Bentgrass has left the building...

The day started out just like any other day this spring, as we mowed and rolled Greens, mowed Approaches, raked Bunkers, and did our Course Set-up for the day. We reminded all of our staff that today would be the last day that we mow green Bentgrass at Windermere Golf Club. Here is a picture of Olegario rolling #11 Green and Cirilo mowing the Approach in the background.

As we finished our AM assignments, the wind began to pick up and we were beginning to wonder if the gust were going to be too strong for us to spray the Greens without having any herbicide drift into the Collar or Approach. We decided that it is always windy at Windermere and we would have to use a large sheet of plywood as a wind breaker. The sheet of plywood was slightly cumbersome in the wind but it did its job.

Our process to spray Greens out was debated amongst the management staff and we sought advice from other Superintendents from all across Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and South Carolina. The process that we thought was our best course of action for both quality and efficiency was to ride spray the centers of the Greens, but be sure to stop and start within the dotted blue lines. The dotted blue lines represent the original Greens cavity and will be the edge of our new Mini Verde Greens. Here is a photo of the dotted blue line on #17, you will notice that the Green will be expanding out approximately 18".

When we spray greens or any area on the course we typically have only one person making the application. Today we decided that with us wanting to make sure that we sprayed within the lines, we added a second person to this process. The second staff members sole responsibility was to remind the driver to start and stop the application inside the Greens new edge. Here is a picture of Israel driving the sprayer and Kellan ensuring that we color inside the lines on #15.

Finally to create a smooth contour along the blue dotted line, we used a piece of equipment called a Sprayhawk. The Sprayhawk allows one to spray in areas that are not meant to have a ride sprayer in. This a time consuming job, yet this is where we make sure that we maintain a smooth line and completely cover the area. We use a blue dye indicator in these applications so that we can ensure quality coverage, one will notice the darker color in the areas that we Sprayhawked as this gives our staff a guarantee that we achieved 100% coverage. Here is Tim Murdock our Second Assistant Superintendent using the Sprayhawk and Olegario handling the hose for him.

We will not be mowing or rolling Greens tomorrow as we want to allow the plant every opportunity to uptake the herbicide. We will be rolling and mowing again, starting on Friday. Thank you again for checking on the status of the Windermere Turf Department and our progress in the maintenance of the course and grounds.

Landscape Projects

The day started off with fog and we even had a quick rain shower around 10 AM, which netted the club .03" of rainfall. The course was a little soft the previous weekends rainfall event, so we continued to work on some landscape restoration that has been needed since I arrived in April of 2008. We took a bed near #3 Fairway and #6 Tees that was hideous with overgrown Camellias that had seen better days and replaced those with 3 Japanese Maple "Cutleafs". This specimen of Japanese Maples will get approximately 7' tall and 10' wide. We then spaced Lorapetalum's "Purple Pixies" in between the "Cutleafs" and it should really refresh the area. Here is a picture of the final product.

Across the path from this was the landscape area that backed up to the creek that separated #3 and #5 Green. This area is a work in progress as it is a large area that we will continue to work on throughout the summer and hopefully finish prior to the Grand Opening in August. We began the restoration by adding 419 Bermuda sod along the cart path edge, then with a dry river rock bed, next we installed some Butterfly Bushes along with Lorapetalum "Rubies" to add a variation of color to the area and to tie in to the bed in the picture above. Please take a look as we are in the intial stages of upgrading.

We did take the opportunity this afternoon to mow the overseed at the Clubhouse, and as much we curse overseed in the fall and winter, it is pretty spectacular right now.

The Windermere Turf Department might seem a little excited tomorrow morning as we mow and roll our Bentgrass one final time prior to spraying it out tomorrow at 12:00. For our staff it feels like all the Christmas Eve's you ever experienced rolled into one night. Pictures of the process should be expected tomorrow evening. Thank you for visiting and please let us know if you have any comment or questions.

The Sun has returned!

After a soggy weekend the sun finally returned this afternoon and we were thankful that we only received 2.5" of rain and no damage to the course. The bunkers did have some minor erosion of sand of the faces of the bunker, but that is to be expected. We were able to repair all of the bunkers, mow the Clubhouse, and finish up some landscaping near the restrooms at the intersection #3 Fairway, # 5 Green, and #6 Tees. I will post pictures of these areas tomorrow.

Once the sun came out this afternoon, we were very surprised that some of the native Azaleas finally popped and they are amazing as you can see from the picture below.

The Clubhouse was mowed and will be mowed again tomorrow to get a slightly better cut on the turf as the wet overseeded 419 was very thick, but the lines did stand out.

We did measure Green speeds this afternoon with our faithful Stimpmeter and we were quite surprised to find greens rolling at 11.1' after a single cut and roll. We were expecting the Greens to be around the 10' mark after the rain and lack of sunshine over the weekend. Here is a few pictures of Tim Murdock our Second Assistant Superintendent in the process of stimping Greens.

Thank you for reading our blog and please let us know if you have any questions or comments.

Thank you!

Blue dots around Greens...

The Windermere Turf staff has started the process of the Greens conversion to Mini Verde by probing around the edges of the greens to find the original cavity of the Greens and marking them with blue dots as seen below.

We will be attempting to restore the Greens to their original shape and size during the conversion by eradicating the Bermuda grass that encroached into the greens. Once the Tifway Bermuda is eradicated we will sprig the Green's surface with Mini Verde and then install a 36" wide strip of TifGrand Bermuda that will encompass the Mini Verde and be maintained as a Tournament Collar.

Thank you for visiting and please return soon as we will be showing more pictures and providing more details about the conversion.

Golf Georgia Article

Tommy Hewitt, Golf Course Superintendent, of the Windermere Turf Department recently wrote an article that was published in the Georgia State Golf Association's bi-monthly magazine Golf Georgia. The article talked about Windermere joining the ranks of East Lake, Atlanta Athletic Club, and Cherokee Town & Country Club as the next to convert Greens to the new ultra dwarf variety of Mini Verde.

Windermere Joins the Ultra Dwarf Party Article

Thank you for taking the time to read the article and please ask any questions that you might have in regards to the article.

Welcome...

The Windermere Turf Department welcomes you to our blog that will be updated routinely as we want to show the efforts that are put forth to provide the best conditions possible. The goal for this blog and our new Twitter account @WindermereTurf is to provide an open view of our efforts and give you the ability to ask questions and get answers directly from our staff. Thank you for visiting and we look forward to your comments.