Members,

Just a friendly reminder next week we will be closed Monday (June 1) through Wednesday (June 3) for aerification. Please note, these dates are subject to weather. Aerification is an extremely important cultural practice that allows oxygen and nutrients to readily get into the root-zone and also aids in the control of thatch build up. This process will be done three times this Summer to ensure the Country Club of Orlando maintains a healthy golf course. Thank you! 

Members, This coming Tuesday through Thursday (5/26 - 5/28) we will be contracting Southeastern Turfgrass to root prune our golf course property. Root pruning is a healthy maintenance technique that relieves stress of an over-grown tree root system back cutting back the root system which promotes more nutrient availability, less competition with turfgrass and an overall healthy tree root system. This process will be minimally invasive and will help to maintain an overall healthier golf course and tree program. The following website demonstrates a video and a brief explanation of the root pruning process.

http://www.setgs.com/category/services/root-pruning/

Members, This past Monday we verticut the fairways and approaches and we will be verticutting the driving range fairway, tees, walkouts and 11 1/2 on June 1. Verticutting is a very important cultural practice that is done to reduce thatch and create a denser and healthier turf-grass canopy. This practice will be done throughout the Summer which is considered the "growing" season for our Bermuda grass turf-types. The following web address provides a detailed insight on the practice of verticutting. http://klinkhammersturfgrassadventures.blogspot.com/2011/04/verticutting-for-firm-fast-and-true.html

Green’s Assessment by Billy Fuller - As a general statement, greens at the CCO are small on average and some are quite heavily contoured.  This was normal for grasses that were maintained at a speed of 9.0 to 9.5 on average, which is fairly typical for TifDwarf Bermudagrass greens.  As speeds increase many of the hole locations within some greens become very limited.  My definition of hole locations within a green is when no two locations are closer than fifteen feet.  We noted a number of greens today that had a maximum of three to four hole locations.  If an ultra dwarf bermudagrass such as Champion, TifGreen or Mini Verde were to be planted, it would be critical to soften the slopes and in some instances add square footage for adequate pin locations.  Regarding No-Till planting an ultra dwarf, in my opinion, your greens are not a candidate.  In order to be a candidate means your slope designs and pin locations must be proper for speeds of 10.5 or higher on a daily basis. Green’s Assessment by Josh Dunaway  - Due to the fact of having TifDwarf which is a very outdated form of Bermuda grass (began being installed in the 1950’s) green speeds above 10.5 are difficult to achieve without; 1) severely stressing the turf and 2) rigorous maintenance (i.e. double – cutting and rolling daily). It is also apparent that shade plays a big impact on several green complexes, as well. We measured and mapped our green's mix root-zone depth and they appear to be not uniform to United States Golf Association green building specifications. Our depths range from 10" to 24" which is unusually deep and inconsistent. The following website gives a complete description of the specifications of a USGA putting green.  http://www.usga.org/Content.aspx?id=26124

Billy Fuller Donald Ross work experience:

Alamance Country Club, Burlington, NC (see below);

Highlands Country Club, Highlands, NC (I have been working with this club since 1996, both consulting and design work); most recent work has included new 10th green complex, extension to #11 green, and new putting and chipping green complex;

Hinsdale Golf Club, Clarendon Hills, IL (western suburb of Chicago)…BFGD established a Restoration / Preservation Master Plan for this Donald Ross design in 2005-2006;

Augusta Country Club, Augusta, GA (While working at Augusta National I played most of my golf at Augusta C.C.  After leaving ANGC I worked with Cupp in a Ross renovation of Augusta C.C.)

Rosedale Golf Club in Toronto, Canada

East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta, GA (When Rees Jones was hired to restore the golf course, I was hired as consultant to watch over the project with the golf course superintendent)

Charlotte Country Club, Charlotte, NC (consultant)

Palm Beach Country Club, Palm Beach, FL (consultant)

Jekyll Island Golf Club, Georgia (consultant)

Benvenue Country Club, Rocky Mount, NC (consultant)

Hyde Park Golf & C.C., Cincinnati, OH (consultant)

Belle Meade, Nashville, TN (consultant)

Shelby Golf Course, Nashville, TN (First Tee program)

Pine Needles Golf Club, Southern Pines, NC (I was assistant golf course superintendent at Pine Needles in 1973.  I spent months studying Donald Ross’s history while living and working there, including Mid Pines and Pinehurst #2.  I lived in a garage apartment on #2 and spent many hours after work walking the course and studying archives.

Alamance C.C. was the last set of plans Donald Ross drew.  He died before the course was constructed.  A golf pro then took Ross’s plans, cleared the routing per his plan, then put his own strategy into the golf course.  The Club eventually discovered the plans and hired Cupp and I to put Ross’s strategy into the course.

Chicago, IL (While master planning and renovating Hinsdale Golf Club in Chicago ( Ross design), I had the good fortune of studying numerous Donald Ross courses, including Beverly Country Club, Evanston Golf Club, Old Elm Club and Oak Park Country Club)

I am a huge fan of Golden Era Period (late 1800’s to 1950).  I have worked on as many Seth Raynor courses as Donald Ross, and a few William “Billy” Bell and Perry Maxwell.  I have played Chicago Golf Club (C.B. MacDonald and Seth Raynor) several times as well as Shore Acres (Raynor).  I consulted extensively at Country Club of Charleston, SC (Seth Raynor) and Yeaman’s Hall Golf Club (Seth Raynor).

The key to any Golden Era designer is understanding his style.  They all had great strategic design and taught us modern designers how to design strong and proper strategy from tee to green.