Monday 24th December 2012

Much of the reconstruction work for the 8th green is now complete with the final turf going down last Friday 21st December and this is all now in the grow-in stage.

The turf on the putting surface itself is showing good growth and regular mowing is now underway. This surface will be topdressed for the first time very soon and this will help firm it up for play.

Some extra grass will be planted on the extremities of the construction site to blend turf to surrounding areas and this should develop fairly rapidly.

A light scarification of the older fairway turf on the approach soon, will encourage good recovery of this turf that had been stored for a couple of weeks and looks somewhat scarred.

Once turf on the surround has established itself well enough, the bunkers will receive their final shaping and have bunker sand placed in them.

All things going well, the anticipated opening of this hole should be mid February.

Friday 14th December

We have had a very productive week this week with the relaying of the 8th green and the commencement of turf laying on the approach and surround.

Next week the remaining turf on the surrounds and around bunkers will be completed and a irrigation station will be installed to water this surround.

All turfing should be completed by the end of next week and grow-in underway over the Xmas break.

The finished turfed green.

 

Approach to the green has been re-turfed with just the turfing of surround and bunkers required.

 

Wednesday 12th December.

Work has progressed well on the reconstruction of the 8th green complex. Harvested turf from fairway has been relayed and the irrigation stations to serve the approach area and green have been installed.

Final levelling on the green was completed earlier in the week and the laying of the putting surface started on Tuesday. The laying of the green will be completed by Wednesday.

Thursday will see the installation of another irrigation station around the back and sides of the complex to service the surround areas and we shall also commence the returfing of the remainder of the approach and surrounds. As this is quite a large area, I am expecting that this will go well into the middle of next week.

 

The relaying of turf on the approach and operation of new irrigation station.

 

 

The laying of turf on the putting surface using turf grown on our bentgrass nursery for the past 9 months.

 

Thursday 6th December.

Work is progressing well with the reconstruction of the 8th green complex. Final shaping of the green and bunkering as well as the approach area is almost complete. A ring main to service the green and an irrigation station to service the approach have been completed and work will commence very soon on the re-grassing of the approach area. Turfing of the green will most likely start around next Tuesday 12th December.

Shaped greenside bunker.

Installation of irrigation on approach area.

 

Wednesday 28th November.
Work commenced this week on the reconstruction of the 8th green and it's complex.
Turf was removed from a portion of the 8th fairway and stored for re-laying once final shaping is completed.
The turf on the 8th green was removed and disposed of so as to avoid contaminating the new soil with the weed bank of Poa annua (wintergrass) that has accumulated over the years.
The whole site was then rotary hoed to break up soil layering, green site relocated and shaping of subgrade commenced.
Once final position and shape of the putting surface is achieved, a new irrigation ring main will be installed to service the new green and then sand will be imported for the putting surface from an offsite sand pit and final levels completed.
Work will then turn to the shaping and positioning of surrounds, bunkers and fairway approach before installation of irrigation stations to service these areas.
The final stage will obviously be the grassing of the site and the grow-in stage.

Harvesting of turf from fairway approach.

 

Turf cutting and removal of old putting surface with contamination of Poa annua seed.

Rotary-hoeing of complete construction site to break up soil layering.

 

Bulk earthmoving to find clean sand for construction and relocation of features.

 

Shaping and preparing sub-grade of putting surface to create character and fall in the putting surface.

 

 

Saturday 10th November 2012
Work will commence on the reconstruction of the 8th green and it's related features on Monday 26th November. At this time the current 9th hole will be broken into 2 temporary holes while the 8th hole is out of play.
The temporary 8th hole will be a Par 3 measuring 140m and be played from the existing 9th tee to a temporary green on the 9th fairway. The 9th hole will then play as a par 4, 330m hole and members will play from a temporary tee on the 9th fairway to the 9th green.
Once complete the normal 8th hole will measure approx 155-160m in length which is about 10-15 metres longer than is current. There are restrictions on marking this hole longer as this would involve the removal of a significant amount of both planted and native vegetation that currently exists at the rear of the green. If this vegetation was removed it may reduce the safety margin that exists now and make players on the 8th green vulnerable from play on the 12th hole.
Every effort will be made to keep this disruption to the minimum from a time viewpoint but this is a significant project and as such will take a significant amount of man hours to complete.
I will keep you all updated on the progress of the project through this blog with photos and comments.
We thank all members for their understanding.

This Wednesday 31st October greens are starting to recover nicely from renovation undertaken last week. Poor weather last week when the renovation was being conducted, made it difficult to incorporate topdressing sand. The result is that this sand has hung around on the surface a little longer than desirable, but this is improving now as growth increases and as we have been able to complete several brushings and waterings. Renovation fertiliser was applied last week and we are now seeing an increase in growth to the point where the greens will probably recieve their first mowing tomorrow, Thursday 1st November.

Large amounts of grass are being removed from fairways as part of the scarification process. This material then needs to vacuumed up and removed from site a light mesh run over the fairway to break up damp clumps of grass before vacuumed for a second time.
Once clean the fairway can then be mown and blower used to disperse any leftover clippings.

Work has commenced on fairway renovation today Monday 29th October as planned with the scarifying of fairways.

By this Tuesday 30th October we have completed the 6th, 9th, 3rd and 4th fairways with hopes to complete a couple more on this nine before the end of the week. Weather permitting.

Fairway renovation will be commencing on Monday 29th October. This practice will involve the scarifying of the fairways on holes 1-9 and coring of fairways 10-18.
Members are asked to please give way to renovation equipment or proceed to the next tee should it be necessary so as to expdediate the process and not risk the safety of staff and members alike.
Thankyou for your understanding.

Renovation of putting surfaces proceeded as planned this Monday 22nd and Tuesday 23rd October despite the poor weather on the Monday.
Rainfall on the Monday made it difficult to topdress and brush in due to not being able to dry the topdressing sand out.
This has improved on Tuesday with the wind and sun drying out the sand and yesterdays topdressing is now drying sufficiently enough.
Putting surfaces should recover over then next 3 weeks once renovation fertiliser takes affect.

Members should note the 'Local Rule Board' as a preferred lie within 6 inches (150mm) is in affect on all cored greens and collars.

ATTENTION!

Members are reminded that greens renovation will commence this coming Monday 22nd October and Tuesday 23rd October.
Only 9 holes will be available for play on both of these days.

New grass trees were planted in one of the clubhouse garden beds this week by grass tree specialists Replants. These will develop into a nice feature garden that will also contain some kangaroo paws etc.

Course is prepared and ready for play in tomorrow's first round of Club Championships. Greens have been cut and rolled this Friday 5th of October and are running a little quicker with a stimp reading of 12 feet 5 inches this afternoon.
Good luck to all members and enjoy your course.

Despite wet weather this week so far, putting green speeds have increased a little to 11 feet 4 inches taken this morning Wednesday 26th September.

Morning all. Hope you are enjoying the change in weather.
Putting green speeds have slowed somewhat in the past week due to a spike in growth with the good weather. An increase in soil temperatures is encouraging growth and as a result green speeds have dropped to 10 feet 9 inches this morning of Wednesday 19th September.

The next needle tining and dusting of greens will be undertaken this coming Monday 17th September. This will be the last disruption to our putting surfaces until our major greens renovation takes place on Monday and Tuesday 22nd / 23rd October following the Club Championships.

Warming trend has quickened putting green somewhat in the past week with stimp meter readings taken this morning Wednesday 12th September increasing some 6 inches to 12 feet even. Hope you all enjoy your golf and the weather!! :-)

With fine weather forecast for Monday 10th September, groundstaff will be completing some broadleaf weed spraying around the course throughout the day. Members are not at any risk though chemical can at times be quite odourous.

Despite wet weather, putting green speeds have not slowed too much since last week with a stimp reading of 11' 4" taken this morning of Wednesday 5th September.

Recent storms have not caused too much damage though there is still some tree debris around the course that will require clean up over the next couple of days. We have recieved 25.5 mm of rain over the last couple of days.

Putting green speeds have been checked today Wednesday 29th August and they have slowed since last Friday now reading 11' 5" which is considered slightly fast. These readings were taken after mowing this morning at approx 7.30 am.

Putting green speeds have slowed a little this week with speeds averaging out to 12' 3" which is still considered moderately fast. These will probably slow some more next week with the forecast of a wet week.

Staff have been busy this week completing some tree planting around the course and completing some liquid fertilising to fairways and green surrounds. We also completed the needle-tining and dusting to all greens and evidence of this process is all but gone.

Fine weather this Monday 20th August, allowed us to complete planned needle-tining and dusting of all greens during the day. Signs of this work should dissappear fairly quickly without affecting play of our putting surfaces.
This practice will probably only occur on one more occasion before Club Championships in October.

These unrepaired divots were found on the 10th fairway on this Tuesday 14th August.
Was this you or any of your playing partners ??

Another photo of yesterdays big wet kindly donated by one of the members who was at the club.

Heavy, persistent rainfall yesterday Sunday 12th August has caused significant damage to some bunkers around the course and staff have been busy this morning undertaking repairs in preparation for play.
We recieved 33 mm of rainfall yesterday but other than the bunkers and some casual water still lying on the course, it has held up quite well.

With the cold nights and warm days there has been a quickening trend with putting green speeds. Stimp readings taken this Friday PM have seem them rise to 13" 1" the quickest they have been for some time. The weather forecast is for rain next week and green speeds will decrease somewhat due to this. Enjoy the course !!

Members are advised that all greens will be needle-tined and dusted on Monday 20th August as per our normal maintenance programme. This will be undertaken weather permitting and will create some disturbance to putting surfaces while this is being undertaken.

Newly seeded bentgrass nursery near the 5th hole is developing well. This will improve further over the next 3 months as the wether improves and will be ready for harvesting for greens reconstruction in early December this year. All golfers are asked not to take their buggies across the new turf to avoid damage to new seedlings. If your golf ball lands in this area, walk carefully over the surface when retrieving it. Thankyou.

 Staff have been busy this week removing some of the dead trees that have occurred in the last 12 months. Planting of tree seedlings that we have developed over the last 12 months will take place over the next month or two.

Our new skid steer is proving very versatile with both stump grinding and trenching attachments reducing the need for costly contractors to complete work on the course. We are also in the process of acquiring some pallet fork attachments to help with the many lifting jobs that pop up from day to day.

New 15th green.

Welcome to the new Wanneroo Golf Club blog.

The purpose of this blog will be to give interested parties an up to date diary of what,s happening on the golf course from day to day and notification of planned work etc for the course.

We shall also upload some photos from time to time.

Hope you all enjoy the extra info.

Welcome to the new Wanneroo Golf Club Blog.