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.

Friday 29th November 2013.

For members information greens are running at 10ft 3inches when a stimp reading was taken this morning. They are all recovering well and will be regularly groomed and dusted in coming months to quicken and smooth the putting surfaces.

Now renovation has been completed on fairways we will be completing our main fertiliser application for the season next week. This will stimulate some good growth over the coming months.

On a final note we would like to thank all members who were kind enough to donate to our MOVEMBER charity over the past month. Below is a photo of both the successful and the not so successful attempts.

Thanks again.

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.