Hawkes Bay 6-10-23

 Hawkes Bay 6-10-23      Contractor: Down to Earth     dtelandscape.com

Hello Mitch,

Here is what I saw golfing at Hawkes Bay Saturday 6-10-23.

Neither hole 5 or 6 have a "Drop Area" for the unfortunate golfers that hit their ball into the water.  I believe I mentioned this to you on both of my last two visits to Hawks Bay on December 10th and May 13th.  Is it that hard for Down to Earth to put out a sign and paint a circle on the grass?

According to the Ambassador it was about two weeks ago that Down to Earth applied fertilizer.  Now here is an example of an equipment malfunction.  The spreader put too much fertilizer down in a narrow strip.  It actually turned the grass green.  

I am sure they have repaired their spreader.  It costs lots of money to over fertilize.  They may even have to mow the grass more often.

Hole 1

The tee boxes are looking better and they should because we are into about the 8th week of grass growing.  The tee boxes have been aeriated.  They need to be fertilized.  They do not look a healthy green color like the picture above.

There are not a lot of poorly cut cups.  Maybe the weekend employee is not trained correctly.

This plug is not set level nor have the edges been "Knit" together.

Damaged area on the green

Almost all of the bunkers have an area like this where the grass has not been taken care of .  It has been nutrient starved for ever.  

You will see in later pictures that sod has been put down in areas like this.  The sod is not being watered and is dying.  Hopefully the District (Residents) did not pay for the sod.

Down to Earth has been the maintenance contractor here for a while.  Areas like this are a direct result of poor or no maintenance.  You can not blame it on high traffic as this is not a high traffic area.  If Down to Earth performed their contractual obligations you would not have to replace sod like this.

Many of the bunkers are over due for edging.

Hole 2

The tee boxes have very few weeds.  This patch was next to where I teed my ball.

Damage on the green

The greens don't have many weeds.  Goose grass is pictured here.

Most of the greens have old ball marks. 

Magnolia leaves in the sand trap.

Hole 3

It would not take too long to clean off the concrete around the bench.  But the superintendent has to see it first.

A picture of the tee box.  Nutrient starved.  

I believe this is a dying weed.  It looked like weeds have been sprayed in the fairway.

I lot of the greens are spotted with different grasses.

Most of the greens were rolling pretty smooth.  The 8th green was an exception.

Hole 4

On the walk to the 4th tee.  Always standing water in this location.

A damaged area.

You saw this picture above.

Hole 5

On the walk to the 5th tee

The tee box does not look like the green line.  It needs fertilizer.

Hole 6

New sod

Next to the new sod.

Some of this sod is not going to make it.

You should be looking at a "Drop Area" sign.  But you are not because it is not here.

Hole 7

This is not lemon leaf.  Can you tell me the name of this weed located in the green?

Hole 8

With a back blower I could blow all of these leaves into a pile and pick them up in less that 15 minutes.

The contract says that is what they are responsible for doing.  Removing the leaves.

They violate the contract everyday.

Hole 9

That is it from Hawkes Bay.