Course Update – Wednesday, 11 December 2024
The following course update has been prepared by our Course Superintendent, Marcus Hartup and Assistant Course Superintendent, Alex Blakey. These will be published fortnightly in Member News and also on the Feed in our App. Videos will also be produced again on a regular basis starting shortly.
Course Update – Wednesday, 11 December 2024
A very wet start to the summer, as we have seen roughly 400mm of rain fall onto the course in the last 5 weeks. A dry week last week, which meant some greens/tee applications could be made, which we should start to see the benefits of when we get a break from the weather.
- Greens are rolling just over 9.5ft on the Stimp, still at 3.5mm and we are seeing great coverage over some of our weaker performing greens such as 6, 12 and 15.
- Dusting has been weekly at this stage, and we look to continue that through summer while the growth is strong. This is helping reduce our thatch on the Greens dramatically, as we aren’t seeing any signs of puffiness and the firmness of the Greens, considering how much rain we’ve received is still good.
- Weeds in greens and surrounds is still a high priority, and we endeavour to continue managing these over the next few months.
- Our team is working hard to ensure we can get the course back into play following these rain events, and we are still investigating drainage issues on the course on a daily basis.
- We are attempting to get 2-3 cuts on the Tees and Fairways every week at 10mm, (weather pending) to ensure we are staying on top of the growth and increasing playability and presentation.
- Our Grinding Units are working non-stop at the moment to ensure that all of our machines are working at their full potential and we are getting good clean cuts on our cylinder mowers. (The sharper the cut, the better the health of the turf).
- You may have noticed some disease or spots on Tees and Fairways in the past month with the wetter days and soggy turf, this is often Helminthosporium (Black/White Helmo) and Dollar Spot which is caused by excessive leaf wetness. An unsightly problem, but overall, not too detrimental and will disappear with the sun and dry days.
- The 7th LH Greenside bunkers have seen some attention this week as we try and find a solution to their drainage issues. Scott, our Irrigation Technician has found that the pipe directly from the two bunkers was crushed (in the roped off area) and full of tree roots, which is a good indication for why the bunkers don’t drain well at all. Some more work to be done to improve the drainage situation there when weather permits.
We look forward to the AGM this week, and hope to start getting some dry days in the coming weeks so we can continue to tackle the roughs/out of play areas that are beginning to look untidy.
- Herbicide applications are continuing through the first lap of rough, which has seen a good improvement of desirable Wintergreen Couch grass and less foreign grass and weeds.
- The Wire Weeds are continually being spot treated (the most effective method we have found) which will be an ongoing treatment plan.
- We are hoping to start very light grooming work on our greens to improve green conditions and reduce thatch build up, this should be of no concern to day-to-day playability.
- We also plan a small Tee renovation next week that will involve verti-cutting (scarifying) the Tees and mowing them off straight after, they should recover quickly and have little interference with play.
- You will have also seen that two Plovers have finally hatched their chicks on the 14/16th Hole under the Tree that now seems fairly overgrown. Once we can usher the birds away from the area safely, we will tidy it up. Just a friendly reminder to be cautious when traversing the area as they can be quite aggressive.
- We are trialling a robotic mower on The Range at present. The mower will run at night and is said to be able to mow The Range is less than 48 hours.
Works to improve and repair the drainage in our bunkers is ongoing. These works will completed on Hole 7.
Click on the link below to see a video of the new robotic mower we are trialling.
