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.

Thursday 2nd January 2014

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL !!

Today we took the opportunity to give our putting surfaces a heavy grooming.

This practice thins out the density of the turf surface, removing some unwanted dead plant material and some of the course leaf growth that occurs from time to time.

The result should be smoother and more consistent putting green performance and has the other benefits of encouraging new shoots and aerating the crown area of the plant somewhat.

Some visible side affects will occur for a few days but these will disappear quickly.

Mower with grooming heads attached completing grooming.

Groomed grass is picked up in catchers but excess grass must be removed with blower unit.

After grooming and the surface has been blown down, the green is cut and ready for play.

Wednesday 11th December 2013.

With a warming trend greens speeds have increased slightly in the last fortnight. When we took stimp readings at 8.30am this morning, greens speeds had increased in the past fortnight from 10'3" to 11'2".

Friday 6th December 2013.

We have recently had a few queries from members with concerns about some weaker areas on our putting surfaces, so I thought I would take this opportunity to explain what has occurred in regard to their maintenance in the lead up to the greens being cored in October and to this date.

• Friday September 20th all greens were fertilised with a nitrogen based fertiliser to encourage the bentgrass to grow prior to the planned renovation.
• Greens were renovated on Monday/Tuesday 14th and 15th October.
• A renovation fertilised was then applied to all green on Friday 18th October to help recover greens from coring. 
• A Calcium/Magnesium granulated product was applied to all greens on Tuesday 22nd October to correct a deficiency. This product is applied bi-monthly all year round.
• Wetting agent was applied on Monday 28th October to eliminate Hydrophobic sand applied during topdressing.
• Thursday 31st October was the first signs of possible Dreschlera disease outbreak due to the mechanical process of coring and topdressing causing leaf tissue damage.
• Friday 1st November a systemic broad spectrum fungicide was applied to all greens to help reduce infection.
• Tuesday 5th November we applied 2 more contact fungicides to also help with disease control and prevention.
• Thursday 7th November we made another application of a Nitrogen based fertiliser and some iron to help continue with recovery from renovation.
• Monday 11th November we made another application of topdressing sand to smooth putting surfaces.

In regard to disease management on our greens, we generally apply a turf fungicide every 28-30 days as this gives us good protection from disease pathogens that are evident in the warm, humid conditions that occur at this time of year. These fungicides stay active for this time and help secure us from re-infection.

We shall be monitoring the weak areas on some greens in the weeks to come and will re-apply nutrients and fungicides as we deem the need arises to continue the good health of our putting surfaces.