When guests arrive at Legends Golf Course & Villas in Kingsland, Texas, one of the first things they notice, besides the Hill Country views and Lake LBJ backdrop, is the immaculate condition of the course. Every hole reflects hours of work that happen long before the first tee time of the day.
Maintaining a championship-caliber course like Legends is a year-round effort. Our dedicated grounds crew follows a meticulous schedule to keep the course healthy, playable, and beautiful through every season. Here’s a look behind the scenes at what goes into daily, weekly, monthly, and annual course maintenance.
Daily Maintenance: The Foundation of a Great Round
Every morning before players arrive, the Legends grounds crew is out on the course making sure everything is in top shape. Daily tasks are essential; they’re what keep the course playable, polished, and consistent day after day.
Mowing Fairways, Tees, and Greens
The first and most obvious job each day is mowing. Fairways are cut to the ideal height to maintain both aesthetic beauty and optimal ball roll. Tees and greens receive special attention; greens are typically cut every morning to ensure they’re smooth and accurate. Consistency here is key: a well-mowed green gives golfers confidence that their putts will roll exactly as expected.
Sand Trap Raking and Cleanup
Bunkers can make or break a golfer’s round, so our team rakes and smooths every sand trap daily. This includes repairing footprints, smoothing rake lines, and removing debris like leaves or branches. If heavy rain has compacted the sand overnight, extra work is done to fluff and redistribute it for ideal play conditions.
Sprinkler System Checks and Watering
Keeping turf healthy in the Texas Hill Country requires a finely tuned irrigation system. Daily sprinkler checks ensure every zone is functioning properly and watering efficiently. Adjustments are made based on recent rainfall, temperatures, and soil moisture to keep the course lush without overwatering.
Weed Whacking and Trimming
Edges along cart paths, trees, tee boxes, and water hazards are touched up daily as needed. Quick weed whacking keeps the property looking manicured and prevents overgrowth that could interfere with play or aesthetics.
Debris and Litter Removal
Wind, wildlife, and daily play can scatter debris across the course. The crew conducts a daily sweep to collect branches, leaves, and other debris, ensuring Legends remains pristine and welcoming.
Weekly Maintenance: Precision and Detail
While daily maintenance focuses on surface-level perfection, weekly tasks are about precision, the subtle touches that keep the course playing like a championship layout week after week.
Cutting New Cup Locations
During the week, cup positions on the greens are changed often to spread out foot traffic, reduce wear in any one area, and give returning golfers a fresh challenge. Each new location is chosen strategically, taking into account slope, green speed, and upcoming events.
Edging Cart Paths
Clean edges along cart paths might seem like a small detail, but it makes a significant visual impact. The crew edges paths weekly to keep grass from creeping over concrete, creating crisp, defined lines that make the course look polished and professional.
Sand Trap Edging
Beyond daily raking, sand traps are edged weekly to keep their shape sharp and prevent turf from growing into the bunkers. This keeps the traps playable and visually striking, especially when contrasted against the bright white sand.
Equipment Checks
Weekly maintenance also involves taking care of the machines that make everything possible. Mowers, rollers, and utility vehicles are regularly inspected, cleaned, and adjusted to ensure they perform at their best and cut clean, even lines.
Monthly Maintenance: Turf Health and Agronomy
Monthly tasks focus on nourishing the course, ensuring that beneath the manicured surface, the turf and soil stay healthy and resilient.
Fertilizer and Pesticide Applications
At least once a month, the course receives carefully measured applications of fertilizer to provide essential nutrients like nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus. These promote strong root growth, deep green color, and resistance to stress from heat and traffic.
Targeted pesticide and herbicide treatments keep weeds, pests, and diseases under control. This is especially important in the Hill Country climate, where warm temperatures can encourage quick weed growth and pest activity.
Topdressing and Light Aeration
Many golf courses, including Legends, will lightly topdress greens monthly with a thin layer of sand. This smooths the surface, improves drainage, and reduces thatch buildup over time. Light spiking or venting of greens may also occur between significant aeration periods to keep oxygen and nutrients flowing to the roots.
Irrigation Calibration
Sprinkler systems can drift out of alignment over time. Each month, the irrigation system is checked and calibrated to ensure even water distribution and identify any leaks, clogged heads, or timing issues.
Annual Maintenance: Deep Care for Long-Term Quality
Some of the most critical work happens just once or twice a year, deep maintenance practices that set the stage for healthy turf in every season.
Punching (Aerating) the Greens
Every year, usually during a strategic window in the growing season, the greens undergo core aeration (or “punching”). This involves removing small plugs of turf and soil to relieve compaction, increase air exchange, and promote deeper root growth.
It may temporarily affect putting surfaces for a couple weeks, but aeration is one of the most critical agronomic practices a golf course can do. Without it, greens would compact, drain poorly, and lose their smooth roll over time.
Major Irrigation Maintenance
Annually, the entire irrigation system is inspected from top to bottom. Valves, pumps, and lines are checked to ensure everything is functioning efficiently as the year's hottest months approach.
Tree Trimming and Landscape Work
Once a year, often in late winter or early spring, the crew conducts major tree trimming to manage canopy growth, improve sunlight on tees and greens, and remove any branches that could pose hazards. Larger landscape improvements, such as mulching beds or planting new trees and shrubs, are typically done during this time as well.
Bunker Sand Replacement
While bunkers are maintained daily and weekly, periodic sand replacement is often part of annual maintenance. Over time, sand compacts and is contaminated with soil. Adding fresh sand keeps bunkers fluffy and consistent.
Maintenance You Might Not See
Beyond what happens on a schedule, there’s a layer of responsive maintenance that happens quietly but consistently at Legends. After storms, the crew may spend hours clearing debris, re-raking bunkers, and repairing turf damage. During drought periods, irrigation schedules are adjusted carefully to conserve water while protecting playing conditions.
Tournaments and special events bring their own prep work, too; rolling greens more frequently, adding tee markers, and extra mowing to give the course a “tournament-ready” feel.
Why It Matters
All of this work is what keeps Legends Golf Course & Villas in top condition year-round. The lush fairways, true-rolling greens, and clean lines around every bunker and path aren’t just for show; they affect playability, pace, and the overall experience for members and guests.
The Texas Hill Country offers stunning scenery, but maintaining a course in this environment takes expertise, consistency, and passion. Our grounds crew embodies all three, working behind the scenes to ensure that from your first tee shot to your final putt, the course feels exceptional.
Next time you tee it up at Legends, take a moment to notice the details: the crisp edges, smooth greens, and lush fairways. They’re the result of year-round dedication to excellence, ensuring that every round you play here is memorable for all the right reasons.