El Diablo 2-20-23

El Diablo 2-20-23 Contractor: Down to Earth dtelandscape.com

Here is what I saw Monday 2-20-23 at El Diablo.

Hole 1

The greens are in much better shape than De La Vista, Chula Vista and Hill Top. Weeds are the biggest issue with the greens, but not huge.

What should be noted is that Down to Earth does all of these mentioned courses. Why can't Rick Watts, the Regional Superintendent for Down to Earth teach the workers at the other courses to cut cups like Saddlebrook and El Diablo ?

Cup cutting is the biggest improvement that I saw since my last visit. The picture shows a fresh cup plug installed correctly. You only see old cups that are healing nicely. There are a few exceptions maybe because the trained individual does not work 7 days a week.

Hole 2

There is one piece of the broken concrete that is sticking out and could be a trip hazard for us walkers.

The Lake Banks need some attention.

There are lots of Palm trees at El Diablo. Every Palm tree landscape area has lots of debris that needs to be removed.

None of the sand traps were groomed today. My last picture was taken at 12:43 pm. By contract they are to be machine groomed three times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. All other days require spot raking which never happens.

Hole 3

The tee boxes are way better than De La Vista or Chula Vista or Hilltop, but they still have some issues.

Edge damage

Weed issues

The flag is only 3 paces from the edge of the green. Maybe too close.

There is another issue with most of the executive courses and that is the lack of a defined collar or first cut off the green. I am not sure why the District's Golf Maintenance Department lets the contractors get away with this.