Olde Florida Golf Club

Happy Summer and longest daylight of the year, with roughly 14 hours across Florida. Enjoy it, we begin losing daylight again starting tomorrow! ☀️⏰

Our Golf Course Superintendent, Darren J Davis, CGCS provides an update on what the agronomy staff will be doing this summer on the golf course.

It's Summer in Southwest Florida ... and that means it's "Cultural Practice Season!"

Quite the disparity in rainfall this week across the “sunshine” state.

Olde Florida recieved 15.5” of rain from Monday - Thursday. The lakes were unable to retain the volume of water and is on fairways and rough on many holes. It will take several days for the water to recede.

Heavy rain is in the forecast this week at Olde Florida Golf Club.

With Hurricane Season approaching check out the 2024 Outlook!

In his recent blog post, Darren J. Davis, our GCSAA Certified Golf Course Superintendent (CGCS), discusses the Great Crested Flycatcher, a fascinating bird species that calls our golf course home, highlighting its unique characteristics and its place in the local ecosystem.

The Great Crested Flycatcher Olde Florida has numerous Eastern Screech Owl boxes that are used every year by returning mothers. After the Screech Owls have utilized the nest for their current clutch, other birds sometimes “make themself at home.” This year a Great Crested Flycatcher once again moved into one of the boxes.

Annual Report To The Olde Florida Golf Club Membership, prepared by Darren J. Davis, CGCS

Annual Report To The Olde Florida Golf Club Membership April 2024

It was a beautiful day in Southwest Florida and a great day for golf!

It was a great day for a round of golf at Olde Florida!

With the strong El Niño pattern that has plagued central and south Florida beginning to dissipate, the golf course is looking and playing great. In collaboration with J. Bryan Unruh, Ph.D. University of Florida, our Darren J. Davis, CGCS recently taught a webinar for the GCSAA explaining how golf course superintendents deal with weather and weather extremes. A link is below:

ElNinoPublic from GCSAA on Vimeo

Each day a member of the agronomy staff checks green speed on two greens. The greens that are measured rotate forward daily (1 & 2, 3 & 4, etc.). The agronomy staff uses this data, as well as other factors (weather forecast, time of year, turfgrass health, etc.) to make decisions on height of cut, rolling, topdressing, growth regulator applications, etc. The data is recorded so trends can be tracked.

The 2024 Club Championship was a great success. Thank you to all who participated!

HAPPY 30-YEAR ANNIVERSARY to Guillermo Gomez! Guillermo started as a greenskeeper on the agronomy team, before advancing to the role of Assistant, Equipment Manager. He has held the position of Equipment Manager for the last 20 years! 

Final day of the Annual Member/Guest Invitational .10” of rain between 1-1:30 a.m. No interruption to daily schedule. Agronomy team mowed tees, fairways, greens, approaches w/ a roll on the greens Bunkers raked, cups changed, tee service/divots filled & rough blowing. The entire staff is thankful for all of the members and their guests who participated.

Day 2 of the Member/Guest is complete The agronomy team is out on the evening shift giving the greens another cut. The forecast is calling for a cold front to sweep through just after midnight, but should move through SW Florida swiftly allowing the final round to begin on time at 8:30 a.m.

Day 2 of the annual Member/Guest Invitational

The cover story in the latest issue of the Florida Turfgrass Association Digest is, “El Niño Wreaks Havoc on Golf Courses and Sports Fields.”

Grab the winter issue of Florida Turf Digest while it's hot!
https://indd.adobe.com/view/cb0812cd-aa47-47a2-9e33-83e5d48aa8f4

An update from the United States Golf Association - USGA on the “Super El Niño” weather pattern that we have been experiencing in Southwest Florida

Super El Niño What was supposed to be a coin flip between a moderate or strong El Niño turned into one of the strongest on record! Fortunately, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

In his latest blog entry, Darren J. Davis, CGCS explains, “How Turfgrass Eats.” Spoiler alert: It involves the sun, something that has been absent at Olde Florida for the last 60 days.

How Does Turfgrass Eat? 6CO2 + 6H2O + Light energy → C6H12O6 (sugar) + 6O2.

“The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of El Niño” from the United States Golf Association - USGA Agronomy Team

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of El Niño We recently swung into an El Niño phase which has meant a cloudier and wetter winter so far in Florida and other parts of the Southeast. Here’s a few ideas for managing the impact on turf.

It was a full house at last nights 30th anniversary celebration! Golf course architect Rees Jones was on hand and addressed the group and all attendees received a copy of the recently published book, “Olde Florida Golf Club - The First Thirty Years.”
Pictured are; Golf Course Superintendent, Darren J. Davis, Club President, Tom Kukk, Founding Member, Lynn Josephson, and Director of Golf, Tom Wildenhaus.

Day 2 of the annual Member/Member Championship! The shotgun start was moved to 8 AM in hopes of getting it in before yet another cool front slides through Southwest Florida.

In his latest blog, Darren J. Davis, CGCS explains the effect El Niño has had on turfgrass management and the steps his team have taken to have the golf course in great condition in this challenging year.

El Niño and its Effect on Turfgrass Management After years of back to back La Niña winters in Southwest Florida, we are experiencing our first El Niño weather pattern since 2018-2019. El Niño is a climate interaction linked to warming sea temperatures in the central and east/central Pacific Ocean. The warmer waters cause the jet stream to mov...

In his latest blog entry Darren J. Davis, CGCS explains the importance of December 21st, as well as the challenges of the strong El Niño weather pattern in place at Olde Florida Golf Club

All I want for Christmas... is sunshine! Please Santa!

Olde Florida Golf Club will celebrate and reflect on its first 30 years on January 6, 2024!
Among those in attendance will be Olde Florida’s golf course architect, Rees Jones.

Three members of the agronomy staff are celebrating their 20th anniversary with the club this month. Thank you Emilio, Estuardo and Humberto for your diligent service!

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas… ” at Olde Florida Golf Club! The tree is up and decorated with a very natural theme.

Holes 2 and 10 this morning at sunrise.

Olde Florida received 4.5” of rain over a 12 hour period yesterday. While slightly inconvenient to the membership, the “flushing” effect of the precipitation is extremely beneficial for turfgrass growth. The available irrigation water has a high pH and bicarbonate level.  This is why the agronomy team refers to rainfall in the dry season as “liquid gold.”