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March 6th - 10th
We have a lot going on this week starting with the wall to wall spring fertilizer application to Cypress Links. This blend of 15-0-15 also contains a pre emergent herbicide. We will only be closed on Monday and will finish the application in the mornings throughout the remainder of the week. We will be topdressing the greens on King's Dunes followed by a solid tine aerification to help encourage root growth and improve gas exchange in the soil. We will begin our Chipco Choice application for Mole Cricket and Fire Ant control to the tees and fairways on Cypress and King's this week. Our landscape crew will continue trimming palms and oak trees at the tennis facility and our local rental company will be dropping off a stump grinder on Tuesday to begin removal of the leftover stumps from September's hurricane damage. Of course we still have all our normal mowing to perform this week as well.

Brian Lentz,
Director of Agronomy
Contact Information

Current Update
- April 8th, 2024
  We continue to see poor rooting on some of the putting surfaces on King's Dunes with #8 green being the worst. The spiking we performed this morning will help to encourage additional rooting and we are seeing some fresh new roots emerging from the plants. We will be making some additional treatments to several of the greens this week to help encourage additional rooting and recovery.
  Cart traffic on both Royal and King's is creating some challenges at the exit and entry points of the cart paths. We ask your help in trying to drive off the beaten path and use areas that have been less impacted by your fellow players. Our staff will continue to move and add ropes as needed but it's never enough when play levels are this high. In the coming weeks we will be performing some slice aerification in the heavily impacted areas on King's Dunes.
  
  April 2nd, 2024
  The crew made some good progress yesterday on Royal Lakes completing the aerification to all putting greens, and holes 1-14. In addition we completed the mole cricket insecticide application to the driving range and sprayed the range with pre and post emergent herbicides. This aerification we are using smaller 1/4" tines which will heal quickly, within 5 to 7 days. These tines are used to keep the surfaces playable and provide the necessary venting in the soil profile to provide the best growing conditions. We will be doing these types of aerifications throughout the summer rather than our typical 5/8" coring tines which can take weeks to heal. We can only do this knowing we will be renovating the greens on King's and Royal within the next few years. These smaller tines are good for the short term but will not provide the proper organic removal and sand replacement the larger tines provide. The greens will be a little sandy when we reopen on Wednesday but they will be in playable condition.
  
  March 26th, 2024
    We continue to see a few greens struggling such as King's Dunes #5, the spiking and additional nutrient application this week should help a little but we still need some consistent warm weather to help the plant push deeper roots. We are making a granular fertilizer application to the greens on Royal Lakes this morning to help give the greens a boost prior to the small tine aerification scheduled next week.
  After 20 years at the bottom of the lake our water feature pump on King's Dunes 15 has finally given up. We will attempt to pull the unit from the water and get a replacement ordered but it may prove difficult to remove after settling into the lake bottom for that many years.
  We continue to use sod that would have been disposed of from the Cypress renovation for projects on King's Dunes. We recently filled and sodded a small portion of the lake bank on #2 and have several other areas on the list for the coming weeks.
  Lastly, there was a fish kill on the lake near #6 green on King's Dunes. This was caused from the lack of oxygen in the water after the lake had flipped due to the rain over the weekend. This is a common occurrence in Florida during the Spring and Fall, we will continue the clean up for the remainder of the week.
  
  March 13th, 2024
  We are starting to see extreme stress on some of the greens throughout the property, especially on the front 9 of King's Dunes. We will be increasing mowing heights, spiking the surfaces, increasing nutrient applications and applying additional fungicide and nematicides to encourage additional growth and recovery. We will also raise mowing heights to help reduce stress and will remain at the higher height until the greens respond. Royal Lakes is receiving some additional nutrient applications and will receive an additional fungicide treatment early next week.
  
  February 29th, 2024
  We took advantage of having King's Dunes closed on Tuesday for the cart path relocation on hole 4. The fertilizer project went smoothly and continues a few holes per day throughout the remainder of the week. The roughs were treated with pre-emergent herbicide with 60% completed as of late Wednesday. The pencil tine aerification went smoothly, we performed some hand watering afterwards and it is amazing how quickly the water moves into the soil after the aerification. We continue to treat Royal Lakes greens in recovery mode and they received a granular fertilizer application this week along with a biological soil treatment to promote healthy turf and increase rooting. This is the 2nd application of this product, we have a test plot between 2 and 7 green where we cover the turf during each application so we can determine if the product is performing up to our expectations.
  
  February 16th, 2024
  We started our pre emergent weed control application to Royal Lakes this week starting with the fairways. With being open 7 days a week now it will take several weeks to complete the entire course. We will be delayed on treating King's Dunes due to the contaminated sprayer at CCW from the roundup we are spraying on the fairways and tees. Once the first application of roundup is complete we will be able to clean the sprayer and use it on King's Dunes. We will only treat the roughs on Cypress with this pre emergent since the tees and fairways will be re-grassed and this herbicide would prevent good establishment. Overall, the renovation project is going smoothly although we have some staff working on the renovation we have plenty to continue caring for King's Dunes, it helps that growth levels are extremely low this time of year. Cypress roughs are getting scalped down and are now at a 1 inch mowing height, this turns the turf brown but once we reach our final height of 3/4" the turf should start greening up again. The fairways on Cypress have been sprayed with roundup and are starting to die back, this is in preparation for the re-grassing.
  
  February 9th, 2024
  Here are a few updates outside of the Cypress renovation. We discovered a small oil leak on one of our fairway mowers but not before we mowed all of King's Dunes #8 Fairway, thankfully it was a small leak and damage will be minimal but will be evident across the fairway. We are taking advantage of having some Tif Eagle sod available and repairing some weak areas on a few greens at Royal Lakes. We will be doing the same on a few spots on King's Dunes in the coming weeks. We are also using some of the rough cut sod from Cypress to make repairs to several areas on King's Dunes. We will do more when we start removing sod for the putting green expansion. Greens on both King's and Royal were sprayed with fungicide and nutrients and Royal received an additional nutrient spray application on Friday. Our first week of the altered range schedule worked well with CCE closing at 11:00am on Monday and CCW at 11:00am on Thursday. This gives the cart staff time to clean pick the range and the golf maintenance staff to mow and topdress divots.
  
  February 1st, 2024
  With both Royal and King's now open on Mondays we will need to be a little creative in order to perform routine maintenance on the putting surfaces. This may include blocking off some afternoon tee times, starting play off #10 tee, sanding greens ahead of play or even closing one of the courses in the afternoon from time to time. Any closures or blocked tee times will be scheduled well in advance but starting on #10 tee may be something scheduled only days prior, these will usually only occur on a Monday or Tuesday in order to work on 9 holes well ahead of play two days in a row.
  We have scheduled King's Dunes for a closure on February 27th in order to re-route the cart path on #4 tee and remove some of the oak trees along the driving range tee. The new path on #2 will be poured on the 28th but we can easily route carts around this project area while work on the path is completed.
  
  January 25th, 2024
  We are continuing to follow the recommendations from the USGA to improve the health of the greens throughout Royal Lakes. Last Monday the greens were topdressed and double spiked. Following the USGA recommendations we have increase our fungicide application intervals and have made two applications last week and we have a third scheduled for today. We will continue to add nutrients in our spray mixes rather than adding granular fertilizer to the greens as the liquid nutrients are absorbed more quickly by the plant and will produce a quicker response. In addition to these recommendations the USGA also recommends to raise the mowing heights to help relieve stress to the plant. We have raised mowers from .120" to .135" and may go to .140" if we do not see the expected response by next week. We will also perform one more light topdressing on Monday the 29th.
  
  USGA Regional Update on EL Nino
  
  January 15th, 2024
  We are currently fighting a mole going across the green on King's Dunes #9. This is one of those odd situations where the mole just appeared on the putting surface. There were no visible signs of activity surrounding the green prior to him popping up in the middle. The mole has worked his way across more than 30 feet of the green. We have put out traps and will be monitoring constantly to remove him from the green.
  
  We have fielded some questions regarding the condition of the greens at Royal Lakes recently. We are currently experiencing the absolute worst growing conditions mother nature can throw at us. We have been proactive knowing this weather was coming by applying additional fungicides and increasing our effort to aerify the putting surfaces. We will be making two additional fungicide treatments this week and we will be planning on spiking and topdressing the greens next Monday. If these efforts do not improve the conditions we will need to raise mowing heights in order to relieve the weather related stress on the turf.
  
  January 10th, 2024
  This is just about the worst growing conditions we can experience, with cool, cloudy and wet soil but our fungicide program is holding up well for now. We have another fungicide application planned for next week which will cover the putting surfaces for up to 14 days. Growth is at a minimum so ballmarks and old cup plugs are slow to heal and evident on the putting surfaces. We are starting to count the days until the closure of Cypress Links which is only a few weeks away. The contractors will be out next week driving the course and finalizing their plans for the project, we will begin weekly planning meetings at the end of the month and continue throughout the project.
  
  January 4th, 2024
  We've managed to stay ahead of the major disease pressure caused by the wet, cooler cloudy weather but we have seen a few breakthroughs on a few putting surfaces. We will be making additional fungicide applications today and tomorrow for additional protection, concentrating on soil and root protection. Once we get through January we should be back to normal conditions with much less pressure from the formation of diseases on the greens.
  We are making strides in the construction of new nesting boxes for Purple Martins with two of the five planned boxes completed. These two will replace the two sites at Royal Lakes since those boxes are beyond repair. We will stain and have them replaced by mid-month just in time for the arrival of the Purple Martins in late January.
  
  December 27th, 2023
  We've been making great progress refinishing the wood accessories at CCW. The bag stands have been completed and we are now working on the benches and trash cans. Our pigment spray program has been going well over the past few months but the recent rains and holiday have put a hold on some spraying. We will continue our biweekly applications after the new year.
  The markings on the cart path along King's Dunes #4 show the property line which clearly indicates our cart path is on the homeowner's property. In the coming weeks we will be moving the path closer to the tees so the entire path is on country club property.
  
  December 14th, 2023
  Our new TruPin system has been working well and just as members started to trust the yardages the system decided to start having issues. Tekgps is working on the issue and have posted the following notification on their website. Hopefully, the issue will be resolved quickly and our members regain trust in the yardages posted on the screens.
  
  December 12th, 2023
  Where are all the bag stands? Our maintenance staff will be removing 4 bags stands at a time at CCW in order to refinish them. This time of year when the turf finally slows down we are able to move resources to other projects and this is one we've been wanting to do for some time now. We should be able to complete all the bag stand before the holiday, we will then begin working on the benches and trash cans.
  The pencil tine aerification went smoothly yesterday at Royal Lakes with only a few practice greens remaining which we will attempt to complete today. We will start our next round on the 18th with the greens on Cypress Links, this will be the last one for Cypress before we tear out the turf in mid February.
  
  December 7th, 2023
  We often hear newer isn't always better and that was confirmed this morning when one of our newer fairway mowers developed a hydraulic leak on King's Dunes. The operator discovered it on hole 15 but it was obviously leaking well before then. Thankfully, it wasn't a steady stream of fluid but the drips of oil will still be evident across several fairways. We have contacted the local distributor and they will pick up the unit for repairs.
  
  November 27th, 2023
  We accomplished a lot on Monday, even with some equipment failures. The greens on Cypress Links were all pencil-tine aerified, the greens on King's Dunes were verticut and topdressed, the greens on Royal Lakes were also topdressed, all par 3 tees at CCW were fertilized with an 11-0-18 blend and the fairways on Cypress Links were sprayed with pigment and fertilizer.
  We also had a laser level demo which is why the black tee on Cypress hole 12 is full of sand. We will be using this machine to level the new tee on #2 later in the week. We first need to knock down the majority of the mounding with our frontend loader to rough shape the tee. We will then setup the laser and use this machine to auto level the teeing surface.
  Laser leveling is complete, we still have some work to do on the surrounding slopes but it shouldn't take long and we can start planting within a week or two.
  
  November 20th, 2023
  We've made some changes to some of the GPS fences on Cypress Links and will do so on the other two courses shortly. We have created a small fence at the beginning of the fairway to encourage players to drive further down the rough to enter the fairway. This will help keep the start of the fairways from getting worn out from constant cart traffic. We will be rotating several of these areas on and off over a schedule of 4 to 5 days. We will still shut down the entire fairway on several holes per course as needed to give them a break from the increased traffic.
  Photo Below:
  The start of the fairway is fenced off to encourage players to drive further down the rough before entering the fairway.
  
  November 17th, 2023
  This past week we have been having some mower issues on Cypress Links that our mechanics just haven't resolved. This has resulted in some greens getting scalped from one edge of a mower head. They have checked the usual issues that can cause this type of uneven cut but we still see issues. We will go through the mowers again this weekend and see if we can resolve the uneven cut on the putting surfaces. We will plan on doing a topdressing on Cypress next Monday which usually helps to tighten up the canopy.
  
  November 15th, 2023
  I can't remember the last time we sent the crew home in the afternoon due to rain but we were eager to do so this afternoon. We couldn't have ordered rain to fall any better than it did this afternoon, slow and steady. A great soaking for the work we performed a few days ago, great moisture for the overseeding and a good slow watering for the fertilizer we spread on Cypress Links. We welcome any rain at this point, this is the longest drought we've experienced over the history of the club.
  
  November 7th, 2023
  This is typically the time of year we overseed the range tees and surrounding practice areas all of which were started yesterday. The seeding project went smoothly at CCE and all areas at that facility were completed. At CCW the range tees were completed but the areas around the practice greens were not, we should be able to complete those areas on the 13th, we should see some new grass growing by the end of the month.
  With the lack of rain over the past two months and the increase in player traffic we are starting to see significant wear on most fairways and the access points to and from the cart paths. In order to help reduce some traffic wear we will begin turning on some of the fairway fences to restrict carts to rough only. This will occur on 1 or two holes per course and will rotate as needed to improve playing conditions in the fairways.
  
  November 1st, 2023
  TruPin goes live !!
  Our staff has been working out a few bugs over the past week and we're ready to go live providing members with accurate yardage to the pin from the Pace screen on your carts. Our staff will mark each pin location as they work their way around the course as well as marking all par 3 tee locations providing live accurate readings to all players. This should enhance everyone's playing experience and perhaps improve pace of play. So put away those range finders and let TruPin provide you with an accurate yardage on a daily basis.
  
  October 27th, 2023
  Well we always know it's just a matter of time before we experience another irrigation mainline break on Cypress Links and this one occurred on Wednesday afternoon just as staff were leaving for the day. Thankfully, the pump station shut down due to low pressure and staff isolated the leak to allow a normal irrigation cycle to run that night. Our staff knocked out the repairs first thing Thursday morning and we were back in normal operation by early afternoon.
  
  October 13th, 2023
  We will be receiving our 3 tons of Ryegrass seed next week to overseed our range tees and surrounding turf. Our current plans are to overseed these areas on November 6th if the weather is conducive. We apologize in advance, we will need to close the range at Royal Lakes on the 6th in order to complete this process. If we do not finish on the 6th we will finish up the following Monday and simply close off the areas we need access to at that time. Since we have the mats at the CCW range we will be moving to them for two weeks, Nov 7th through Nov 16th to allow seed establishment. The tees will be hairy once the seed begins to germinate and for several week following but we will still have a good hitting surface. Once the seed is established we encourage all members to follow the proper divot patterns to ensure a speedy recovery and proper hitting conditions throughout the winter.
  
  
  October 5th, 2023
  Over the past few weeks we've made some good progress in our weed control efforts throughout the property. Many areas were boom sprayed with two different herbicides and we will continue our efforts with our spot spray mixes until we achieve acceptable weed control. The recovery on the putting surfaces is progressing well, we are seeing new shoot and root growth in the weak areas and canopy coverage is improving. We will begin to lower mowing heights over the next several weeks. The wetland trimming is almost complete on Cypress Links with the area on hole #11 remaining, this was contracted out allowing our staff to concentrate on the playing surfaces.
  We discovered some electrical power issues running to the irrigation box on King's Dunes #7 and have isolated it to an area between 7 and the fairway bunker on 8. Thankfully, it's only in one leg of the 220v system so we are able to convert the box to 110V to keep it operational until we track down the issue and make repairs.
  
  September 20th, 2023
  We continue to monitor the weak areas on the putting surfaces that were affected by the root rot several weeks ago. Recovery is moving along nicely and we will continue our additional fertilizer and fungicide applications to continue their recovery. Some of the worst holes we will be moving the pin locations outside of the daily pin zone to make sure pins are located in appropriate areas on the putting surface.
  The sod we ordered for the back of the driving range tees at CCW was cancelled by the supplier so we are using our nursery on #10 of Cypress for our sod needs. We have stepped up our efforts to control Tropical Signalgrass throughout the property using a product called Manuscript. This product is most affective in the fall and spring, we will continue our hand spray treatments as well using other products until the weeds are back under control.
  We made an additional fertilizer to the tees on King's Dunes using a slow release blend of 8-2-10, we also treated any weak areas in the roughs as we made our way around the course.
  
  September 12th, 2023
  Even the best plans sometimes find a way to work against us. Our Aerification on King's Dunes was quickly halted when the electric clutch blew apart on one of the aerifiers, then the second aerifier started acting up as well, only allowing us to finish through 9 green. We did manage to topdress all 18 holes and will attempt to finish punching 10-18 next Monday if the equipment cooperates. We did manage to start our fertilizer application on Cypress Links and make a growth regulator application to the fairways on King's Dunes. The greens on Cypress were treated with a second fungicide application to help the greens recover from the root rot we experienced after the hurricane came through. These greens are starting to put out new growth and we will be plugging some of the hardest hit areas mainly on 3 and 4. We anticipate 3 to 4 weeks to recover if we continue to push these greens with fertilizer and fungicides.
  
  September 6th, 2023
  We are seeing extreme root rot conditions on the putting surfaces of Cypress Links due to the failure of a fungicide lasting through the recent rains. We expected to get a good 7 to 10 days protection from the fungicide and that did not happen. We have since made curative applications and will make another one on Friday. We will be raising mowing heights and making an additional granular fertilizer application to encourage more growth once the root rot subsides. This is one of the reasons we are renovating the putting surfaces next year, the organic matter in the upper 6 inches of soil simply holds too much moisture and incubates these types of diseases this time of year. We will be pushing recovery of these greens for the next 3 to 4 weeks so green speeds will remain slow during this time period.
  The Sandhill Cranes have been doing damage on several holes of King's Dunes where they actually dig into the putting surfaces to work out their frustrations. Below is a photo taken from this morning on #16
  
  August 28th, 2023
  We are still in the recovery stage from the recent aerifications on King's Dunes especially on the tees and fairways. The recent fertilizer application should help speed the recovery in these areas. We also recently made a growth regulator and herbicide application to the fairways which has resulted in some slight tip burn. The tire track from the sprayer are the worst but all should mow off by the start of next week. The growth regulator will help us keep up with mowing now that both CCW courses are open. We will be making an application in the roughs once the storm passes through.
  Below: tip burn seen on the fairways, tire tracks from the sprayer stand out.
  
  August 22nd, 2023
  The August heat can often bring on root health issues on the putting surfaces, we combat this in several ways including the use of additional fungicides and in some cases increased mowing heights. The expansion areas on Royal Lakes are stressing so mowing heights have been raised and we have increased nutrient applications to encourage recovery in these areas. We will be performing a ninja tine aerification on all greens at Royal Lakes on Monday 8/28 then on Cypress Links on 9/4. This is the smallest tine made and the holes are healed over within a few days of the process, the compaction relief and open air channels created help to enhance the turf health. We will be performing this process on a 4 to 6 week rotation for the remainder of the year.
  The broken concrete near the shelter on #10 of King's Dunes is getting replaced by an outside contractor. They should have the area cleared and prepared by the end of day Wednesday and ready for a concrete pour on Thursday.
  
  August 17th, 2023 - Recovery Mode
  We're moving along nicely on King's Dunes, if the rain holds off today we will be able to complete the tee aerification and 80% of the fairway aerification. The topdressing on the putting surfaces was completed on Tuesday and we are still planning on doing the smaller core aerification next Monday to complete the green's aerification. We are seeing some stressed areas on the putting surfaces of King's Dunes, in fact there are several areas where we've seen significant loss of turf, several areas will be plugged next week to encourage a speedy recovery. We will be putting the greens on King's Dunes in recovery mode which means higher mowing heights and increased fertilizer applications at least until we see conditions return to normal. These greens will be slower when we re-open on September 5th. Once we see sufficient recovery we will return to our normal maintenance practices.
  
  August 7th, 2023
  We had a productive day today, greens 1-10 on King's were aerified, all fairways on King's Dunes were sprayed with growth regulator and all fairways on Cypress were mowed and fertilized using our slow release 8-2-10 blend.
  Every year we fight with catching moles and it's amazing just how many we catch every month and remove from the property, usually alive. Every now and then one get's past us and starts digging through a green which happened over the weekend on 12 of Cypress. We have been trying to catch this one for weeks but our professional mole hunter is on vacation, (no kidding, we really have a mole whisperer). We've have set traps again to try and catch him and will check on it first thing in the morning and throughout the day until he's captured. Once we catch him we will work on repairing the putting surface.
  
  July 24th, 2023
  The results of our growth regulator applications on King's Dunes last week are starting to show, tees and fairways are starting to tighten up and clipping volume is decreasing. We will begin our application to the fairways on Cypress Links this week and will spray roughs with a product called Plateau, this acts as a growth regulator and weed control but will cause the roughs to go slightly off color for several weeks.
  Our efforts to control the Zoysiagrass growing in 17 and 18 fairway of Cypress Links is going well with over 80% control already achieved. We will continue our herbicide applications every 7 to 10 days until we achieve maximum control. We will also make additional fertilizer applications to encourage the Bermudagrass to recover in these areas.
  We removed a dead palm in front of the clubhouse on Monday, they were also supposed to stump grind it and the palm in the circle by the pro shop but due to equipment issues the stump grinding will need to be rescheduled.
  
  Below: Verticutting on Cypress Links #10 Green
  
  
  Verticutting,
  Recently there have been a lot of questions about verticutting and why we are performing this practice outside of our summer course closures. Verticutting is and always has been an on-going process in our maintenance program. We make adjustments throughout the year depending on the needs and conditions of the turf. The amount of active turf growth determines the aggressiveness and frequency of the verticutting typically at a minimum of every two weeks. During the summer closures we try to verticut more aggressively and more often, usually prior to the aerification and a few times after the topdressing. Blades are set up to ⅛” below the surface of the green to pull more of the horizontal growth and stems from the canopy. In comparison, during the winter months we will still maintain the minimum two week frequency but adjustments are made to barely scratch the surface of the turf which is often hardly noticeable. This summer we have been keeping our mowing heights much lower than any previous year, .105” vs .125” to .130” which increases the need for more aggressive verticutting. A similar but less aggressive process called grooming is also used on a daily basis. Groomers are typically set at 60% of the mowing height with blades spaced much tighter than a verticutter. Groomers are part of the triplex mower’s cutting units and can be easily turned on and off depending on the needs of the turf. They are typically turned off after topdressing and following a fertilizer application. Both processes are part of any maintenance program and used to maintain putting greens throughout Florida and the southeast.
  
  July 11th, 2023
  We have fielded several questions on why Cypress Links is still scheduled to be closed for three weeks if we are doing a renovation next year. We still need to maintain the course to ensure performance until we shut it down in February. Here is a list of items we will be attending to during the closure.
  -Greens will receive a double 1/4" aerification, much small tines and less disruptive, should be fully healed by the time we re-open.
  -Fairways will be double core aerified and sliced, this process takes at least two weeks to complete with good weather.
  -Tees will be scalped, mowed from .600" down to .250", this reduces the amount of stems along the surface and provides a better playing surface.
  -Bunkers will be edged, which is done during each closure.
  -Sprinklers and drains will be edged, this is typically difficult to do when players are on the course.
  -Cart paths along tees and greens will be edged.
  -A wall to wall spray application is scheduled to apply growth regulator.
  -A contractor is scheduled to locate the cleanout on each green, he will then run a high-pressure hose down each before running a camera. This will confirm the function and condition of the drainage system on each green. If issues are discovered, we can then address them during the renovation.
  -If staffing levels permit we will remove some trees that are on our removal list.
  
  July 6th, 2023
  We are moving along nicely with the aerifications on Royal Lakes, greens have been completed, tees will be done by the end of the week and fairways will be completed by Monday with perhaps a little cleanup to complete later next week.
  Fertilization issue on some of King's Dunes Greens; We had some trouble with our greens fertilizer spreader this morning causing an uneven and over application to the greens on 1-7 before the issue was detected. We will make the necessary repairs and complete the remainder of the greens. We shouldn't see any burn from this mishap but we will see some excessive uneven growth on these greens for the next 2 to 3 weeks.
  
  July 3rd, 2023
  Although we are extremely dry in some areas due to the lack of rain I think everyone can agree the courses are more enjoyable. We will increase our nutrient applications in any of the weak areas once the regular rains return to encourage some additional recovery growth.
  Over the last month we have been trying to kill out the Zoysia grass growing in 17 and 18 fairways of Cypress Links. The product we are using is not designed to remove the Zoysia but it is a herbicide that can damage it with consecutive applications. We are on a 10 to 14 day application schedule and we are seeing some good results. We will continue these applications until we reach the control level we are targeting. The herbicide turns the weeds white which really makes the Zoysia stand out when looking at the fairway.
  
  
  
  June 15th, 2023
  The shutdown of King's Dunes is progressing smoothly with greens and fairways completed as of Monday. We also contracted the mulcher to remove more pepper trees on 5, 14 and 18. The woods line on the right side of hole 5 has been pushed back allowing more forgiveness for errant shots off the tee. The area cleared on 14 tee is extremely large, later this summer we will look at planting some additional trees in the area.
  With other projects occurring on King's and the extreme dry weather we have been seeing we have decided to hold off on the tee aerification until we see some rainfall to help with moisture levels. We just do not have the watering capacity to keep the tees moist if we open them up with an aerification in these conditions.
  
  June 11th, 2023
  The first week of the aerification process on King's Dunes was fairly smooth with only a scheduling issue with our sweeper rental to clean the plugs from the putting surfaces. We had the greens completed by late Thursday afternoon. The fairway slicing was completed by Friday and we may go back out next week to hit some high traffic areas again to help reduce stress and increase root growth. We will move to the tee aerification starting later this week using the 5/8" coring tines.
  
  May 16th, 2023
  Our aerification efforts are off to a good start on Cypress with all greens punched by 3:00pm this afternoon. Our sweepers have arrived so we can begin the cleanup process around 9:00am on Wednesday. The fairway slicing has begun and holes 1-6 are complete, we will still need to go back and hit the high traffic areas once all 18 fairways are done. On Monday we sprayed all of CL fairways with a herbicide recommended by the USGA which acts as a growth regulator and weed control. They will go off color for a few weeks but they should start greening up about the time we reopen and move the operation to King's Dunes.
  We've started to prepare several areas for regrassing with Bermudagrass the first of which is on 12 of Cypress this area is ready to go and will be sprigged within the next week. The two other areas are still getting applications of roundup, one 9 KD and another on 10 KD. All these areas were Bahia grass which has turned into a weed patch causing seeds to spread into the playable turf. We will continue to work on similar areas throughout the summer if irrigation already exists to help establish new turf.
  
  Below: 1/4" aerification on the right and 5/8" aerification on the left. Bottom: Up close look at 5/8 aerification, the sand covers most of the 1/4" holes. Greens will be topdressed on Thursday.
  
  
  
  
  
  April 27th, 2023
  Preparations for next week's aerification of Royal Lakes are complete, all aerifiers have been fitted with the proper tine setup and 50 tons of sand have been delivered. We are hopeful for a smooth operation starting with a 1/4" core aerification followed by a 5/8" core aerification and a heavy topdressing. The fairways will be aerified using our slicer similar to what we performed on King's last month.
  Once again our irrigation system shut down in the middle of the cycle at CCW due to a mainline blow-out, this time just prior to the fairway on Cypress #3. Our staff managed to complete the repair by the end of the day and the system was back up and running that night. We will work on turf repairs next week so the area will remain roped off.
  
  
  April 17th, 2023
  It was great to come to work this morning and see the approaching storms to bring us some much needed rain. With over an inch falling this morning it made conditions too wet for us to get much work done so most of the staff took the remainder of the day off.
  We have been seeing some stress on Cypress Links greens with some turf loss in a few areas. The rains along with some TLC from our staff should get them grown in and recovered over the next few weeks. We tend to spoon feed the greens even when they really need a good kick from a full rate of nitrogen. If we receive any additional stress we can quickly lose turf which is what we are seeing now. I've always tried to balance the health of the greens and the putting speeds but this year it was apparent speeds were the main concern of the members. We will do our best to push these areas to recover as quickly as possible.
  
  April 12th, 2023
  The greens and fairways on King's Dunes are responding well to our recent aerification and fertilization. Green speeds will be slower than target for a week or two but we will work on getting them back to our normal range for this time of year as quickly as possible. We fertilized the fairways on Royal Lakes on Monday and with the expected rain this afternoon we should see a good response from the turf. We are getting our aerification equipment ready for the shutdown of Royal on May 1st, we will be performing a 1/4" coring tine followed by a 5/8" core on all putting surfaces. This will take several weeks to completely heal and return to normal playing conditions.
  On Monday we performed a double 1/8" aerification on the putting green and the small pitching green at CCW. We didn't like the conditions we were seeing on the putting green and knew it couldn't wait until the closure of Cypress in June for an aerification. With the traffic this green sees all winter long compaction can be a issue, we should see a quick recovery once we make some additional nutrient applications to this green.
  
  April 6th, 2023
  So far our week has been going well. We have completed the greens aerification and sanded all greens. They will be fertilized on Friday morning, the greens on King's Dunes will be extremely sandy over the weekend. The slicing of the fairways has been completed, this will help get water into the rootzone and relieve some compaction from all the cart traffic over the last four months. We may try to perform this on all courses once per month over the summer. The tee and fairway fertilization is almost complete with hole 18 remaining. The mulching machine has been working along the range, on CL 9 and is now on KD 18, they should be done with our goals by the end of day on Friday. 5000 sqft of sod was used on holes KD 1,5,6,12 and CL 6 and 14 with the biggest impact on KD 6 and CL 14. We finished the chipco choice application for Mole Cricket control on Cypress and will finish Kings next Monday. Lastly, Royal greens were verticut and topdressed on Monday. Of course we continued our normal mowing routine throughout the property. All we need now is a little rain.
  Below: Fairway slicer on #10 King's Dunes, there is very little disruption to the turf from this unit.
  
  Below: The Mulcher taking out Brazilian Pepper trees along the woods of Cypress Links #9
  
  April 3rd, 2023
  We started the aerification of King's Dunes today completing holes 1-9. We wanted to get as many holes in the surface as possible so we decided to do a double aerification using 1/8" coring tines. This pulls a lot of organic matter from the soil but provides the least amount of disruption to the putting surface. It's not good for getting new sand into the profile but the 1/8" tines provide great channels for air and water exchange which in turn encourages root growth within the channels. We will complete 10-18 on Tuesday followed by a topdressing. The fairways will receive a slicing to help open the canopy to allow better water penetration and loosen the soil from cart compaction. These blades are similar to giant 6" arrowheads and do not remove any material so healing is relatively quick once the fairways are mowed.
  Below: Back range putting green after aerification
  
  King's Dunes #1 green receiving a double aerification
  
  March 30th, 2023
  We have recently experienced poorly cutting greens mowers at our Royal Lakes facility, resulting in unacceptable conditions. We recently lost our assistant mechanic and with the expected delivery of our new green's mowers our mechanic postponed grinding our current mowers. Needless to say that was not acceptable and he has been instructed to get all mowers ground within the next 5 days. The greens will be verticut and topdressed next Monday to help improve the conditions.
  Several areas where trees were removed at CCW have been filled and are ready for new sod which delivery is scheduled for next week. We have been continuing our Chipco Choice application for the control of mole crickets and fire ants with the roughs on Cypress and King's remaining.
  We have stopped our palm tree trimming in order to remove some tree limbs on King's Dunes that were blocking shots from the black tees in preparation for the Local US Open Qualifier in early May. This also benefited other playing positions especially on hole #5.
  
  March 23rd, 2023
  We had our USGA Agronomist visit yesterday where he looked over our operation and the courses. We discussed in depth some of the compaction issues we are seeing through the property and the best ways to provide the turf with relief. Next season one of the methods recommended to reduce traffic is to turn on a few of the geo fences to keep carts off the fairways throughout the winter. Another relief suggestion for the greens was to increase our pencil tine aerifications, at a minimum monthly from November to March. Once we receive his report we will provide additional information on his site visit.
  We spent some time with the Lakewood Ranch Garden Club showcasing our efforts to support butterflies and nectar feeding insects on Thrusday. They were encouraged by the amount of area we have already incorporated into gardens and wildflowers. The club is working toward making Lakewood Ranch A Monarch City by encouraging homeowners and property owners to plant milkweed and nectar plants for the Monarch Butterfly. If you would be interested in helping the Monarchs please contact Anita Machlin [email protected] or our golf maintenance department [email protected]
  
  March 10th, 2023
  The aerification and topdressing of the greens on King's Dunes was a quick and smooth operation on Monday. All greens were sprayed with fungicide and growth regulators this week in two separate applications. Our Mole Cricket insecticide application is off to a great start with the tee complexes on both Cypress and Kings completed along with all fairways on Cypress. We will finish all short grass before we move on to the application in the roughs.
  We have adjusted the OB markers on #9 of King's Dunes mainly at the corner pushing the stakes back closer to the homes and property line.
  We are also about halfway done with replacing the irrigation control boxes on 1-9 of King's Dunes, we should have the remaining boxes finished by the end of next week. The new boxes have a much better design and will prevent water intrusion during heavy rain events protecting the sensitive electronics inside. Lastly, our fertilizer application to Cypress was completed on Wednesday morning. We are seeing some burn from the fertilizer due to the fact it was only lightly watered in rather than a heavier cycle as in years past when we had Tuesday closed as well. The turf should grow out of any noticeable burn within a week or two.
  
  March 6th, 2023
  With the warmer weather over the last few weeks we are starting to see an increase in Mole Cricket activity in all areas of the playing surfaces. These insects can cause major damage if left unchecked by digging through the soil and uprooting the turf. This time of year we are dealing with adults that are about to start the mating cycle and can be very difficult to control. Our typical control methods this time of year are using baits and soaking out the crickets with soapy water. Last year we started our control a little late in the season due to delays in construction of our granular spreader. We will begin our insecticide application a little early this year in the hopes of knocking back some of the adult populations before they lay eggs. We should still get good control of any eggs that hatch in the late spring.
  Below: Mole Cricket Damage
  
  Below: Mole Crickets after being soaked from their tunnels with soapy water.
  
  
  February 24th, 2023
  We are still seeing stress on the putting surfaces from shallow roots due to Nematode activity and previous disease pressures. These pale green areas are starting to recover and we are seeing some new root-hairs growing from the plant which means we are in the recovery stage. We will make another application of Nematicide and Fungicide early next week to make sure these areas continue to recover. Although it's not be best time to lower mowing heights we are doing so in preparation for the upcoming Member Guest next week.
  Now that the warmer weather is getting the turf to green up throughout the property it becomes easy to see where we have irrigation issues. Our biggest issue is when heads get clogged with snails which prevents the sprinkler from full operation causing what we call "shroomers". Once discovered we clean them by shutting down the valves, removing the inside assembly and screen and then flush the line before replacing all the components. It is time consuming process but something we've dealt with over the years. We can control the snails by pumping wetting agents through the irrigation system which we do 3 to 4 times per year. However, this sometimes make the problem worse before it gets better as the snails die and detach from the inside of the irrigation lines.
  
  February 21st, 2023
  Our fertilizer application at Royal Lakes was a fairly smooth operation over the last two days. All 18 holes have been completed leaving the range and clubhouse grounds for next week. We may have some water running on the range Monday morning in order to water in the fertilizer and pre-emergent herbicide.
  Best of intentions sometimes don't go as expected. The putting course behind the clubhouse at Royal Lakes received some sever burn from a herbicide application that was made to control Poa on and around the putting surface. Looking at the turf it appears it will recover with a little extra TLC and warm weather. We have already made a granular fertilizer application and will do so again over the next 3 weeks. We will also aerify the green each week with solid tines and make some additional fungicide applications. Needless to say the remaining Poa will be allowed to grow and will be dealt with next fall prior to germination. Any future herbicide applications to any putting surface will be tested on our nursery green before we use it on any playable surface this is our normal operating procedure but was not followed in this case.
  
  February 14th, 2023
  It seems for every step forward these days there are at least one or two backwards. Ten days ago the greens were performing well, we were seeing some fresh white roots and topgrowth was vibrant. We started lowing the mowing heights along with a little warm weather and it appears the nematodes decided to began their activity early this year decimating the root system. Cypress Links seems to be the worst of the three courses, both Cypress and King's received an application of Indemnify on Monday to begin knocking back the nematodes. We will be doing a solid tine aerification again on Cypress greens next Monday along with a granular fertilizer application to encourage additional growth.
  On a positive note; the fairways on King's Dunes have responded very well to the reduced cart traffic over the past two weeks. With the fertilizer application this week we should see some continued improvements in the coming weeks.
  
  February 2nd, 2023
  With the warm weather this past week we're finally seeing some recovery growth on the putting surfaces. Rooting is improving and our solid tine aerification efforts are helping as well. If we see continued improvement we will begin a more regimented rolling program and start lowering the mowers to our normal winter time heights.
  The Rough Only conditions on King's Dunes is inconvenient but a much needed option to relieve the traffic on the fairways. If we could get more players to drive a true 90 degrees rather than driving straight down the fairway this drastic measure would not be necessary. We are currently scheduled to have Rough Only conditions for the following schedule which may be extended if turf health is not improved.
  King's Dunes January 31st to February 13th
  Cypress Links February 14th to February 27th
  Royal Lakes February 28th to March 14th
  If conditions improve fences may be limited to only a few holes rather than all 18.
  
  January 24th, 2023
  Our fertilizer application to the Tees and Fairways on King's Dunes went smoothly, we lightly watered in the mix but have not added any additional water due to adequate moisture levels in the soil. We continued some tree work using an outside contractor on Monday, removing 2 trees on King's Dunes #13, one behind the green on King's Dunes #6 and a dead pine right of 9. The tree on #6 was removed to insure the long term health of the green.
  Our topdressing on King's went smoothly on Monday, we are experimenting with a finer sand which falls into the canopy better than our normal topdressing sand. We will need to adjust to a slightly heavier application rate on when we topdress Cypress next Monday but we like the results this sand provides.
  
  January 16th, 2023
  Some of the weak areas on the greens of King's Dunes will be aerified using a 1/8" coring tines to help provide some additional air and water movement into the root zone. Once these areas are rolled there will be little disruption to the putting surface. We will continue to make additional fungicide and fertilizer applications to these areas, we expect them to respond nicely once the temperatures increase to a more desirable range for turf growth.
  Below: Area aerified on #4 of King's Dunes.
  
  January 12th,2023
  This week we have the mulching crew out on Cypress Links pushing back the pepper trees on several holes. The area on 5 tee and a small spot along the cart path by the green have already been completed. The crew is now working left of 13 green and will continue along the roadside of the wetland for the remainder of the week. Pepper trees are an invasive plant that can easily take over the landscape if left unchecked. In the past we would perform some hand removal but the mulching machine is a much more efficient removal tool.
  
  January 9th, 2023
     After inspecting the greens and seeing the stress we have placed on them from mowing and rolling, we have decided to raise the mowing heights. All greens will be raised to .125" in order to give them a little relief. We will reduce the amount of rolling over the next few weeks as well until we see improvement on the putting surfaces and increased rooting. We will continue our weekly fungicide, nutrient and growth regulator applications. The greens will SLOW well below the speeds many feel are acceptable. This is a necessary process to keep the greens alive and thriving, without taking these steps we can start losing turf on the putting surfaces and in some areas already are. We will keep you posted on the response we are seeing and if additional measures are needed such as spot aerifications.
General Update
- Aeration Video
  Aeration Article
  USGA Regional Updates
  USGA Site Visit Reports
  Feedback Survey
  
  Question: When work begins on the putting green will CCW have an area to practice putting. 2-19-24
  Answer: We will be moving the putting cups to the north end of the pitching green much like we do in the summer during aerifications. We also have the putting green by 10 tee of Cypress Links which will remain in operation throughout the duration of the project.
  
  Question: Why are the greens at Royal Lakes looking thin and weak. 1-15-24
  Answer: Over the past month we have experienced the absolute worst growing conditions we could face in the golf industry. Wet, Cloudy and Cool weather can quickly take a toll on turf performance. Add to that the increased traffic we've experienced over the past several months and conditions can fall off quickly. We anticipated these conditions and have been making additional fungicide applications but our efforts at Royal Lakes have failed to keep the turf growing healthy. We will make some adjustments to our maintenance program including additional spiking, aerification, topdressing and fungicide applications to insure a speedy recovery. Once we see some good growing conditions the greens should respond quickly. Of course we are using our resources with the USGA and following their guidance.
  
  Question: Why is the Tropical Signalgrass (weed) such a continuing problem in August and September.
  Answer: This time of year is always the worst with Tropical Signalgrass, usually the excessive rains along with the high temperatures and our fall fertilizer applications really kick the growth on the Signalgrass. The biggest issue is the lack of affordable and affective herbicides to control this weed, the herbicides we do have tend to work best in late October and November when the temperatures drop and the growth slows down. One of the biggest contributors to the spread of this weed are the Bahiagrass areas surrounding the courses, they can act as a nursery for this weed and all it takes is a cart to drive through them and seeds spread everywhere. Some of the Signalgrass we never really get rid of and it will survive under the bermudagrass canopy over the winter and begin to regrow in the spring. Even the patches in the roughs and fairways will seed and sprout new plants, the pre emergent herbicides we use tend to have limited effect on stopping the seeds from sprouting. One of the biggest contributors to this weed becoming a problem over the years has been the loss of MSMA which Florida can no longer legally use, unless you're growing cotton. With the loss of this herbicide the cost of weed treatments went from $25.00 per acre to over $300.00 per acre with less affective herbicides. We will continue our spot treatments and will begin some broadcast treatments in October.
  
  Question The greens on Cypress look like they were cut too short as there are burnt out sections on every green that follow a similar pattern. What happened? 7/10/23
  Answer: In order to keep mowing greens at lower than normal heights during the summer we needed to perform an aggressive verticutting. We could easily just raise mowing heights as we normally do in the summer but green speeds have become a hot topic and we are forced to perform these activities to keep green speeds in the mid 10 range, normally this time of year we are 9 to 9.5.
  
  Question: During the renovation, will the waste areas next to the greens on Royal Lakes be made into real sand bunkers?
  Answer: As of now there are no plans on changing the sand from the original design at Royal Lakes. However, the Royal renovation is still 4 years away and nothing has been finalized besides regrassing the greens.
  
  Question: Are there plans during the renovation to fix the multiple ruts at the curves along the cart paths caused buy maintenance vehicles and golf carts?
  Answer: With no cart traffic for 6 months most of these areas will grow in on their own however, we do have plans to repair cart paths as needed at the end of the project especially after the heavy equipment has been driving on them.
  
  Question: During the renovation are there plans to remove trees that are causing roots to uplift the cart paths?
  Answer: We will be evaluating the condition of the cart paths and making necessary repairs. Currently there are no plans to remove trees that may be uprooting paths but we do have some trees scheduled for removal for other reasons.
  
  Question: Are there plans with the renovation to upgrade the sand around each of the greens to be consistent and better quality?
  Answer: We will be re-sanding all bunkers during the re-grassing of the putting surfaces using a G-Angle sand. The majority of the old sand will be removed and new sand installed 4-6" thick on green bunkers and 3-4" on fairway bunkers.
  
  Question: Why are the tee markers placed at a different yardage than listed on the scorecard?
  Answer: Tee markers are moved to different tees for several reasons, reducing wear on the normal teeing ground is the most common. The smaller tees sometimes just need a break and time to recover from heavy play. Other times it can be wind conditions and our setup guys adjusting a few forward or backwards on windy days.
  
  Question: The 9 hole practice putting green is in poor shape? Is there a disease that we are battling? There are many old cup holes as well. The large palm has died and the other large palm is dying. Are there plans to replace them?
  Answer: Unfortunately, the green was sprayed with a herbicide to control a weed called Poa Annua which should never have been sprayed on a putting surface. The herbicide has had a detrimental affect to the Tiff Eagle bermudagrass. Thankfully the turf will recover and we are making additional fertilizer applications to encourage new growth. We have lost several palms in the islands of the green which could have been lightning or disease. At this point we do not plan on replacing them and will most likely remove the remaining palm to improve the symmerty of the landscape behind the clubhouse.
Photo Update
- The Golf Maintenance Staff loves to share photos taken throughout the property on a regular basis. In order for you to better enjoy full screen images of current and past photos we are providing the link below to our online photo collection.
  Photo Collection - Click Here
  Below: Preparation for the Easter Egg Hunt, eggs will be covered with pine straw.
  
  Below: Fairways on Cypress are rolled after tilling to help keep the soil firm and washing.
  
  Below: Tees on Cypress receive an aerification to loosen the surface for sprigging.
  
  Below: Our Orbit Air granular spreader making the Chipco Choice application to 18 fairway on King's Dunes.
  
  Below: We are removing some trees on Cypress during the renovation for better playability and to help provide healthy turf.
  
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Rain Records
- Did you know we have up to 7 rain gauges throughout our three golf courses? Five actually control the irrigation system and the other two are used for quick reference at our maintenance facilities. Click here to see our daily rain totals.
  
  Note: This will redirect you to a Google Sheet file. To return you may need to use the back button on your browser.
Maintenance Schedule
- 2024 Summer Closing and Maintenance Schedule Updated 12/18/2023
  Feb 5th      Cypress Links Closed for Renovation
  Feb 27th King's Dunes CLOSED CONCRETE WORK
  April 1st-2nd Royal  Closed 2 Days
  ¼” Greens Aerification
  May 6th – 7th King’s Closed 2 Days
  ¼” Greens Aerification
  May 20th Royal Closed Monday
  1/8" Ninja Tine Aerification
  June 17th King’s Closed Monday
  1/8" Ninja Tine Aerification
  July 1st Royal Lakes Closed Monday
  1/8" Ninja Tine Aerification
  August 5th – 7th King’s Closed 3 Days
  ¼” Greens Aerification
  August 26th – 28th Royal Lakes Closed 3 Days
  ¼” Greens Aerification
  Sept 23rd King’s Closed Monday
  1/8" Ninja Tine Aerification
  Oct 7th Royal Lakes Closed Monday
  1/8" Ninja Tine Aerification
  Oct 28th Start of Monthly Solid Tine Aerifications All Courses Closed Monday
  Nov 6th Pigment Applications to all Fairways Begins
Project List
- List has been updated, items that will be addressed during the renovations have been removed.
  
  Repair drainage basins as needed in the fairways on Cypress and King's, raise and level
  
  Add sprinklers for better coverage on Cypress #17 left fairway.
  
  Repair Cart Paths where sections have been lifted by tree roots.
  
  Spray out and plant some lake banks with cordgrass on both CCW courses.
  
  Work on adding drainage or sand channels to King's Dunes #6 and #8 fairways.

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