Course Update – Wednesday, 2 April 2025

• A tough few weeks out on the course with the amount of persistent rain we have seen. That being said, we have also been lucky to miss a lot of the heavier showers that have hit the SEQ Coast in the last 2 weeks.
• We received over 100mm last week, but more importantly, not a great deal of sunlight to help dry the place out. A total of 598mm in March which means the water table is high and the slow drizzle rain events have nowhere to drain to. A total of 33 Rain days so far this quarter, and 15 alone in March.
• Greens 19, 20 & 21 are still coming along nicely, a slight set-back with last week not being able to conduct the cultural practices we would have liked to and the sun not beaming down on them has probably set them back a few days.
• Growth rates are still quite solid, and they have been mowed twice already this week and received a generous top-dress to help smooth them out further.
• On course Greens are back in a good spot after last week, we missed our regular top-dress on Monday due to how soft the surrounds were but hope to pick it up later in the week.
• At the moment our big issues are getting a mow on the playing surfaces, as the ground is so saturated, we end up creating more problems by cutting wet grass or mud. If we’re lucky, this rain event will be our last of the summer and we can look to start getting back on top of the Fairways & Roughs.
• We have been attempting to get our bunkers back in a playable state after the excessive rainfall, which can be a tedious task when rain is forecast ahead. We did end up getting most of the bunker’s machine raked at the end of last week before inevitably being washed out over the weekend again. We hope to have the majority of the bunkers back in play for this weekend.
• You will have noticed a lot of disease appearing on our Tees, Fairways and Surrounds, most visibly the Helminthorsporium that materialises after excessive rainfall and overcast conditions. The best treatment for this is sunlight, and shall effectively self-eradicate when the days clear up. The worm castings are also in full effect at the moment, as the soil critters look for air at the grounds surface. They can be terribly unsightly, yet they are aerating the soil profile for us when they dig their way to the top. Treating both these problems is an option in some cases, but more often than not a spray application would need to be irrigated afterwards. You can imagine how silly that would look through times of excessive rain.
• Our 20^th Greenside Bunker will likely be completed next week when (Atlas Golf) they can get their machine back in to excavate and reshape before putting the Duracrumb product in place. The soil turned to slop after the excessive rain and is almost impossible to shape before it dries out.
• We have also done a few turf jobs on course in recent weeks, most notably, the bare patches on the 2^ndFairway, and the drive on/off on hole 9. These should grow in quite quickly and we hope they put us in a good spot going into the cooler months.
• The golf course as a whole is obviously very wet but coverage is quite good on our playing surfaces. Greens are in a much better state then they were this time last year heading into April and the cooler months which is hugely beneficial for performance and consistency. The Fairways have great coverage, a few off-types starting to stand out with the excessive growth and limited mowing days but certainly fewer bare patches, and our Tees are looking full and healthy going into the slower growing months.
• As we will be utilising the 19^th, 20^th and 21^st holes again this winter, as 11, 12 and 13 go under the knife, its likely we will oversow the 20^th Tee to maximise coverage and recovery due to the Tee’s position and how much shade it receives. With potential to do the same to other Tees on course.

Thank you again for your patience during a testing time for grounds staff as we see out the summer.