Annual Report to the Olde Florida Golf Club Membership

Vanderbilt Beach Road Extension Update 

The Vanderbilt Beach Road Extension project is an approximately 7-mile extension of the existing six lane road.  The extension will begin to the west at Collier Boulevard and it will end to the east at 16th ST NE. The county reports the project will take approximately three years to complete. The project began in the fall of 2022.  

What we will see over the next 6-months is more of we are currently experiencing. Clearing and organic debris removal will continue, but there should be no more burning. The contractor will also continue to dig the new Big Cypress Canal. It’s a slow process since the county is not allowing any blasting to breakup the subsurface limestone. 

The original plan was to start road construction (paving) on the west end at Collier Boulevard. The section between Collier Boulevard and our southeastern property line (8 tee) is the most complicated section. For one reason the contractor will have to connect all existing drainage that currently exists into the existing Big Cypress Canal into the new canal. This has to take place prior to filling in the existing canal.

Due to some challenges (environmental and the complexity of the construction at the west end) the county and contractor made the decision to start road construction at the east end. What that means for us is we won’t see the existing canal filled in until next winter. Beginning around January of 2024. 

We will probably see some road construction at the end of 2024. So the next winter golf season (2023/2024) will be similar to this one. The following season (2024/2025) paving at our end will be occurring and if they stay on schedule the project should be complete in the fall 2025 (the start of the 2025/2026) season. Unfortunately the 8’ chain link fence and plantings on our southern property line will not be complete until the end of the project.  

Golf Course Update 

We had another warm winter, due in part to the La Niña weather pattern that has been in place over the last three seasons. Numerous heat records were set this winter. The weather was great for turfgrass growth and recovery, with the only challenge being green speed. With growth regulation and other processes we have provided very good green speed. We check soil moisture with a digital sensor and green speed on two greens daily. The average green speed since January 1 has been 11”6”

Sunrise - Hole 10

It has been very dry this winter and spring. In fact, since January 1 we have had only 1.18” of rain. The average for this three-month period is 6.63” The average annual rainfall for Southwest Florida is just under 60”

Hand-watering in the rough - Hole 1 

Purity of the existing TifTuf turfgrass remains very high. The goal had been 99% eradication for the 2021 renovation. We achieved that and maintained that percentage last winter. As the 2022/2023 winter golf season progressed we have maintained approximately 98-99% purity, but in time that will continue drop. 

Practice Green - December 21, 2023

The nesting program at Olde Florida continues to be a huge success. This year three screech owls utilized our nesting boxes and had a combined nine fledglings. 

"Ginger" and her fledglings - 5 Green