Friday 8th November.

All fairway renovation was completed this week ahead of schedule. All fairways 1-9 were cored with 25mm hollow tines to a depth of 6 inches and fairways 10-18 were heavily scarified. a significant amount of grass was removed from fairways 10-18 but these will recover quickly. Already the fairways completed early have new shoots and are recovering well.

Our putting surfaces are progressing well though we did get some leaf disease due to the mechanical processes that occur during the renovation procedure. This has been treated and is in recovery and good growth is occurring. Next week we shall make another light application of sand to help smooth putting surfaces.

I thank my staff for their efforts over the past 4 weeks. Their contribution has enabled us to be ahead of schedule through this renovation period.

Friday 25th October 2013.

Renovation programmes have progressed quickly in the last fortnight with renovation to greens, tees and fairways well and truly underway.

Greens have recovered quickly since renovation commenced last week and they are now being regularly mown and rolled. Mowing heights are coming down gradually as turf grows back through topdressing sand and normal maintenance heights of cut should be achievable by the latter half of next week. Once we have achieved this, we will be re-applying another amount of topdressing sand to further even up surfaces.

Tee renovation was completed in 3 days this week and this included both the coring and scarifying and clean up of all tees.

Fairway renovation has just commenced with the completed coring of the 5th fairway and the completed scarifying of the 8th, 11th, 15th and 18th fairways. It is expected that all fairway renovation will be completed by the middle of November but this will depend on play commitments and of course the weather.

While this renovation is underway, please be patient and take care when playing shots towards machinery operators.

Greens are recovering well from renovation.

Coring and scarifying of tees.

Coring of fairways.

Scarifying of fairways. The finished product on the 18th.

Monday 14th October 2013.

With good weather upon us we have been able to make a successful start to our greens renovation.
Greens on holes 10-17 have been completed today and we have made a start on the front nine just in case the forecast wet weather for tomorrow evening arrives earlier. The 18th green will not be completed due to it's planned re-surfacing in December.

In the days following we shall continue to water and brush topdressing to work it into core holes and will obviously apply renovation fertiliser for quick recovery.

Please have patience if these practices are being undertaken during your round.

Assistant Superintendent Ashley Howse coring our Practice 1 green.

Staff member Peter Ballarine brushing topdressing sand on the 15th green.

Tuesday 8th October 2013.

It feels like Spring is finally here with an increase in warmth, the sun rising earlier and our turf finally starting to kick into gear.

With this weather comes an increase in colour around the course with some pockets of untouched flora bursting to life.

Unfortunately with this warming trend it becomes necessary to renovate our turf surfaces in preparation for the stressful months ahead.
This will commence with greens renovation on Monday 14th and Tuesday 15th October. Because of this only 1 nine will be available for play on each day.
Greens will be quick to recover before the high temperatures arrive.

Tuesday 24th September 2013.

Though we should be experiencing some Spring weather, we are still receiving significant rainfall. This month has been our wettest for the year with a total of 176.5mm falling up to the 24th of this month.

Last month we received 168.5mm of rain to take our year to date tally to 706mm which has already passed last years annual total of 698mm.

Though we are finding soil temperatures are increasing I think we still have some rainfall to come.

Friday 6th September 2013
Warming trend is being appreciated by staff and members alike.

Staff have been busy over the past month with our focus on the planning of herbicide spray programmes around weather conditions and competition play.

We recently completed some wintergrass spraying on fairways and this was followed by the application of another herbicide to control broadleaf and bindii weeds.

As the change of seasons is almost upon us, we have this week completed our crabgrass/summergrass prevention programme to all fairways and green surrounds.

Once we hit next month our focus will turn to the commencement of our course renovation period.

Green speed readings taken this morning at 8.00am sees the greens a little slower than recent running at 10'9". This is a side affect of a little more growth with the slight increase in soil temperatures.

Monday 12th August 2013.

Members are reminded to take care of their golf course.
The photo below was taken this Monday morning on the 10th fairway. Obviously someone playing, I imagine late yesterday, has little or no respect for our course !!

Disappointing to say the least.