Drying out….


Even though we recorded 10mm rain on Labour Day, the course has now dried out nicely and we are able to enjoy the golf course with the regular use of golf carts again.

On the subject of golf carts, we will be setting up a quick induction program for those of you who use golf carts. This is to help improve your enjoyment of the golf course when using golf carts while at the same time educating all users to the Health and Safety requirements, how to use a cart on the golf course without damaging the course and allowing for proper golf etiquette. Please contact John Sims to find out what date and time these inductions will be taking place. All members who will make use of carts are required to please attend.

With the improved weather lately, the team has been flat out busy to get on top of some of the maintenance issues that we were not able to during winter. We have commenced spraying of weeds such as Kikuyu and Daisies on the fairways, green surrounds and tees and we should be able to finish this spraying over the coming week or so provided it is not too windy. We have tried all sorts of different chemistries with the Daisies and hopefully this time around we will get a good result. Once this is done then we will begin spraying the rough and ‘naturalized’ areas to control the weeds there too. We have also seeded and sanded most of the areas that were damaged (ruts) on the fairways over winter and this seed should soon germinate and repair that damage quite soon.

Turftech has also been helping us lately replace some irrigation isolation valves on the course which will allow us to identify and isolate any leaks or burst pipes we might have around the course. Callum and Tomas have been hard at work too getting the irrigation system ready for summer and one will probably notice sections of cable over the ground in places which are there to maintain electrical activation of the sprinklers. Unfortunately, we have had a number of cables fail underground over the course of the winter hence the repairs. Once the ground is dry enough, we will bury those cables permanently.

On the greens, this week we are planning to ‘dust’ the greens with a light layer of sand to keep the greens firm, smooth and healthy. We have also applied our first application of the season of Paclobutrazol which is a plant growth regulator designed to stunt and reduce Poa in the greens without effect to the Bent Grass. This will be used in conjunction with Trinexapac-ethyl which will help maintain a nice dense, healthy sword of bent grass while restricting the ability of Poa to grow.

The driving range is also showing the benefits of the spring weather and is really striping up nicely and giving us a nice target to aim at. We will be erecting a new 250 meter sign at the end of the range soon for the really long hitters!

As mentioned in previous updates, we are in the process of putting together a comprehensive plan for drainage works and path installation for the front 9 (as per our board decision to deferred rebuilding of holes 11 and 15) and instead installing more drainage and paths on the front 9. As part of this process we are also consulting with hydraulic engineers and storm water specialists to make sure that the plans we put in place will be efficient and effective. The main areas of focus are around holes 1,2 and 4 which were our worst holes on the front 9 this past winter. Over the coming weeks we will be able to share more details of what is planned and when exactly these works will take place. It is however envisioned that earthworks on this could commence in January.

On a final note, we will be installing new distance markers in the fairways over the coming weeks. As you can see, they have the distance numbers on them and will be much harder wearing and visually appealing. We will also take much care to make sure that they are located as accurately as possible.

 
    
 

Kind Regards

Spencer and course team