Friday 23rd October 2015.

Groundstaff have worked hard this week to commence the required renovation of our turf areas for the summer ahead.

All greens except one of our practice greens and the 4th green, which will shortly be reconstructed, were cored and topdressed. These are recovering well due to some favourable weather.

We also managed to complete all the coring of tees this week and will commence fairway renovation next week.

The 18th green 4 days after renovation. Recovery should be quick with turf growing through topdressing sand rather quickly.

Thursday 17th September 2015.

Work has commenced on the landscaping around the newly constructed 8th tee with the transplanting of several grass trees. Further planting and mulching will take place over the coming week.

Monday 7th September 2015.

Final touches were made to the newly constructed pathway to the 9th ladies tee. This should be open for use in a couple of days.

Thursday 3rd September 2015.

Final shaping and installation of irrigation has been completed on the 8th tee.

Staff started re-turfing lower tee today and all turf should be down by the middle of next week.

Friday 28th August 2015.

This week saw us commence work on the redevelopment of the 8th tee complex.

This hole will be shortened overall and an elevated rear tee constructed. The main cyclic tee will be built around the 120 metre distance and the ladies tee moved forward with a secondary ladies tee developed on the right hand side of the hole that can be used when hole locations are on the left side of the green.

The majority of the earthworks are now complete and irrigation to service this area will be installed next week. Turfing of the teeing areas should be completed within the next fortnight.

The rear area will be planted out with flowering shrubs and grass trees to enhance this area.

harvesting turf off the old tee.

Earthworks commence.

Things start to take shape.

Wednesday 1st July 2015.

Though we are in the midst of the cooler months we have been busy completing other projects around the club that can undertaken over this period.

Work was completed recently on the long-awaited sealing of the main maintenance track from the Greens shed to the practice fairway. This area has been an eyesore for sometime and often required regular maintenance to clean it up after heavy rainfall.

Now completed, expensive machinery can utilize it safely and members can move around the area without risk of injury.

The finished result.

Staff have also been busy in the past fortnight completing a paved pathway to service the ladies 12th tee. This has gone down extremely well and will be open for use in the next week or so. Well done to my staff for completing the task.

Monday 8th June 2015.

We have undertaken the first turnover of machinery under our operating lease plan in late May. All machinery that was introduced into the club in April 2011 has been renewed but on this occasion we have added a mower that will be dedicated to the mowing of our green surrounds.

The reason for this is to allow us to mow the surrounds with an improved quality of cut. Up until this point we have mown these areas with our fairway mower but the heavier cutting units tend create ridging on the slopes of the surrounds and wear on turf due to weight. The new mower will also allow us to mow the surrounds at a slightly different height to allow for the more intense traffic that they receive.

Work has also commenced on the upgrade of the main roadway from the maintenance facility. This has been required for some time and the asphalt roadway will mean less run-off material washing down onto turf areas and also allow the safe movement of both machinery and pedestrian traffic.

New machinery delivered in May

New surrounds mower.

Work has commenced of new roadway from maintenance facility.

Thursday 19th February 2015.

Work was completed this week on the pruning of trees around the course.

Tree growth had gotten to such a level that in some areas it was restricting play options and the integrity of the hole. Many of the course doglegs were addressed.

This work was completed by member John Langlands and his team.

The club has recently acquired a Toro Rake-o-vac machine to help clean up the tree debris around the course. This unit will work in conjunction with blower to remove leaves etc from the fairways and semi-roughs better presenting our course for play.

Wednesday 18th February 2015.

The 9th green will be open for play this Thursday 19th February.

All members are asked to please be diligent in repairing divots and ball marks on the new turf as it will be susceptible to damage due to its young age.

A 'Preferred Lie' within ONE club length may be taken on all the new turf areas should you require it.

Tuesday 13th January.

Members may be aware that recent fires that originated at Bullsbrook on Saturday affected the North East corner of the club property on Monday when winds changed direction.

Damage to the brushwood fence around the 5th tee and to some shrubs on this boundary was unavoidable. This could have been a lot worse was it not for the prompt action by FESA staff and our own Groundstaff.

I would like to thank my staff for the efficient manner in which they responded to the crisis with the operation of the fire fighting unit and other protocols that were put into place.

Fire strikes the 5th tee with the 4th green in the foreground.

On another note we have commenced this week with the grooming of fairways and surrounds to improve playability. The process should be completed within a week and recover very quickly. This had be made possible with the acquisition of new verti-mower that fit onto our existing fairway mower. This allows a fairway to be groomed within 30 minutes as compared 2 hours with our previous method.

Grooming of the 3rd fairway.

In regard to the newly constructed 9th green, all is going ahead well. Regular mowing and topdressing is helping to develop some strength in the turf so that it can handle the stresses of play and traffic. At this time the estimated opening time of mid February is still very realistic. Work will commence shortly on the final preparation of the bunkers.

9th green after mowing and topdressing.