FYI 4/12/19

4/12/19

Golf Maintenance FYI

·         The golf course was in very good condition for the Member/Member event and received plenty of compliments. Thank you to all my staff that went above and beyond including several that will be working 26 days in a row without a morning off. They are awesome!

·         Although the building construction is over there are still many small details to complete and for this reason, it is my recommendation to postpone the planned Open House until the week of the Welcome Back Party in October. Roman is not yet fully in his office, the Chemical Room is not organized, the conference table is not in position, landscaping is not complete, the nursery area needs to be grassed, pictures need to hung, etc. With our focus on the golf course we simply have not spent enough time in completing the details at golf maintenance. 

·         Speaking of the conference table, we were graced with the presence and talent of Board Member, Scott Johnson, this week to help sand the old table and prepare it for its new life at golf maintenance. I can’t thank Scott enough for his time. 

Scott Johnson working hard on the conference table

·         Roman Gomez will be working this weekend, and everything will be ready for the 8:15 AM Shotgun on Saturday. I will be celebrating my daughters 13^th Birthday this weekend!

·         All Tees will be sprayed with a liquid fertilizer on Monday to continue their health. A Mineral Oil, Civitas One, will be added to the tank to help control the Bermudagrass Mites. The mineral oil has no resistance concerns which could be extremely important as we continue to treat this troublesome pest.

·         All fairways and approaches will also be sprayed with a liquid fertilizer on Monday to continue their good health. Besides a replacement pump, Our GPS spray rig that was purchased last year has been performing superbly.

·         Greens will be sprayed with liquid fertilizer on Friday. A Nematicide, Indemnify, will be added to the tank to help control the microscopic worm. Soil samples specific to Nematode identification, called Assays, were sent away to the University of Florida 3 weeks ago and unfortunately the results showed excessive counts of both Sting and Lance Nematodes in our greens. Indemnify is $1,600 per acre or $4,800 per application and requires two treatments 2 weeks apart. With one treatment already completed 2 weeks ago, our roots on the greens have responded incredibly well and the yellowing areas have been eliminated. This is extremely important to have thriving roots as we enter the hot and dry months.

·         I have scheduled the application of a fumigant, Curfew, to the golf course on June 4; the first day of our 3-day closure. Curfew is a nematicide and requires a 24-hour no re-entry period.Signs will be posted along the golf course boundary and at all golf hole entrances. The fumigant is injected into the soil and then sealed by rolling the turf. I will be taking Green Committee Chairman, Dick Hockman, to see an example of the application at a local golf course on April 30 after the Budget meeting. The method of the application can have some damaging effects to the turf initially, however, the step back is worth the 3 steps forward.

·         Speaking of hot and dry, March was just that. In fact, we irrigated the golf course with 16 million gallons of water. That is a lot of milk jugs! Thankfully, for golf maintenance anyway, there was one rain event where we received just over an inch of rain which allowed us to turn the pumps off for 2 days. The turf really responds to natural irrigation.

·         Compliments to Luis Altuzar for his tedious work fixing a substantial irrigation leak at the entrance to the Clubhouse. With help from David Forrey, we are confident the leak has been repaired and the massive hole can be backfilled.

·         Compliments to Roman Gomez, our mechanic, who continues to amaze. He stayed back past 5 PM with me on Monday evening to help repair a damaged mainline valve on Hole 18. Without his help we would not have irrigated the golf course as the entire pump station had to be turned off to complete the repair. We have been experiencing issues with our mainline valves not opening or closing in recent months. We have been slowly replacing internal components; however, it is a tedious task as many of the valves are buried deep in the ground. I can’t thank Roman enough!

·         Tina Fry and Luis Altuzar will be attending a 2-day seminar in Sarasota next week learning the use of the irrigation computer. It will be a great class for them to hone and learn new skills.

·         Our tennis courts had additional clay added to their surface during the week by an outside contractor as part of their quarterly maintenance and are in very good condition. The Tennis Committee have requested an additional viewing area on the West end of the tennis courts close to the sidewalk. At first thought I am not too receptive to the idea but will show it to the Greens Committee and Traci for their input. I just don’t think there is enough spectators to warrant the time and effort to add suitable pavers and seating to the area.

·         I have created a neat competition for my staff. I have asked them to provide me photos of Copperleaf that they have taken. The photos will be judged by all of us and the winning 10 photos will be printed on canvas and hung in the new maintenance building. The winning photographers will be awarded a small gift card. 

A photo by Mark Caruso looks fantastic

·         A reminder that our Annual flowers will be removed the week after Easter and replaced with Pentas.

·         Overall, everything continues to look good throughout the community. We look forward to the Wednesday closures starting in May! Golf Maintenance staff are working well, and we currently have no vacancies.