One of our priorities as an agronomic team is to continue to improve and update the surrounding landscape around our entrance, clubhouse, swimming pool, tennis courts and halfway house. We have started to incorporate an agronomic program on the St. Augustine located around the entrance, clubhouse, swimming pool, tennis courts and halfway house which includes fertilizing, mowing, pre-emerging, post-emergent weed control, topdressing and irrigating. We have begun going through the irrigation in these areas starting with the clubhouse and around the clubhouse we have 4 out of 28 heads working properly. Needless to say we have a lot of catching up to do around these areas and if wet areas are noticed around these highly visible areas a lot of that is due to our agronomic team checking and repairing a very inefficient system.

We have had a few members ask about the current health of our greens. Our Tifdwarf greens are in good shape for this time of year, with the exception of areas that get constant shade. Due to Tifdwarf's open growth pattern they are appearing thin in areas but that has a lot to due with the growth pattern associated with this particular grass. Spike marks have been apparent, which is a normal occurrence on non-overseeded greens. It is important to try to avoid dragging feet while walking and putting on the greens and also pivoting while putting can be detrimental during this cooler time. Below I have compared pictures of, first, our Tifdwarf putting surface, compared with our Champion putting green which has a noticeably tighter putting surface. As stated before, both are healthy during this time of year, they just tend to have different growth patterns. Also, we have been topdressing these weaker area on the greens, where mainly shade is a contributing factor with sand to combat the areas becoming hosts to algae which disrupts runners and stolons from lateral growth. We are coming to the end of Winter and Spring, accompanied with warmer weather, will be here shortly in the next few weeks. 

Tifdwarf Putting Surface (Managed Identically to Champion) 

Champion Putting Surface (Managed Identically to Tifdwarf) 

Our pre-emergent program was under way today as we applied Ronstar (active ingredient Oxadiazon) throughout the golf course. As this product can be very hot and needs to be directly watered in after application, we will keep carts off the golf course until noon tomorrow morning. Thank you for your patience as we are looking out for the golf courses best needs!

Members, as many of you know we received .6" of rain this morning (1/24) just as we began mowing greens. We stopped mowing greens and did not continue due to standing water on many of them. As any superintendent will tell you, it does more harm than good to mow greens with standing water on them. Thank you for your cooperation during this rainy and windy morning!

If anyone played golf this morning on (1/20) i'm sure you noticed the wet areas around the ladies tee on #9. This is due to a broken irrigation pipe in front of the ladies tee. We have since repaired the pipe but due to the amount of water that leaked out the area will be roped off for a few days! Thank you for your cooperation! 

What is going on at the clubhouse entrance? As is clear in observations, our agronomy team has been working on clearing the entrance to the clubhouse to expose the beautiful Live Oaks which were once hidden by an aging underbrush. Our goal is to extend our traditional southern hospitality theme to the clubhouse entrance, which gives our members and guest a warm southern "hello" if you will by re-landscaping the entrance with Asiatic Jasmine as ground cover, replacing the old chain-link fence with a traditional wooden split-rail fence wrapped in Confederate Jasmine. The dewater pump which is currently visible will be hidden by Magic Rose Camellias. This represents our continued efforts to translate our club's traditional, Southern roots through our club's grounds and golf course. This project will be landscaped around April once the cooler temperatures are no longer present and will take roughly around one year to mature with the Asiatic Jasmine taking two years to completely fill in.  

Camellias to be placed around the pump. 

Confederate Jasmine to grow around the split-rail fence. 

Split - Rail fence to replace the chain-link fence. 

Asiatic Jasmine ground cover. 

Where have some of the trees gone? It is a scientific fact that Bermuda grass needs sunlight to complete the process of photosynthesis and a deficiency in sunlight results in weak, unhealthy turfgrass. Agronomic purposes are the backbone reasoning for removing the pines by #18 green along with the cypress tress to the left of #2 green. The pines behind #2 green were removed to create a future area for a nursery if need be this coming summer. As many of our members know, this is the reason green's #11 and #12 often struggle, which is due to overbearing shade. We are currently exploring options to potentially move these greens in the future as the Live Oaks which present the shade issues are not on the country club's property.

      CCO Agronomy vision = Our team goal, while working with our membership, clubhouse and professional staff, is to promote and grow the theme of The Country Club of Orlando’s southern, traditional, family oriented heritage and translate that through the golf course and grounds. From a play-ability standpoint our goal is to create a "players" golf course which translates to firm and fast conditions, tight lights, and well manicured turf. Our continued efforts to develop a comprehensive Master-plan are geared towards restoring the famed Donald Ross, Country Club of Orlando golf course back to it's traditional Golden-Era roots. 

Second Assistant Golf Course Superintendent
Tristan Birch
Former Assistant Golf Course Superintendent at Metrowest Golf Club.
Bachelors of Science Degree in Recreational Turf-Grass Management from Florida Southern University (08-12)

Senior Assistant Golf Course Superintendent
Kent Grantham
Former Second Assistant Golf Course Superintendent at Dallas National Golf Club
Currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science Degree in Turfgrass from Pennsylvania State University.