Post Issac/ General Course Update

Rough Mower Stuck in a Wet Area between 6/14

Well we survived Tropical Storm Isaac and all he brought with him. We ended up with over thirteen inches of rain when all was said and done and we had only a few branches, mostly smaller sized, which were cleaned up quickly. The worst part was actually after the storm passed and we received most of our rain late Sunday and early Monday. With all the rain, though, we missed two and a half days of mowing which set us back on our rough mowing as we are not able to mow the really wet areas but we are mowing everywhere we can with all three of our rough units. We were able to get the fairways, tees/ approaches and step cut mowed with minimal damage due to wet spots. I was pretty impressed with the drainage on the course overall and aside from some of the really wet areas we came out OK. You will continue to see some mess out there as we move forward from this huge weather event and we ask that you bear with us as we continue to get everything back in order.

Area on the front of 16 green with Bermudagrass Decline

New Shoots coming up along with the fertilizer wetting agent combo
on 18 green

Before the storm we we dealing with some spots on the front of 16 and the back left of 18. We noticed the spots looking like they were dry then the turf started to thin out. We discovered the irrigation heads were clogged and not applying water correctly. We corrected this problem but were left with areas struck with severe Bermudagrass Decline. We started a recovery program last week but the events of TS Isaac set us back a bit as it flushed all the nutrients and the fungicide we used from the greens, that and the lack of sunlight put us a little behind on our recovery.  We got right back to the recuperation of those areas on Tuesday. We applied Insignia fungicide to all the greens then applied granular fertilizer to the areas in need on Thursday. We will be applying fertilizer on a weekly basis to those areas in need, we well be rotating between a quick release fertilizer one week and an Urea based or slower release fertilizer the next week. We are currently on a 14 day rotation with the fungicides. We will continue to use this program until the spots have healed, we are hoping it will be no longer than a month. We have already been seeing new shoot growth in those areas and I have good faith our revitalization program will work out for us.

Area to the right of #2 fairway bunker right after being
brought down to step-cut height

Also some of you may have noticed we changed the area directly to the left of the fairway bunker on three. We decided to mow that area to step-cut height and will be softening the corner a little to make the fairway  a little wider there also. Our hope is to add a little more room in the landing zone while still keeping with the original fairway design. For those of you that don't know that fairway bunker has actually been reduced over the years, it originally extended to the right from where it ends now and there was hardly any grass between the bunker edge and the current fairway! A definite risk reward proposition when faced with that tee shot.

#2 Fairway bunker from behind

 Overall things are doing pretty good around the golf course, we hope to have all the rough caught up by the end of the holiday weekend and things will be ready for our aerification on Tuesday. This final aerification of the summer will be a deep, about 8" deep, punch with only a 1/2" diameter hole. This should lead to minimal disruption to the surface as we will be topdressing before hand and since we will be using a solid tine there will be no clean up aside from dragging the sand in from the top dressing. We will be open for business as usual on Wednesday and should be close to healed up by the weekend.

Areas on #18 Rough and Fairway that weren't able to be mowed
due to severe wetness!

I want to wish everyone a safe and fun holiday weekend and as always if you have any questions or comments feel free to contact me or flag me down on the course. Oh, and I almost forgot, good luck to all the college football watchers as the season kicks off tonight. I hope everyone's team comes out strong. I know I'm looking forward to my Spartan's coming out and taking it to Boise State on Friday! GO GREEN!

The Practice Tee

When we practice by keeping our divots in a straight line, like the Pro's do it, the recovery time is much quicker.

Tropical Storm Isaac Update

Rain coming down hard this morning

As of 0630 this morning we had received over 6" of rain resulting from TS Isaac, with 2.25" accumulating since then. The wind has really only been a small problem and we were able to complete a lot of limb clean up along the cart paths and around the club house. The course itself is impassable at this time and will remain so as long as the rain keeps falling like it has. We will have extensive bunker repairs to make tomorrow and will have to redo the ones we fixed today.

At 12 noon TPC Eagle Trace is under a flash flood watch until 2pm, a severe weather watch until 1pm and a wind advisory until 6pm. With any luck the rain will let up and the wind will help to dry us out.

Water almost up to the top of the bulkhead on #7

The club is planning on being open as usual tomorrow and I would plan on cart path only as far as cart rules go. Again I hope everyone stays safe and be sure to avoid low lying areas and any standing water that you don't know the depth of.

Here is a link to a weather blog talking about Tropical Storm Isaac:
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2208

Flooded bunker on #6

Tropical Storm Isaac Update

As of  the 8 am briefing from the National Hurricane Center in Miami Tropical Storm Isaac is currently located 95 miles ESE of Guantanamo, Cuba with sustained winds of 60mph and is moving NW at 14 mph. 

Currently Broward adn Miami-Dade counties are under a Tropical Storm warning, which means tropical storm conditions are expected within the next 36 hours.

A hurricane warning is in effect for the Florida Keys and the West Coast of Florida from Bonita Beach southward. A Hurricane Warning expects Hurricane conditions in the next 36 hours.

With that said, the Club will be closed all day tomorrow, Sunday 26 August and Monday 27 August and will reopen on Tuesday 28 August. We can expect showers and thunderstorms not directly connected with Isaac through today with Tropical Storm Conditions showing up early tomorrow afternoon. I would also like to point out that we will be on the "Dirty" or NE side of the storm which normally means a lot of rain and gusty but not sustained winds. The storm has also been meandering, which they all do, so we all have to be prepared for a path that brings it closer to us here in South Florida.

Stay tuned to the blog and our Facebook page for updates and please, be prepared and BE SAFE. Good luck everyone.

Here are some storm tracking links:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCPAT4+shtml/251149.shtml

http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at201209_5day.html

Tropical Storm Isaac

Some damage after a "normal" storm last weekend

As of 8 am this morning, we are tracking Tropical Storm Isaac, which is currently 225 miles South\Southeast of Puerto Rico. He is moving west @ 13mph and has sustained winds of 40mph.  The track of the storm shows Isaac to be just south of the Florida Keys around 2 AM Monday morning, with it staying west of mainland South Florida and then passing into the Gulf.  While the report is showing that we should not get a direct hit, we are still preparing as though it will hit us directly.  With that being said if it does pass into the gulf, South Florida will be in the NE quadrant of the storm, which (usually) means a lot of rain.

 

More damage from last weekend's storm

 Here at the Club we take all sorts of necessary precautions to prepare for and ultimately clean up after any storm that comes our way. From getting our irrigation computer and other electronics away from windows, which are covered with plastic, to pulling in flag sticks and tee markers from the course to avoid projectiles.  We follow a comprehensive plan to make sure we are prepared for the worst while expecting the best. One of the key procedures we perform is getting our machines inside the Honda Building next to our maintenance yard, or in the main storage building. We will also leave our front-end loader and back-ho parked in the middle of our yard away from the possibility of a tree falling on and disabling it.  By doing this we will be assured it is available for use after the storm as it is be our most important pieces of equipment for clean up. These practices will assure us to be in the best possible position to attack the golf course after a big storm. We will have everything ready well in advance of the storm, and our most important members of our team, the employees, need to be available to take care of their families also.  We normally let the personnel go 24 hours in advance and ask them to report roughly 24 hours after the storm passes.

 

We here in South Florida are not strangers to heavy storms, as we deal with heavy rain and thunderstorms on a weekly basis it seems like.  The duration and uncertainty lead to the dangers of these tropical events.  South Florida know the routine that comes with these storm scenarios and are all grateful for the technology that allows us to track these storms from the time they are born out over the Atlantic . The wonderful people at the National Hurricane Center have been on top of TS Isaac since the end of last week. I mention this because this is the 20-year anniversary of one of the most destructive storms of all time Hurricane Andrew and the ability to monitor these events has improved in leaps and bounds since Andrew.  

Minor bunker washout after last weekend's storm

 

Please take the time to keep an eye on the news and weather websites to be as prepared as possible and we will all be ready if Isaac decides to make a stop here in South Florida .  This blog and TPC Eagle Trace Facebook page will be updated continually throughout the weekend as the storm progresses.

 

Here is a link to the tracking page that we use here at the club.

http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at201209_5day.html

Course Conditions Update 15 Aug 2012

We had a stronger than average afternoon storm late yesterday. This left us with some pretty significant clean up arounfd the sourse this morning, especially in some of the back nine bunkers. I ask that everyone bear with us today as we will be working hard to get everything spiffed up and back to high level playing conditions.

 We are able to stay a 90 degrees for carts today, we just ask that everyone be aware of low areas as these will be the last areas to dry out. We appriciate your cooperation and I hope everyone has a great one!

 "There is an old saying: If a man comes home with sand in his cuffs and cockleburs in his pants, don't ask him what he shot."~ Sam Snead

This Should NEVER EVER happen to anyone.

Please take a moment and follow this link and take it to heart. Remember that not one golfer would dream of hitting into a group of players putting on a green. So why hit when ANYONE is on the green. The culprit was lucky the victim had a much bigger heart than he did.

http://grassgoober.blogspot.com/2012/08/this-career-shouldnt-be-this-dangerous.html?spref=tw&m=1

"Bees" in #6 Green Side Bunker

Some of you may have noticed the "bees" inhabiting the green side bunker on #6. I know there have been reports of their presence. As it stand these are actually a species of wasp known as Sphecius or Cicada Killer Wasps. These wasps are know as solitary or digger wasps and are quite beneficial as they prey on other insects like cicadas. They very rarely sting humans as the males are the aggressors of the species and don't have stingers. The females don't normally sting unless they are handled roughly. These wasps are much more interested in killing their prey. I have been in the bunker multiple times this week, as someone with allergies this was a scary scenario let me tell you, and not one wasp came close to me. They actually scattered until i left the bunker. I know it might look a little intimidating to see them flying around but it is OK to enter the bunker and play your shot. They should only be around for a month/ month and a half.

I have included a couple links that deal with these wasps for you to read at your leisure. Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions you may have. Happy golfing!

http://www.usga.org/course_care/regional_updates/regional_reports/midatlantic/Hot-Tips-For-This-Summer---July-2011/

http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/beneficial/cicada_killers.htm