Course condition update

Over the past few weeks, the golf courses have really started to grow with the warmer weather and the well-timed rains from Mother Nature. During this time of year, we are primarily focused on getting things mowed on a regular basis and addressing the detail items on the course. We know that there are other playability items out there that we need to address at some point, but during the growing season it’s hard to fit those items in at times. Take, for instance, the White Wing greenside bunkers: even after adding the Caylor white sand in to firm them up, we still have some that are very soft. We are going to continue to remove the softer sand and replace it with firmer sand, but it will be an ongoing process that will take time due to the time of year and current staff size. It is an ongoing project that we will continue to improve upon. Greens Aerification – This month we have started our hollow tine aerification on the greens. Cowan Creek was done last week and White Wing will be done next Monday. Legacy Hills will follow up the week after that. We will be using a ½” coring tine, and the heal time should be about seven to ten days.

White Wing Tree Trimming #4

The new view from the left fairway bunker on #4 at White Wing.

May 2013 Course Conditions Update

May weather hasn’t been much different than April’s and we have had very few days with combined temperatures in the 150’s. What that equates to is that we still aren’t at the optimal temperatures for Bermuda grass growth. As we all know the tendency in Sun City is that our fairways suffer their most compaction during the winter months when the Bermuda is dormant and not growing. This in turn causes us to have tight lies in the fairway and not all golfers prefer that type of lie. Once we are at a consistent 150 combined temperature we will start to see the fairways grow, get a little “fluffier” and provide easier lies for those who do not care for the tight lies. Often times I hear “we are hitting off dirt” (or sometimes they say concrete) and this not the case. A compacted area of turf is still turf, do we have some spots here and there that are bare, yes, but we continue to identify them and work towards growing them back in or re-sodding them.

The first quarter projects are finished and they included the drainage project on #14 at White Wing, the trimming of the big oak on #6 at Legacy Hills and the seeding and clearing of an area on #8 at White Wing.  Due to the cost being less than expected on the tree trimming on Legacy Hills we will have enough in the budget to address some trees on White Wing that were on our playability list from 2012. 

The Playability committee also met this month and completed the spring tour of White Wing. During this tour we also looked at some of the safety items that were brought up in the Safety Committee’s report from last year.

Legacy Hills Tree Trimming on #6

 

Below are photos from our recent tree trimming on #6 at Legacy Hills. In the before photo you can see how the tree canopy was touching the ground and made it impossible to hit a golf shot from underneath it. In the after photo you can see that the canopy has been substantially raised to provide a much more playable area.

 

Before

After

It's a Boy!

Congratulations to Josh Stephen our golf course mechanic at Cowan Creek and his wife, they are celebrating the birth of their newborn son.
Decil Leeman Stephen 8lbs 3oz

Level 3 Mowing Update

Prepared by:

Catrin Dubois

Landscape Superintendent

 

The native areas behind the Sun City homes are scheduled to receive mowing 2-3 times a year depending on growth and the seeding of the wild flowers.

This year Mother Nature has decided to add a couple of cold fronts to the Spring mix. What does this mean to our native areas and the mow schedule? Cooler weather will delay the wild flowers. To ensure flowers for the coming years we have to wait until they have had a chance to bloom and go to seed so the timing of the mowings is critical

You have noticed the Bluebonnets and other wild flowers blooming along the highways and native areas. There are numerous flowers that have budded and are about to show their colors.

A couple examples are the Mexican hats, the Cardinal flowers, Cosmos, Indian Blankets, Fire wheels and many others are yet to be seen. Our goal every year is to preserve our wild flower meadows and native grasses that aid in erosion control and wild life habitat while maintaining a fuel brake behind the homes. Right now all native vegetation is green and lush which means it does not carry any fuel content in case of a grass fire in our community. CA staff works closely with the Firewise group to identify fuel load and when to schedule the cutting of the 10’-30’ fuelbrakes.

The cutting of the native areas is solely allocated to reduce of fuel load not aesthetics, weed, varmint or reptile control. Should you decide to mow an additional 5’ strip behind your lot line it would be acceptable at this time. You will receive advance notice through the CA Communicator when the mowers will be on site this year. Right now we anticipate June or July.

April 2013 Course Conditions Report

April has been a hit and miss on the weather, one day its sun tan weather and the next day we are in our insulated overalls. The good news is that we’ve had enough warm days for the courses to green up and for the dormancy look of winter to go away. All three courses have applied a bulk fertilizer application and with the recent rains and some warm weather we will be in full mowing mode in the next couple of weeks.

The Legacy Hills bunker project is being wrapped up as I write this and besides some clean-up around the shop area it is all but finished. The only remaining signs of work are on holes #17 and #18 where we still have silt fencing around the bunker surrounds that were sodded. That silt fence will remain there for the next two weeks until the sod is established. If we feel the sod is ready sooner than that we will pull it out before the two week period. Thank you to all of our golfers who have been patient throughout this process.

The first quarter projects that we have in place should wrap up in the next two weeks and extinguish the 30k that was put into the 2013 operating budget for golf course improvements. The tree trimming on #6 may take an additional week depending on the tree company’s schedule.   

The Playability committee also met this month and completed the Spring tour of Cowan Creek.  During this tour we also looked at some of the safety items that were brought up in the Safety Committee’s report from last year. Two notable items were some large drop offs near the bathrooms on #13 and #17 at Cowan Creek which have since been addressed. Next month we will be working on some of the other drop offs next to the paths and fixing them with either DG or with some kind of rock work as we did on hole #11 at White Wing.

Legacy Hills Fairway Bunker Renovation Update

Golf Course Maintenance Update

Legacy Hills Bunker Update
The Legacy Hills Bunker Renovation is nearing its end and should be complete by the end of this week without any weather interruptions.
You may notice that, although the bunkers are complete, a number of them that were reshaped still have black silt fencing around them. This fencing was put in to prevent dirt and silt from coming into the new sand while they were being sodded. Once sodded, we have to hand water the sod for a couple of weeks until the sod has had time to take root.
While hand-watering, it is necessary for us to leave this fencing up to help prevent contaminates from washing into the new sand during this time. During this time please play any of the bunkers with silt fencing as ground under repair.

March Course Conditions Report

March 2013 Course Conditions 

March has been a busy month with having contractors on site. The White Wing drainage project went well and did an excellent job of handling a two inch rain last week. The sod needs some warmer weather to establish and until then we will keep that area Ground Under Repair. This project was the first one on the list that we wanted to get done in the first quarter with the $30k in operational dollars set aside for course improvements. The remaining items include the trimming of the large tree on #6 at Legacy Hills and the cleanup and grassing of the area left of #8 at White Wing which will both take place in late April.

The Legacy Hills bunker project has been moving along at a good pace even with the rain interruption last week. The reshaping of the bunkers on #3 turned out great and the contractor is currently reshaping the bunkers on #5 and should be done this week.

While all of the work on the courses is keeping us busy we are still working on our Audubon Certification for the three courses. The Superintendents and I are meeting once a week to work on the certification. The environmental plan portion has been finished which puts us about 10% complete.  Also, Jon and myself are working toward our CGCS certification and have started the portfolio process.

Golf Course Maintenance Update

White Wing
We have completed all of the drainage project on #14 at White Wing and we are currently working to get it established. The area will remain ground under repair for the next couple of months until the warmer weather arrives and the grass has had a chance to establish.




Legacy Hills Fairway Bunker Renovation
We are moving into the third week of the Legacy Hills Bunker fairway bunker renovation and things are moving along as planned. We continue to work on the front nine and the re-shaping of the bunkers on #3 has been completed. Currently the bunkers on #5 are being done and should be completed this week. Now that shaping and the larger bunkers have been addressed on the front nine the project should speed up.

During this time period all of the Fairway bunkers at Legacy Hills should be considered GROUND UNDER REPAIR. This will help minimize any confusion as to what or what has not has been disturbed or worked on by either the contractor or golf course maintenance.

**Remember, please take caution while the contractor is working on the bunkers and allow them to continue their work so that we can get through this project as quickly as possible. If they are in your line of flight please take the nearest relief no closer to the hole to take your shot.

We will be keeping the communicator and Blog updated on the progress of this project over the next few weeks.

Don’t forget to keep up with the Golf Course Maintenance. Blog at www.sctxgcmaint.blogspot.com