Annual Report to the Olde Florida Golf Club Membership

Annual Report to the Olde Florida Golf Club Membership

By Darren J. Davis, CGCS

April 7, 2015

The 2015 winter golf season at Olde Florida is winding down and my staff and I appreciate your support and positive feedback. Soon we will be switching gears from routine maintenance to our summer project mode. In addition, we will begin work on the necessary cultural practices such as aerification, vertical mowing and topdressing, which enable us to provide you with quality golf course conditions in the winter months.

For most of the winter season the weather was conducive for turfgrass growth. This enabled us to maintain a healthy stand of turfgrass as well as produce a height of cut in the rough that allowed for good contrast with the fairway.   

Last summer we completed several in-house projects. The most noticeable was the renovation of #18 senior/forward tee. As in previous years, last year we also completed a mini-bunker renovation just prior to our winter golf season. With the average annual rainfall in Naples being just less than 52 inches, and 65% of this occurring between June and September, bunker washing and bunker sand contamination is an issue.

Last summer we also completed an aggressive Brazilian Pepper removal project. Brazilian Pepper is an invasive plant that alters plant communities by displacing native species, changing community structure and ecological functions. Beginning this summer we will institute a property-wide maintenance program.   

For the third year in a row our Purple Martin structures are being utilized. The structures are located behind #2 championship tee. In our first winter (2013), we successfully fledged three Purple Martins. Although Purple Martins migrate each winter to South America, they remain incredibly faithful to their colony (nesting) sites each year. This was the case at Olde Florida. The Purple Martins from 2013 returned in late January 2014 to again utilize the nesting structure and over a dozen Purple Martins were fledged.  With a second structure being added this winter the number looks to have increased.  

If you desire more information on our activities throughout the year, I utilize several forms of social media to provide course reports and other timely information on club activities. A complete list of these as well as articles, videos and blog entries can be found on my website   

#10 Green, April 2015