward to next week.  Due to the storm we had to push back the installation of our pine straw and the planting of our winter annuals.  This process will begin on Monday the 13th.  We have a few more flowers to install and a lot more pine straw to spread than previous years.  I thank you in advance for your patience and I promise you that I will do everything I can to expedite the process. 

There is so much to look forward to, we have always striven to make this season better than last season, today better than yesterday!  We will keep pushing the envelope to find the right combination to make Stonebridge the best that it can be.   

     

All The King's Horses and All the King's Men...

 I have no words to describe the effort and determination that my team has put forth during the last two weeks in an attempt to restore this beautiful piece of property.  We are a long way from reaching our goal but we are on the right path.  When it is your job to inspire your team sometimes it is tough to be inspired.  When you see what my staff has had to endure through this storm and what they have done to support me, I am truly inspired.  Working sun up to sun down for the last two weeks is made a little easier when you know you are greeted by Family at both locations.

We will be opening the golf course for play on Wednesday morning (9/27) and I would like to preface this with a few words of insight.  This will not be our best presentation.  We have not had the time to attend to the finer details that our members are accustomed to. I implore you to take a drop from all lateral hazards and do not attempt to look for your ball in a wooded area.  We have cleared all the playing surfaces but the periphery will take quite a bit longer.  Please work with us as we continue to progress to our ultimate goal of being the best club all of SW Florida.  

I would like to thank the members for their generosity.  Their continuous donations have made a great impact on many of my team members lives.  These guys are my Heroes!