Course Conditions

Course Improvement

 

– Cleaning up area on 7 bridge for better air movement and visibility.

June 6-17, 2022

The golf maintenance team is having a productive closure. Thanks to the combination of a great team and mother nature cooperating.

Greens

– Greens were first aerified with a 5/8th hollow coring tine and the plugs were removed from the greens by the team with shovels

– Coring greens is like lowering your cholesterol when it is high. It allows us to remove the organic build up on the greens and replace it with new sand. Just like with cholesterol you need some organic matter but too much can cause issues. We need some organic matter to help hold water but too much can cause poor drainage and puffy putting surface.

– Greens were then blown and washed clean to make ensure all the old material is removed and the new clean sand can completely fill the holes

– Next, greens were heavily topdressed and the sand was worked in by a drag mat

– Then, greens were gradened in 2 directions and the channels that they cut into the greens are filled with sand. We are continuing to incorporate as much sand into to the profile to give us smooth putting greens throughout the year.

– This is a very labor intensive process. The team does all the greens at a depth of 1 3/4″ and then we go back through and do the greens again a 1″ depth.

– After each directions greens are blown clean.

–  Final product. This process takes 7 9.5 hour work days to complete.

– We continue to verticut and heavy topdress each week. On Tuesday, June 21 the greens will receive Dryject. A process that injects sand into soil profile.

 

Tees/Approaches

– Tees and approaches were first circle cut and gradened

– Then, they were blown clean aerified, topdressed and dragged.

– The team is continuing to weekly verticut and topdress tees and approaches

 

Fairways

– Fairways were circle mowed, verticut, scalped, aerified, blown, and scalped again.

– The goal is to remove as much thatch and organic matter and to promote new growth

 – The fairways were cleaned off and scalped

– Then, fairways were aerified, cleaned, and scalped again.

– These practices are the reason we have such good playing good conditions throughout the year. Doing this process prevents soft and puffy playing surfaces

May 23, 2022

With Avila’s busier golf season coming to a close we have started carrying out some of our summer practices.

 

– Greens were double verticut and a mow followed it to clean up the clipping and debris.

–  Verticut blades cut the service with a vertical blade instead of a horizontal blade like used when mowing

– With warmer weather the turf is aggressively growing and that causes a build up of excessive leaf material

– Verticutting allows us to remove that excessive leaf material. Excessive leaf material can cause greens to be puffy and spongy

– Also, cutting laterally helps to promote the turf to grow upright and results in a smooth putting surface

– Next, the greens received a topdressing and a drag to help work the sand into the canopy. 

– With the increase in growth we have increased our topdressing rates. Topdressing rates should match the plants growth rate. In the winter time when the grass is not regularly growing we do a very light topdressing.

– Fairways were mowed in a circle pattern to remove excessive plant material and to cut the turf at a different angle.

– This is a long process and takes about 8 hours to mow all the fairways.

– During the busy season we tend to mow in the same 3 directions every week. The circle cut allows us to cut the leaf blade at a different angle. This leads to  smoother more consistent fairways

– If the golf maintenance team mowed in our regular mowing pattern we would not of picked up this much grass.

– As you can see areas with excessive turf has light scalping but this will heal and will not be as puffy.

–  These are procedures that we will do weekly through the summer months.

April 11-14, 2022

Avila was honored to be selected to host the 61st Florida Senior Amateur Championship.

– The golf maintenance team did a great job of setting up the golf course. The team rose to the accession and exceeded expectations.

– The golf maintenance team mowed all shortgrass, raked bunkers, course set, and rolled greens every morning and it was a tall task but the team was able to get it done every day before the event went off.

– Great article about the event. 

https://www.fsga.org/News/Details/2499

Summer Closure Dates: June 6-30 July 17-25 August 15-22

Week of March 21, 2022

The golf maintenance team continues to strive to improve the playing conditions at Avila everyday.

This week one of the main focuses was on edging greens and pulling runners on the edge of the putting greens. Greens are edged every other week.   

Edging greens helps stop the turf from the collars from encroaching onto the greens.

After the greens are edged we send a team out to pull little runners that have made it onto the greens. 

Pulling these runners while they are small prevents the greens from having large contamination spots like in the picture below. Since January 1st the golf maintenance team has spent 144 hours pulling runners. that equates to 6 24 hour days.

 

Also, this week the team gave the greens its monthly fertilizer application and the hedge on 5 was pruned to allow for more sunlight and air flow to move through the area.

You will notice yellow lines on the edges of some of the approaches and fairways. We are working to tighten up the transition areas between the approaches and collars. Also, we are working to get the irrigation heads in the rough to prevent mowers from being damaged and they are less like to be an issue with play. 

Monday, March 14, 2022

The golf course was closed this past Monday and the maintenance team took advantage of it!

Greens were needle tined to help relieve compaction and to allow the greens to breath.

The team worked on plugging contamination on 6 green. 6 Green is our worst green for contamination.

 

Above is a picture of contamination. As you can see it has longer leaf blade and has a blue tone to it. This is Celebration Bermudagrass which is on our collars and on other areas of the golf course. This could of been brought onto the green from aerifiction  or multiple other ways. Greens are edged every other week to help prevent the collar turf from over taking the Champion turf. 

 

Not to be confused with offtypes. The patches in the pictures above are of offtypes. Offtypes are a genetic flaw that Champion Bermudagrass produces and studies have shown that they tend to be more noticeable when the turf is 6+ years old. You are not able to plug or spray the offtype out because it is produced from the Champion turf.

Also on Monday, the fairways, tees, approaches, collars, and rough mowing heights were lowered and mowed. This will allow us  remove some of the excess grass we have accumulated over the winter.

Also, the team edged bunkers, pulled runners in bunkers, mowed bunker faces, fertilized and sprayed greens. It was a productive Monday!

 

Monday, February 28, 2022

Greens were needle tined to help relieve compaction and to allow the greens to breath. 

 

Next, greens received a light topdressing of sand to help fill voids and to aid in Avila having smooth putting surfaces

 

Tees, fairways, and rough were fertilized with a product that was coated with a pre-emergent herbicide to prevent weeds from appearing with the warmer weather.

Prior to the fertilizer our yearly Topchoice application was applied to prevent a mole cricket outbreak. We will still spot treat throughout the year but this application prevents the course from having a large infestation.