Pine Tree pleasure..........

[Dean Stokes]

Just spent the last two days playing Pine Tree in Boynton Beach, Florida. What a pleasure. Congrats first to Anthony Nysse, a member on this site and the superintendent at Pine Tree. The course was immaculate with the greens running as good as bermuda possibly can.
I dont have any photographs but if any of you get the chance to play there you must not turn it down. Fairly generous fairway widths allow you to hit driver most holes but you still have to think. There is a great mix of long and short holes. The par 3's are all very good and not one of them is easy.
The green complexes and bunkering is just perfect. Just the type of course you could play everyday without getting tired of it.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Dean,

Anthony has done a nice job improving the playing conditions at Pine Tree, which is an outstanding Dick Wilson, aided by nice prevailing winds.

It's a pleasure to play day in and day out.

Glad you liked it

[Dean Stokes]

The greens were spectacular Pat, in fact the whole place was. There was maybe a 10 mph wind which was ample.......it's quite strange that when you are playing the course you are not under the impression that it is a hard golf course however it just does not yield many birdies. The fairways are genrous for the most part but you have to know where not to miss around the greens amd you have to shape your irons to stop the ball from spinning off the them. Also if you get the wrong side of the hole you can really be defensive putting!!!! A real treat.

[Anthony_Nysse]

Gentleman,
  Thank you for your kind words about the club and that work that we have accomplished to this point. It's been a rewarding 2 years, to see a wonderful Dick Wilson course come to life.
  This past weekend, Pine Tree hosted the county Amateur. The winning score of the event, over 3 days was +1 and yielded 5 scores under par for the weekend. The weather was perfect, hign in the 90's, sunny, dry and allowed us to dry the course out and manage the water on the greens and fairways.
  It was an enjoyable event and broke up the sometimes boredom of the summer months. The following is a link to a blog that we maintain for the club. In includes a few links and photos from this weekend. Thanks again.

http://pinetreegm.blogspot.com/2011/08/palm-beach-county-amateur.html

[Mitch Hantman]

I played in the event as well, and I, too, have to tell you how terrific the conditioning was at Pine Tree.  The greens were as good as putting surfaces can possibly get, and to do this in the middle of the heat of the summer is outstanding.  My bucket hat is off to you, Tony!

The second course we played was The Falls CC in Lake Worth, and the greens there were fantastic as well.  It was a real treat to play these fine courses in peak conditions. 

[Dean Stokes]

One of the highlights that I forgot to mention is the speed and consistency of the fringes/surrounds/run offs!!!!!! These are not small areas either as you can see from the blog Anthony posted. I commented several times to my playing partners on the size of some the greens, meaning that they are very big. However they play small because of the undulations and run offs. I hit several 'decent' irons that were off by a yard or two that then spun and ran off. Knowing them would have been a small advantage but would not have helped my shabby golf too much!!!!!!! One final point I'll make is the location of the fairway bunkers. I do not know if they are in the original positions but they are excellent. They fit perfectly and just make you think enough. At driving distance they pinch in and make you make decisions. Just form memory holes 1,4,8,10,15,16 and18 did just that.

[Michael Ryan]

Anthony,

Thanks for the link and congrats on the work you have done at Pine Tree.  I caddied at Pine Tree in the late 90's while in college down in Boca-the article about the final round references the 10th hole as a par 4, I recall it being a par 5.  Has par changed or did they simply play it as a 4 during the County Am?  It's been a solid 12 years since I have been there-so apologies if there was a change long ago.

Mike

[Dean Stokes]

Mike, Anthony will answer this better although he probably outside aerifying right now!!!!!!! Number 10 is now a par 4 and a beauty. We played it from one tee up from the back, the wind was off the right and assisting slightly. I believe we played it around 470 yards and with the fairways rolling nicely the hole was playable. From the back left tee on a wet day with no help it would be a brute.

[Anthony_Nysse]

I'll reply more later, as yes, we are aerifiying and it appears we might have some bad weather this weekend. The par on #10 changed during the renovation of 2005. The back tees actually plays 517. Very good par 4.


#16 in it's glory

[Lester George]

Sure looks better than the last time I was there.  Congrats Tony.

Lester

[Patrick_Mucci]

In the few times I played this year the course was in great shape.

By great shape I mean great playing conditions.

Anthony has done a great job with respect to the course's presentation to the golfer.

[Keith Phillips]

Tony, I just reviewed all you blog postings for 2011 - you have been busy, I particularly like reading about the focus on the green approaches/surrounds!  Pine Tree is very lucky to have you!!

[Anthony_Nysse]

We are right in the middle of aerification, in which we will core aerify all surfaces with 3/4" tines. We will then sand and run the graden (deep verticutter) over all the tifeagle surfaces. THIS is the tool that allows us to really remove material, get sand into the canopy and create a firm surface. Over the course of the next week, we will incorperate over 250 tons of sand in 6 acres of greens and approaches, or nearly 1000# of sand per 1000 sq/feet. Pine Tree may not be the most "run up" friendly, golf course, but the grass is easier to manage when it can dry down and remain firm. I can remember talking with Ran and Mr. Mucci this past winter. I mentioned that we were really going to work on firming up the approaches this summer.  Their eyes both lite up!
  The following are a few pics of what a graden looks like and leaves behind, for those that have not seen one.


Graden in action


Material left behind



Channels left to fill with sand