New Video!!

Check out the debut video from the Greenskeeping Team at TPC Eagle Trace! All about the recent greens aeration completed last week.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNxnkbaGeio

USGA Green Section Florida Region Update

Some great reading from our friends at the USGA Green Section.

http://www.usga.org/course_care/regional_updates/regional_reports/florida/Rains-Continue-To-Bring-More-Challenges---July-2012/

Weather Forecast Coral Springs, FL | Coral Springs Weather | Wunderground

Weather Forecast Coral Springs, FL | Coral Springs Weather | Wunderground

Update from the field 19 July 2012

Greens are smoothing out nicely and are looking to be in great shape for the weekend! Come on out to the Trace and enjoy a round!

2nd Summer Aeration 2012 Update

The aeration holes on the putting green, Monday.

The aeration holes on the putting green today, Tuesday.

Topdressing the putting green

Well, we finished our 2nd aeration of the summer and it went off without a hitch. The boys from Aeration Technology came out and punched all 21 greens and the 1/4"holes left from the smaller tines are going to heal up wonderfully. As a matter of fact the 14-7-14 fertilizer we applied last Thursday will be kicking in full steam right about now, giving the greens a nice head start to healing. I wouldn't be surprised if they are close to 100% healed by the weekend!

                      

Putting green after we incorporated the sand topdressing

We will be rolling and mowing all week and we hope to have the green speeds back close to 10 on the stimpmetrer by Friday. Hopefully if the rain lets up for a couple of days we will have the roughs all caught up as well. Come on out and enjoy a round here at the Trace!

Stay tuned to the blog for a video of the steps involved in the aeration process. Coming soon!

2nd Summer Aeration July 2012

Lots of material harvested during the 1st round in June

We are getting ready to punch holes today but rest assured the coure will be open and the greens will be playable tomorrow the 18th of July. We are utilizing 3/8" hollow tines that will leave only a 1/4" hole. Couple the small tines with the topdressing and we will hardly even notice the holes when we finish. I can't express enough how beneficial it is to include aerification in our cutural practices but the positives GREATLY outweigh the negatives when we perform this.

Large 5/8" Holes from June aeration

We plan to having the greens back to 100% by this weekend and if the weather cooperates we should have some firm, smooth and very playable greens. We will also aerify the front nine tees and approaches this week and we'll finish the back nine next Monday. Stay tuned this week as I will be posting a more detailed account of this months aeration process. As always if you have any questions or comments don't be afraid to fire away!

Hardly any material to clean up after today's punch

1/4" holes punched today

I've included a link to an article from the USGA green section which talks about aerification and some other issues we deal with as Superintendents.

http://gsr.lib.msu.edu/2000s/2002/020113.pdf

TPC Eagle Trace Family Course Program

On Monday of this week we began installing the new Family Tees here at TPC Eagle Trace. Bryan, Derek and I decided to institute this program as a way to give juniors and beginning golfers a way to enjoy playing the game while taking a little of the "bite" out of the golf course. The goal of the program is to make the game enjoyable for every member of the family and players of every skill level. 

Step #1- Locate teeing area

The PGA Family Course Program is a joint effort of the PGA and U.S. Kids Golf with the aim to draw more people to the game of golf without having to play the full yardage of the golf course. This allows players the opportunity to learn the rules and etiquette of the game without the frustration or intimidation of long holes and forced carries.

Step #2- Make the hole

After we received the 36 plates (18 gold “Level 2” or long plates and 18 blue “Level 1” short plates) from U.S. Kids golf we went about installing them. First Bryan and Derek went out and painted the areas where we wanted to install the tees, keeping in mind these guidelines: the blue tees are 3000 yards and the gold will be playing to 4000 yards. Most of the tees ended up in the fairways for the par 4’s and 5’s with a few in the walking paths. The par threes feature the plates installed on the current teeing areas or drop zones and also a few in the walking paths. After the teeing areas were chosen my crew and I followed with the actual installation of the plates. We started by using our 7.5” sprinkler head trimmer to cut a hole over the mark that Bryan and Derek painted. We then cleared out the hole and added some green sand to level out the bottom of the hole. After adding the sand we used a rubber mallet to pound the PVC stake included with the plates into the sand/ soil in the hole. Finally we screwed the plate on the end of the stake and pounded it into its final resting place on the green sand making sure to keep it aligned with the direction of play. We installed the plates to be just below the surface grade, much like a sprinkler head, so we are able to mow the areas without hitting the plates. We will be edging them when we edge the sprinklers to keep them looking nice and maintain visibility.

Steps #3 & 4- Fill with green sand and pound in stake

     As of Tuesday, all of the plates are installed and ready to use. We feel that this is a great program to help get more people out enjoying the game. Take a minute and talk with the golf shop staff for more information about the program as well as scorecards for the new courses!

Final step- Screw on plate and align direction of play!

Here is a link to US Kids Golf with tons of great information:  http://www.uskidsgolf.com/eng/familyCourses/sectionLandingPage.cfm?cmSectionId=234