Course Update                                                                                        13 March 2018

Drainage, Irrigation, Bunkers and Cart paths…

Drainage:

Drainage works are progressing with the focus this week on completing the installation of the primary drainage on Hole 7. Unfortunately, the weather has set the project pace. The original plan was to fully complete the drainage on Holes 1,2 and 4 before moving on to holes 6 and 7 but Turftech has been unable to perform the secondary (Sand Slit or Top Draining) on holes 1, 2 and 4 due to the wet weather and ground conditions. The good news is, we are making progress and should the weather play along, the plan is to go back to Hole 4 to install the Top Drains/sand slits next week.

Irrigation:

Over the last couple of months, despite being regularly serviced we have experienced some difficulties with the operation of our irrigation pumps (now 25 years old). The computer ‘drives’ and motors were causing the system to trip off repeatedly day and night and we were unable to sufficiently irrigate the course. As a result, we had to purchase new pumps ($45k) which were originally planned for replacement in our next financial year.

We now have a more modern and efficient set of pumps, carefully chosen to suit our irrigation needs and system. These new pumps and computer ‘drives’ use smart technology and will minimise the risk of downtime.

Unfortunately, during the pumps installation, which took two days, we had to prioritise the irrigation to the Greens and Tees via hand watering during the daytime. The fairways and driving range had been quite badly burnt off in some areas. Normally we would do a ‘dry down’ of the golf course going into winter but this was forced upon us a little sooner. Some of these areas are showing signs of disease (melting out) caused by high temperatures and humidity despite repeated applications of fungicides. These areas should recover quickly.

Bunkers:

The team have been working hard in the bunkers over the last number of months. To date we have checked and fixed the drainage in and put new sand into no less than 13 bunkers so far and will continue to work on the others. The Course Technical Group is reviewing our Bunker Strategy as part of a review of the Course Master Plan.

Cart Paths:

This week we will begin constructing some cart and foot paths, mostly on the front 9. While they are too numerous to mention now, we have started behind the 12th green with a concrete foot path to go around the back of the green to the 13th White Tee and join up with the existing path. Most of these paths will be constructed with reinforced concrete and drainage where needed. In total approximately 300 meters of paths will be installed which should make getting around the course in winter a little easier.

Course Staff profile: Fredrick Choi

Each course update I would like to introduce a member of our awesome golf course maintenance team.

Fred has been with us for about 9 months now and is an extremely passionate and caring greenkeeper. He has a degree in Forestry and Agriculture and has learnt how to work on a golf course extremely quickly. He is very friendly and willing to help despite not being fluent in English and his hard work is an example to us all. He loves sport, has joined us for a game of golf already but most of all he loves Soccer! He has a beautiful family and we hope you are as proud to have him on our team as we are.