Wednesday 3rd December 2014.

Work is progressing nicely with the reconstruction of the 9th green and its surrounding features.

The majority of the approach area has now been returfed with the harvested grass from the fairway, approach bunker shaped and final shaping and turfing of the green is now complete.

A new valve-in-head irrigation system has been installed to service the green and this will allow for individual control of each sprinkler.

A final irrigation station is be installed to allow irriagtion of green surrounds and final turfing of the surround and shaping of the greenside bunker shall be completed next week.

On another note I received a surprise visit from Ron Pease the first Greenkeeper of the club way back in the early 70's. Ron took a look over the course, we exchanged a few stories and was impressed about how far we had come.

Commencing the shaping.

Re-laying the fairway turf

Installation of the valve-in-head irrigation for the green.

Final shaping of the green.

Turfing of the green.

The finished putting surface.

Past Greenkeeper Ron Pease.

Friday 14th November 2014.

Work commenced this week on the reconstruction of the 9th green, its approach and surrounds.

Firstly turf on the fairway was removed and stored for use later in the project. The whole site was then rotary hoed to allow easier loader work and to break up the thatch/mat layer and make it easier to work and shape.

We are now at the earthmoving stage with the fill sand being bulked around the site to achieve the new contours.

By the end of next week the fairway approach should be complete, new irrigation for the fairway installed and ready to return the harvested turf that is stockpiled back to the fairway before it deteriorates too much.

 Putting surfaces are recovering nicely from coring and topdressing that was undertaken on in October. These greens received another light application of sand this week to help smooth surfaces and this will be undertaken again within the next fortnight.

Our mowing heights are back to normal maintenance levels and very shortly we will recommence with our Wintergrass control programme once bentgrass turf is healthy enough.

Staff harvesting turf off fairway.

Removal of old green surface.

Rotary hoeing of work area.

Earthmoving begins.

Friday 17th October 2014.

We have been very busy this week with the commencement of our renovation period.

All the tees have been hollow cored, meshed to knock soil off cores, broomed to clean up and mowed this week. We will also be looking to scarify and deck mow them in the coming weeks.

We have also commenced the coring of some fairways. We have completed the coring of the 1st, 5th, 7th, 11th, 15th and 17th fairways with a 25mm hollow tine to a depth of 6 inches. This depth of coring is necessary as we have a thatch/mat (organic) layer to this depth in some areas. It is therefore very important that we get down to the sand base to help with water and nutrient movement.

Once cored the cores are allowed to dry and then they are meshed to knock off sand before they are vacuumed and watered. This loose sand that can hold valuable nutrients, then makes a good topdressing material.

Some further fairway renovation will be undertaken in the latter part of next week but our priority early next week will be the coring and topdressing of our greens. This should be completed over Monday and Tuesday.

Hopefully the weather will assist us by being fine as this will give us a better finish to the renovation process. Once the topdressing sand is on the greens we shall brush and irrigate numerous times in the days following to work the sand into the core holes.

Everything going well our greens should return to normal in 4 - 5 weeks.

Cored and cleaned up fairway with topdressing sand.

Renovated fairway before watering and mowing.

Monday 6th October 2014.

RENOVATION PERIOD.

Course renovation practices will commence on Monday 13th October.

Coring of tees, fairways and green surrounds will take place first and every effort will be made to not inconvenience play of the course but it will be unavoidable to not create some degree of disturbance.

Please have patience and take care when playing around Groundstaff conducting this work.

Tee, fairway and green surround coring will be interrupted the week commencing Monday 20th October when greens coring and topdressing will take precedence.

Friday 12th September 2014.

Groundstaff have been working this week on repairs to the lower pond wall.

A couple of sections of the wall were collapsing into the lake and blocks required removal, clean up and replacement.

Friday 5th September 2014.

Staff have been concentrating on necessary bunker work over the past month. A priority list of bunkers requiring work has been established and we are focusing many of our hours to this work.

This has primarily involved the removal of excess sand off the bunker face and relocation back to the base of the bunker. Over time sand is hit from the base to the face and this softens the angle of the face and in turn encourages buried lies and golf balls to finish on the face.

We have also looked at adding more bunker sand to some bunkers to reduce the big step off and improve both pedestrian and machinery access. This seems to occur more often in newly constructed bunkers as over time the newly constructed bunker sand to compacts and when this eventuates bunker base levels drop.

Members can help their cause by correctly raking bunkers when leaving. If 2 hands are used to level and rake sand a better finish can be achieved. This is particularly important if you have to play a shot from the face. The rake should be turned over when leveling the face using the smooth side of the rake to leave a smooth finish. This will help to reduce the likelihood of a golfer behind getting a buried lie and having to climb the face to play their next shot and hopefully breaking the circle of buried lies.

It won't eliminate it but it may help!!

Excess sand is removed from face with skid steer and face steepened. Base leveled.

Once machinery has finished, final shaping and smoothing is completed by hand.

Golfers can do more to help each others experience!!!!

This photo was taken early in the morning of Thursday 4th Sept after a Wednesday afternoon competition. Obviously the golfer entered the bunker at the wrong point to reduce the amount of raking. They then finished it off by using the toothed side of the rake and replaced it incorrectly!!!

Friday 13th June 2014.

I have been requested to publish stimpmeter readings on the blog for those members interested and shall do so once/week generally on a Friday. They shall also be displayed on the Local Rules board outside the Men's changerooms.

Readings are conducted on the same area of a designated green to achieve consistency with these readings from one week to the next. Obviously the goal in preparing putting surfaces is to make them as consistent as possible but this his very hard to achieve due to many factors that influence speed such as age, thatch levels, design contours etc.

Green speed this Friday are at 11'8" which fits into the medium to fast range.

Very Fast      13' - ^
Fast               12' - 13'
Med / Fast     11' - 12'
Medium         10' - 11'
Slow              9' - 10'
Very Slow      8' - 9'

Monday 9th June 2014.

By now most members would be aware of the damage to the 8th and 12th greens, 12th and 13th fairways and 8th tee that was caused by idiots in their car on Tuesday 28th May overnight.

Needless to say, staff were mortified when we realised what had happened to our course and we contacted Police to report the incident and have them attend the scene for forensic purposes.

Once this was completed we set to the task of repairing the damage.

We now finally find ourselves at the point where we have done what we can to repair the damage and now just await the grow-in of the new turf.

Both these greens are now fully in play with Local Rules applying for relief should your ball finish on an area of new turf. To hasten recovery we ask members avoid walking on new turf where possible.

Obviously these areas will play differently for some time but we shall continue to nurture these sites over the coming months. They will take some time to fully recover due to the time of year.

I thank my staff for their efforts over the past fortnight or so. They worked quickly to get the greens in particular back into play.

8th Green.

12th Green.

Early morning clean-up and repair of the greens surface.

Following the re-turfing and patching.

At grow-in stage today.

Friday 16th May 2014.

The course is almost prepared for the 2nd and 3rd rounds of the Club Championships this weekend.

Putting green speeds have increased a little this week with the drier weather conditions jumping from low 11's to 11'8".

Good luck to all those playing this weekend.

Monday 12th May 2014.

With the Club Championships commencing last weekend the team have been very busy preparing the course.
Part of this preparation has involved the leveling of our bunker bases in order to present bunkers the best we can for play over the coming weeks.

With some bunkers this has involved the use of our skid steer loader to move sand off the face where it accumulates after the playing of bunker shots and returning it to the base of the bunker to fill the uneven floor and return the bunker to a more level state.

Members can help reduce the incidence of downhill stances in bunkers by always pushing away the sand when raking and not dragging back to the bunker edge. All bunker rakes are double-sided to allow you to turn it over and force sand away then rake.

We know this practice takes a little more labour but it will be a positive step forward in helping produce the best possible playing conditions.

Moving sand around in bunker to level base.

Hand working sand to blend even.

Final raking with bunker machine.

Finished product. A firm (but not too firm) bunker with a level base.

Friday 28th March 2014.

This week we have upgraded the surface of the Practice 2 green (chipping green) on the south side of the clubhouse.

A week ago couch that had invaded the surface over an extended period of time was treated with a herbicide prior to removal to reduce the risk of re-infestation.

The entire surface including the treated zones was removed right back to the base construction sand and re-leveled in preparation for the new surface to be laid.

Extra soil on the perimeter of the green/collar area was removed to increase the size of the practice surface back to its original size before encroachment occurred.

A pre plant fertiliser was then applied, and then turf laid from our bentgrass nursery near the 5th hole. The surface was then watered and compacted and is now in the grow-in stage.

I am expecting the green to be out of play for approx 3-4 weeks.

Removal of old turf including couch infested areas.

Re-turfing of the practice green site.

Final watering and compaction.

Friday 21st March 2014.

Groundstaff had the unenviable this week of cleaning out our lower irrigation dam.

The automatic valve that allows water from the top dam to the lower dam was shut off and an irrigation programme set up overnight to lower the water level of this lower dam.

When we arrived for work in the morning the water level had subsided enough to allow staff to enter the dam and manually clean out the organic material (leaves, sticks etc) that had accumulated in the dam in particular at the eastern edge near the 15th green.

This work has presented the dam in much better condition especially in the shallow areas.

In the coming weeks we shall be conducting some repairs to the dam wall on the 14th (North) side as a section is tending to collapse towards the water.

Friday 7th March 2014.

Our putting surfaces are continuing to recover well from recent renovation.

Greens had a second application of sand this week and will continue to receive light applications on a regular basis over the coming weeks without effecting our ability to maintain the lower cutting heights.

We have just towards the end of this week lowered these cutting heights to our normal maintenance levels. We should see an increase in green speeds once the strong leaf growth, currently being experienced as a result of the renovation fertiliser, subsides somewhat and turf density improves.

Members are reminded to check the Local Rule Board periodically to make themselves aware of what Local Rules are current. As of Saturday 8th March 2014 there will no longer be a Preferred Lie ruling for the putting surfaces due to adequate recovery of our turf surfaces.

Local rules covering the cored/scarified areas of semi-roughs and green surrounds have also been deleted.

On a final note, we hope all members enjoy the golfing season ahead.

Wednesday 19th February 2014.

With greens renovation now complete I thought I would take the opportunity to show the reason why we core and topdress greens.

Coring is important to reduce the degree of thatch that we have in the greens as a product of growth. This organic layer holds up water infiltration, reduces the amount of oxygen available for the root system and can cause an increase in the risk of disease pathogens affecting the turf.

By coring and topdressing we allow for good water movement, encourage roots to go deeper in search of water and increase levels of oxygen in the subsoil to help develop a strong root system. A strong root system leads to a strong turf surface.

We undertake these practices at both Spring and late Summer/early Autumn to encourage root growth before periods of stress. The Spring renovation encourages strong growth and the Autumn renovation helps to allow good drainage before the wet period.

This renovation is particularly important for are older greens some of which are approaching 30 years of age. The reason we are still able to play on these greens is because we have had a stringent regime of renovation for the duration of the life.

Below are photographs of one of our oldest greens. You will notice a very dark brown organic layer about 100mm deep, just below the turf level of thatch/mat. This is the layer we attempt to remove and replace with free-draining sand.

Down through this layer you will see a vertical channel filled with yellow sand from our Spring renovation and some strong roots that have developed down this channel since this time.

Recovery of these greens should be relatively quick and be in sound health for the winter months.

Layer of thatch / mat with last Springs core hole filled with topdressing sand.

Notice core hole from last Spring renovation with strong root growth developed over the past 4 months.

Tuesday 18th February 2014.

All greens have been cored and topdressed over the past couple of days in what has proven to be a relatively smooth exercise.

With good weather forecast for the next few days recovery should be quick. A follow-up light topdressing may be required next week once irrigation and brushing has been conducted over the coming days.

Greens will be fertilised later in the week once this brushing has been completed.

Members are reminded that a 'Preferred Lie' within 6 inches (150mm) may be taken on cored greens and collars until further notice. Please monitor the Local Rule Board to find out when this local rule ceases to apply.

Friday 24th January 2014.

We have been busy this week working on the verti-cutting of our green surrounds.

We have been lent a demo verti-mower unit to trial and have taken the opportunity to verti-cut our surrounds to remove excessive grass density and thatch. This was not a planned exercise but when the opportunity arose it was too good to pass.

The verti-mower heads retro-fit onto our fairway mower and as they are narrower than other verti-cutting heads they work well on undulating ground as we have on green surrounds. The total width of the unit is approx 3 metres, so large areas can be renovated very quickly.

Once verti-cut, the surround is broomed to remove grass clippings, mown and finally blown down to disperse finer grass material.

Removal of the excess grass and thatch will firm up surround and reduce the occurrence of mower ridging that can be seen from time to time on the sloped sections of the surrounds.

Recovery from this practice will be very quick.

Fairway mower with the fitted verti-cutting heads.

Verti-cutting removing excess grass and thatch.

Surround before clipping removal.

Clippings are removed by power broom.

The cleaned up surround is then mown.

Excess clippings are blown off with power blower after mowing.

The finished result is a firmer, smoother surface for play. 

 

Friday 18th January 2014.

Members will be pleased to know that a problem experienced with our #2 bore pump late last week was remedied on Monday of this week.

The failure of this bore pump last week mean't that we had access to a reduced quantity of water and this had to be rationed over the course for the four nights so that we could recharge our dams for the following night. Unfortunately the timing was poor with the hottest weekend we had for a while with temperatures in the low to mid 40's for both days.

Most of areas that suffered from this rationing were carry zones and semi-rough areas with some middle sections of fairway also being affected. Watering of tees, greens and green surrounds was not compromised.

Though signs are still evident with drying of these areas, we have been in normal programming since Monday night and we will see a dramatic improvement over the coming week.

Staff have also been busy this week with the removal of the fairway bunker on the right-hand side of the 12th hole.

This bunker had become a unnecessary maintenance item with leaf litter continually impacting on the ability for staff to present the bunker as best we can. The area surrounding the bunker was also invaded by tree roots and this was restricting grass growth.

We have now rotary hoed the site, ground away tree surface roots and shaped the area to include some mounding and followed with the turfing of the site.

We feel this will better suit the location and present the area in better condition for play.

Thursday 9th January 2014.

ATTENTION ALL MEMBERS !!

We have experienced some problems with our #2 groundwater bore this week.

It became apparent that this bore that was constructed in 2009 was not producing the amount of water it should and therefore our recharge rate had dropped off significantly.

This bore column and pump has been removed by Bore expert and club member Matt Ferguson for further assessment.

Unfortunately because of this we will have to modify our irrigation programmes to accommodate the reduced recharge rate and this may mean we will experience drying of some sections of the course.

Our putting surfaces will not be allowed to suffer with this rescheduling.

All things going to plan, we should return to normal scheduling early next week.

Monday 6th January 2014.

Groundstaff will be working on the removal of invading couchgrass into our putting surfaces over the coming weeks.

This will be a slow process with care needed to remove all couch and make sure that replacement turf from our bentgrass nursery is properly installed to give it the best chance of survival.

The couchgrass can sometimes be imported into the green site at time of construction or has been known to send runners from the surrounds areas several metres away to get to the putting surface site.

Putting surface with couch invasion occurring in the foreground.

Care is taken in removing the invaded area and to also remove stolons from below the turf surface.

Once the contaminated turf is removed a clean bentgrass plug from the nursery is its replacement.

We have also been working on the improvement of our teeing areas in the past few weeks. This has involved the leveling of the tee tops with a rotary deck mower. This removes all the unevenness and firms up the tees. Though some areas become scalped in this process, they regrow quickly and help to maintain a flat firm teeing area. This practice will continue over the next few weeks.

Rotary deck mowing unit in use.