Dear Member,

The following blog posts for the next few weeks will consist of the most commonly asked questions from the membership in regards to the Master Plan and Renovation process. These answers are from Billy Fuller (Golf Course Consultant and Architect), as well as additional input from Josh Dunaway (Golf Course Superintendent). 

  4. Question:  The golf course is in great shape now, why would we need to renovate?

Answer: 

Ø  Josh is saddled with a 60 year old turf on greens (TifDwarf Bermudagrass) that continuously needs special attention and is forced to sod and plug throughout the winter and spring to maintain coverage.

Ø  It has exceeded its useful life! If we were comparing every blade of turf on the golf course to golf clubs, your agronomic program is relying on a hickory shaft attached to a R15 club head!

Ø  Ideally TifDwarf would be overseeded for the fall, winter and spring; however, that means soft greens and slow putting surfaces for most of that period as the overseed varieties require a great deal of moisture and cannot be mowed too closely.  That means slower greens speed, which is not favorable to most players.  Your highest months of play are March and April, when overseeding is dying.

Ø  As you witnessed this winter TifDwarf does not perform well in cool winter temps.  You are in a no win situation!  The bottom line is the combination of TifDwarf and overseeding has too many turf quality issues and will never offer consistent high quality playing conditions.

Ø  The greens mix depth is another critical issue that greatly challenges agronomic management.  The mix varies in depth from 8 to 24 inches.  Water management is very challenging since the shallow mix tends to hold too much water and the deeper areas of mix become hydro-phobic and severely dry.  During dry weather periods staff is constantly hand watering the deeper mix areas, and during wet periods the shallow mix areas become infested with algae, resulting in thin turf.

Ø  The bunkers have severe drainage issues as well as playability issues.  The only fix is to reshape them and install a new drainage system.

Ø  Nine of the eighteen holes have severe fairway drainage issues that make the course nearly unplayable during rainy periods.

Ø  CCO is all about southern traditions, great heritage, family values, a culture that has flourished for more than 100 years.  To maintain this culture we must reinvest in our golf course to build more operational efficiencies and maximize playability, which in turn will maximize revenues.  We are investing in current and future generations!

*Also please note, the Golf Course will be closed this coming week Monday (7/6) through Wednesday (7/8) for maintenance. Thank you for your understanding! 

Dear Member,

The following blog posts for the next few weeks will consist of the most commonly asked questions from the membership in regards to the Master Plan and Renovation process. These answers are from Billy Fuller (Golf Course Consultant and Architect), as well as additional input from Josh Dunaway (Golf Course Superintendent). 

3.     Question:  Will the master plan include resolving drainage issues on the course?

Answer:  Yes, we are working with a company (Turf Drain America) that specializes in flat property drainage issues such as those at CCO.  They have spent several days on the property reviewing the primary drainage issues and will be providing a budget (cost) to resolve them.  Their specifications are based on a combination of syphon drainage and a series of basin inlets and pumps to move water off the critical areas.

Dear Member,

The following blog posts for the next few weeks will consist of the most commonly asked questions from the membership in regards to the Master Plan and Renovation process. These answers are from Billy Fuller (Golf Course Consultant and Architect), as well as additional input from Josh Dunaway (Golf Course Superintendent). 

2.  Question:  Will the golf course be more difficult or easier when the plan is implemented?

Answer:  Before offering an opinion let’s consider the existing conditions.  See below.

Ø  The current grass type on greens is TifDwarf Bermudagrass, a 65-year old turf that has practically disappeared from production.  It has been replaced with the Ultra Dwarf Bermudagrass varieties that offer finer texture, tolerance for much lower cutting height, and offers firmer surfaces than TifDwarf.

Ø  Because TifDwarf has limitations on green speed, slopes for pin locations can be steeper than with the faster more competitive Ultra Dwarf varieties.  Even with TifDwarf a number of your greens today are limited to three to four sections for pin placement.  This greatly limits pin placement strategy and shot making options.  Examples are holes 2, 5, 8, 11, 12 and 16.  If we were to install an Ultra Dwarf variety on these greens today pin locations would be further limited, with more putting surface becoming unplayable.

Ø  Many of the greens at CCO have shrunk due to (1) encroachment from surrounding turf, a normal occurrence over time, and (2) shade issues that have forced maintenance to sod fairway turf over what was intended to be putting surface.  The amount of loss of actual putting surface varies from 500 square feet to 1,500 square feet on various greens.

Ø  Bunkers at CCO have taken on a very harsh shape that is unfair to 95 plus percent of players if (a) your ball lands on a downhill slope to an uphill green surface, or (b) your balls comes to rest against a high lip in a fairway bunker.  The current shape evolved over time from maintenance practices and weathering.  The design intent is to shape the bunkers in Donald Ross motif, which means a more fair lie in both above-mentioned cases.  In my opinion fair has nothing to do with hard or easy.  The easiest thing in golf design for any architect is to make a golf hole or feature really difficult. That does not mean it is a good hole.  The objective is to create challenging and fair strategy.  I have played with numerous single digit players who have hit very poor shots from both fairway and greenside bunkers because they had nearly impossible lies that required exceptional luck.  Yes, luck is part of the game, but should not be required in majority of bunker shots!

It is my recommendation that we expand the greens back to their original size to recapture lost pin locations, all very strategic as they reside along green perimeters.  These pins are some of the most challenging on any green.  Another significant issue is the amount of steep slope on front of numerous greens.  I have no issue with five to ten feet being used to reach the first pin location, but many greens have twenty to twenty-five feet before slopes are proper for pin location.  Front pins are always very challenging to reach and putt back to when overshot.  Note that everything I have said about recapturing pins adds challenge to the round of golf.  It does not make the course play easier!  However, the plan includes new forward tees that would enhance options for ladies and seniors, offering increased enjoyment in their games.

Dear Member, The following blog posts for the next few weeks will consist of the most commonly asked questions from the membership in regards to the Master Plan and Renovation process. These answers are from Billy Fuller (Golf Course Consultant and Architect), as well as additional input from Josh Dunaway (Golf Course Superintendent).  1. Question:  How long does the Master Plan Process take?  When will we know how much the recommended scope of work will cost? Answer:  As many of you know I have been playing golf with various members over the last two months.  My purpose is two-fold.  Each time I play the course I become more familiar with the intricacies of the current strategy and what I consider to be its strengths and weaknesses.  Secondly, it gives me the opportunity to hear what you (the members) think (like and dislike) about the course. I have begun developing a written narrative about each golf hole, and have now started to work on sketch plans on a hole-by-hole basis.  This is based on my findings to date for each hole.  This process will continue over the next few months.  As the plan comes together a scope of work will be created along with specifications for various features throughout the course.  From this we will create a Bid for Contract and invite approved golf course contractors to visit the course, review the plan and scope, and provide prices for the work in today’s dollars.  Our goal is to have the bids in hand by mid to late September.  We need this time to create the most ideal plan possible for the CCO.  Rushing the process is not an option! Thank you!

Members, this past week, we were able accomplish a lot of goals throughout our aerification closing of June 1 through June 3. Over that period we were able to aerify the entire golf course with 5/8" tines which included the rough, tees, fwys, approaches and collars. We were able to accomplish a substantial amount of tree work on #9, 15 and the Nutall Oaks by the fitness center (which were removed due to a safety hazards with the roots lifting up the pavers and people falling) and we were able to increase the short-grass bail out area around #14 approach and tie into #15 and #17 tee. We pre-emerged the entire golf course yesterday and today with 20-0-20 Ronstar which followed our aerification.

5/8" Tine Aerification on entire golf course 

Tree Work and "Wall to Wall" Root Prune 

#14 Bailout tying short grass from Approach to #15 and #17 Tee Box 

Paver Project by Fitness Center 

Pond Ornamentals Trimmed

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/