Our goal to have the golf course construction completed and all grass planted by July 31st has been achieved!

Sprigging crews installed the last of the Latitude 36 rough sprigs around the practice area on Tuesday morning. This is a big accomplishment and was necessary to keep the overall project on schedule. Although the entire course has been grassed, it will be necessary over the next couple of months to bring in sod occasionally to repair washouts and sod areas that are slow to come along such as on mounds, slopes, and lake banks. At this point, the grow-in process remains on schedule despite a nearly 3-week stretch in mid-July without a drop of rain. We have caught a few small rain showers over the last couple of days and we are hoping this is a sign of things to come. The most important factor at this point in plant growth is soil moisture. Our irrigation pumps are running at 100% virtually 24 hours a day. With our extremely sandy soil profile here at Estero Country Club sometimes the irrigation alone is not enough. That is when we depend on timely rain showers to saturate the soil. The most difficult areas to manage moisture is on hills, mounds, slopes and along lake banks. We all know that water tends to roll downhill and lake banks are always a challenge due to a lack of irrigation coverage in these areas.

Clarke Construction will remain on site over the next month or so completing the cleanup and punch list items.

  • The remainder of the brick pavers for the practice area has been delivered. The installation will continue later this week and be completed by the end of next week.
  • Landscape install at the Clubhouse continues. We are expecting the last couple of trees, Canary Island Date Palms, to be delivered and installed next week. Mulch has been delivered and staff will begin installation as plant material is positioned in the ground.
  • The delivery and installation of nearly 140 trees for the front 9 of the golf course will begin next week. This delivery of trees does not include any of the trees that are designated for the railroad track area. That portion of the project will begin in about 3 weeks. Work on golf course landscaping will continue in the coming weeks as we finish the Clubhouse portion of the project.
  • The sprigs and sod on the back 9 have finally reached a point that we can begin applying herbicides to combat the heavy weed pressure. Our goal is to have about 60% grass coverage before we begin the herbicide application process to prevent any damage to the sprigs and/or sod. During the grow-in process, we fully expect to see an abundance of weeds throughout the course. Excess water increased fertilizer amounts, and bare soil is a perfect storm and ideal condition for weed growth.
  • With the greens being planted in 3 different phases, each set is at a different stage in the grow-in process. The first greens to be sprigged, the back 9, have achieved about 90% grass coverage in just 8 weeks. They are being mowed frequently and in fact, we even did a verticut for the first time last week. We have also started to back off the fertilization slightly on these as an abundance of Nitrogen is simply not necessary. The second set to be planted, the Putting Green, 2, 3, 6, 7 and 8 are almost 3 weeks old and mowed for the first time on Monday. Weekly top-dressing, rolling and fertilization continues as they are filling in ahead of schedule. The final set to be grassed, the Chipping Green, Nursery Green, 1, 4, 5 and 9 are approaching their 2nd week in the ground and it won’t be long before they catch up to the second set.

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