The great clean up continues….

Despite the winter wet weather, we have been able to make significant strides in cleaning up the course after the storm of last month. Most of the very large trees that were damaged or fell have been removed and the remaining work is relatively small. The team has also been extremely busy tidying up after the coring and fixing wash outs caused by the heavy rain on the newly installed drainage that has not properly grown in yet.

Coring

The course has recovered very nicely from the coring and the greens should return to normal playing condition this week. Now that the sand has settled on the greens we have sent the cutting units from the greens mowers away for reel grinding and new bedknives. The sand is very abrasive and causes the mowers blades to become blunt very quickly. We should be able to start improving the speed of the greens once this has been done.

Drainage and paths

It would appear that the wet weather has not really returned to normal yet and for the first four months of this year we have already recorded 598mm of rain (against an average for the same period of 351.7mm) which is approximately half of our average annual rainfall and well above average. The new drainage and paths that have been installed seem to be working very nicely so far and we are looking forward to a better playing experience in winter. The course is finally back to normal and playing all the normal 18 holes. The lower half of the first fairway, the second fairway and the first half of the 4th fairway is all still being mown a bit longer until the grass has established nicely. Once this has happened we will start to reduce the mowing height on these fairways back to normal.

Employee profile

 

 
          Tomas Shaw – Apprentice/Irrigation technician

Hailing originally from Argentina, Tomas is one of the biggest golf fanatics we have ever met! He loves all sport (especially the Jaguares Super Rugby team) but he lives and breathes golf (plays off a very good 2 handicap) and loves working on our golf course despite being an accountant. He is well known and loved by many members and all of his colleagues. Tomas has been with us for almost 3 years now and is in the midst of his apprenticeship. He recently passed his level 3 course with flying colours and is progressing quickly through level 4 in Turfgrass Management. Tomas is a vital part of our team and is always ready to help and contribute. He is a huge asset to the club and we are lucky to have him in the team.

Regards

Spencer and Course Maintenance Team