Joe, As a follow-up to our meeting this morning with Gene Welper and Eric in the Clubhouse, and subsequent touring of the golf course, I provide the following comments and recommendations: General Comments It has been almost two years since my last site visit to Caloosa. A lot has changed, but some things still remain the same with respect to course conditions and maintenance practices. Eric and his staff appear to be doing a good job with the limited staffing and budget they have to work with, on a daily basis. Course conditions were found to be in good overall shape with the exception of some very dry slope areas around greens and tees as well as a few notoriously dry fairways, due to lack of irrigation. The golf cart gathering area around the practice putting green was found to be extremely dry. Overall greens condition was good and very consistent, with the exception of a couple of weak/thin areas on greens #3 and #9, due to oak tree shade. Tee surfaces and many slopes of greens/tees and bunker faces are loaded with Tropical Signalgrass that should be controlled. Fairways, roughs and bunkers were found to be in acceptable condition and very playable. I like the addition of the shell material being placed around the base of many of the large oak trees. As long as this material is not piled high next to the base of the trunks it will make these areas much easier to maintain because tree root and shade from the tree makes it almost impossible to maintain healthy Bermuda grass. The best news I heard on this visit was the recent influx of new members to the Club. In this day and age, having an infusion of new golfing members is a blessing and one that the Club should not be taken for granted. All Caloosa has to offer to its members is basically a golf course and keeping a well maintained golf course on a daily basis, will help keep its membership very happy. Increasing the maintenance budget this year is a good start! Priorities The following is a list of maintenance tasks Eric and his staff should be addressing over the next 60 days: 1. Eric stated that he has not been using any green pigment or Podium (Plant Growth Regulator) on the putting surfaces this winter. I highly recommend the use of these two products on the putting surfaces in order to improve the putting quality of the Tifdwarf. The pigment will promote growth and provide a green color to the Tifdwarf, which tends to turn purple in cold temperatures. The dark green color of the pigment also adds warmth to the Bermuda grass during the sunny cold days and that encourages the Bermuda grass to continue to grow and recover from wear. Four examples of pigments
used on greens are Evergreen Jade ($138.00/gal), Foursome ($148.34/gal), Endurant ($116.34/gal) and Green Pig ($152.50/gal). All of these pigments are applied at the rate between (16-20 oz/acre) and Eric can experiment with the color and rate he likes best. Podium is a generic of Primo and it is Tifdwarfs best friend for improved putting quality. Podium should be applied to Tifdwarf year round on a weekly basis. The rates can be lowered when the Bermuda grass is not growing as aggressively during the winter. The rate should be around 2-3 oz/acre/week during the winter and 4-5 oz/acre/week in the growing season. Podium will improve the putting quality of Tifdwarf by 50% because it dwarfs the leaf blades, promotes lateral growth and shortens the internodes on the Tifdwarf creating a smoother putting surface, without having to lower the height of cut drastically. 2. I know we spoke about the increase of the chemical budget for this year. Hopefully Eric will start to control the Signalgrass throughout the golf course (close-cut areas first) with Tribute Total and also start his pre-emergent program the first of Feb using Ronstar/15-0-15 at 300 lbs/acre and then in April apply the Spectile in two applications at 3 oz/acre, spaced 30 days apart. Hopefully Eric is getting three competitive prices from reputable companies like Harrell's, Site One, Howard's and Winfield Solutions, to name a few, when he purchases fertilizers and pesticides. Many of the vendor's pesticide prices are the exact same due to "Agency Pricing" by the manufacturers. Many also have EOPs (Early Order Program) where the club can save a great deal of money (9% on all purchases) by simply telling the manufacturer before a certain date how much of their particular pesticides they will commit to purchase for that upcoming growing season. The problem for Caloosa this year is Bayer (manufacturer of Spectile and Tribute Total) just ended their EOP program for this year on December 9, 2016. Before starting this program I recommend contacting the Bayer Rep and ask for a site visit if you are planning on using the herbicide control program. Get them involved with and follow their program precisely because spending that kind of money on herbicides needs some guarantees. Call me if you need help setting up the meeting. 3. Speaking of weed control the driving range and tee needs to be kept weed free as well. Weeds that are allowed to grow in the middle of the golf course (driving range) look bad and weed seeds will be constantly spread to the adjacent fairways. Besides they make the golf course look bad as well. Range balls are lost in the range when the Bermuda grass is allowed to have bare, weedy areas. I also recommend improving the target areas on the range as well. More on this subject on my next site visit. 4. The 5-6 tees that were leveled this past summer look good. A priority list of potential tees to be leveled this summer should be established. I also question why we are using Tifway 419 rather than Celebration on our tee
surfaces because Celebration is much more aggressive to recover from wear. It is a no brainer to place Celebration on the driving range tee as well. We also need to address the back tee problem on #11 tee. The oak trees along the lake have grown out into the fairway and rather than butcher these trees by trimming them severely I recommend building a smaller tee to the west of the current tee and stop maintaining this large back tee surface for such little use (six players/week) of the players. 5. During our tour of the course Eric showed me a recently repaired irrigation break in #9 fairway. Lately he said he was repairing more than normal and was wondering if the age of the irrigation main lines may be having problems with fatigued pvc pipe. I'm not an irrigation pipe expert but I know from years of experience that most of the pipe breaks occur due to water hammer (air in the lines). Once the system has to be drained in order to repair a broken pipe, air is generally re-introduced into the system on the re-charging of the water under pressure into the pipes. Not allowing all of the air out just causes more of a water hammer to occur and it becomes a vicious cycle. Eric can always send samples of pipes that are broken to a testing lab for diagnostics to determine if the problem is caused by fatigued pvc pipe or they may even state that is breaking caused by water hammer. Either way Eric and his staff have to make sure all of the air is out of the system during the re-charging procedure and if not he will continue to have pipe breaks. 6. Speaking of the irrigation system the Club owes Mike Goins a great deal of thanks for helping with the irrigation computer programming on the golf course over the last few months. Apparently the golf course was being maintained too wet and re-adjusting the watering times has helped dry the course out. Eric or his irrigation man has not been allowed to adjust the system over the past few months and now dry spots are starting to be observed throughout the entire course and this is causing damage to the Bermuda grass. I recommend Mike become a consultant for Eric and his irrigation guy and let them take the system over again. Watering is very important for the well being of the entire course and Eric and his staff now know how to handle the system properly. If they have a problem hopefully Mike will continue to be helpful. If the course becomes too wet again, you and Mike can consult with Eric to correct the problem. The current arrangement is not working well for the golf course condition and the maintenance staff. 7. Fall is the best time to trim palms and raise oak tree canopies in preparation for the busiest golfing four months of the year. During the winter time of the year the golf course should be in the best overall condition of the year. This year the palms were not trimmed for budget reasons. The two varieties of palms growing on the course are Queen Palms and Sabal Palms (Cabbage Palms). Eric stated that he has a contractor that charges $25.00/palm to trim and haul away debris to a land fill, once a year. Once a
year trimming of Queen Palms is not adequate. They should be trimmed at least 2-3 times/year. In fact there was a dead Queen Palm frond hanging over the cart path leading to #6 tee while we were touring the course. They look bad and that is why I would never plant a Queen Palm on a golf course or home lawn for that matter because they are so high maintenance and look terrible when not trimmed routinely. When the Sabal Palms are trimmed I recommend removing all of the old fronds as well with a chainsaw because these old fronds constantly fall after every high wind event. They become very labor intense on having to pick them up throughout the golf course. I recommend trimming all palms now and the member who has been trimming the interior limbs of the large oaks on hole #5 should be commended for his fine work. All of the oaks throughout the course should be trimmed the exact same way. 8. Never received copies of the last three months of pesticides/fertilizers applied to the golf course, copies of the last fertility and nematode soil samples results of the greens tees and fairways and never saw a copy of the current maintenance budget. I will be glad to comment on the soil test results. 9. The entrance way, circle drive landscaping and Clubhouse landscaping needs to be looked at and up-graded. We need a better looking first impression to Caloosa. I would also increase the appearance and health of the grass growing between the Clubhouse and driving range tee (golf cart staging area). This is not what members need to see when they first arrive at the golf course to practice and play. Presently the grass in this area is brown due to lack of adequate moisture and loaded with weeds. I recommend adding more water and fertility to this very focal area on a regular basis. Course Beautification Procedures There are a few areas on the golf course that would enhance the beauty of Caloosa Golf Course and they are as follows: 1. The pine tree grove between #18 green and #6 tee needs to be mowed down and then sprayed with Roundup. The natural pine needle fall will help keep this area inside the grove of trees mulched year round and only occasional Roundup spraying will be required to keep it weed free. 2. The Cypress bay-head on the north side of #17 would be enhanced greatly if the Brazilian Pepper Tress and under-growth are removed, just into the bay-head. Once these noxious weeds are removed lake labeled herbicides such as Diquat and Rodeo can be used to control growth and allow the beauty of the bay-head to be seen by golfers.
3. Raising the oak tree canopies and removing the interior limbs of the these beautiful oaks throughout the golf course will be visible. Improving filtered sunlight through the trees with this procedure will also benefit the Bermuda grass growing under the trees trying to survive the competition of oak tree shade and root growth. The shell material that is being placed where grass can no longer grow is helpful to golfers. 4. Keeping the bridges, yardage makers, tee markers, flags, cups and ball washers painted and cleaned, also adds to the golfing experience by every member. Golf Cart Path Additions During our tour of the golf course we observed lots of members driving their golf carts very close to the greens and tees and not staying on the cart paths in these designated areas. Determining member blue flag designees has been a problem since the golf course was opened in the 1980. Placement of the cart paths several feet away from the greens and tees is a major concern for almost every member. Almost every member of Caloosa has some form of physical aliment due to age, some more than others. I recommend you and Eric ask a couple of Board members to ride along with you and help measure the linear feet of new paths that should be added to the existing path system which would be placed close to each tee surface and one path coming up to the back of each green. Installing paths closer to these surfaces will help speed play, make each round more enjoyable for the membership and stop the constant problem of golf carts causing compaction problems on the slopes of greens and tees. It also stops the complaints of most members driving their golf carts too close to the tee and green surfaces. To pay for this project a special one-time assessment for just these new cart path extensions can be shared equally with each member. Joe, I know there are lots more maintenance topics I can discuss concerning the maintenance practices at Caloosa, but hopefully I touched on the most important for now and we can get to more on my next site visit. You and Eric needs to call or email me if you have any concerns with the report. I will also be glad to come down and ride with the group to add the new paths, if requested. I also can help find quotes from reputable cart path vendors as well. Thanks! Dan (Caloosa Note: Dan Morgan is the owner of Turf Keepers)