Course Update – Wednesday, 16 July 2025

The last couple of weeks has seen good progress made on our new TifEagle Greens, they have received their first mow, and have shown signs of growth albeit slow. Good signs considering it’s been dreadfully cold some mornings. The sunny clear sky days are really helping to promote that new leaf growth, and we continue to boost them with weekly granular fertiliser applications.

The 11^th Tee will be turfed come the weeks end, and should add plenty of new opportunities for marker positions. There has also been some clearing of rotten trees and overgrown weed species along the sides of the Tee complex that has opened up the whole area nicely.

• Greens are coping well thus far through winter, we are managing the green speeds fairly well at this stage by dropping a roll off the weekly maintenance schedule, and they are still sitting up at 11ft on the Stimp.
• Coverage is good, the foreign grass stands out quite a bit now that the Champion is well and truly dormant. Also attributing to the increased Green speeds, but is still producing a solid ball roll.
• The new Greens 19, 20 & 21 are still struggling a little bit in their infancy, as they haven’t had much time to mature, they are getting “walked off” a little, so we continue to mow them less frequently to help manage their stock. Once temperatures warm up again, we should see that TifEagle bounce back.
• The encroachment has been sprayed on those new Greens and we will be plugging those out within the next week. This will be an ongoing challenge, as with all new Greens built all around the world. Being proactive about it is the best management practice.
• The Tees have noticeably less coverage now that the recovery isn’t there, so we will keep topdressing divots as often as we can, and we ask that players fill their divots as often as possible to encourage the Wintergreen to grow over more quickly.
• Fairways have good colour and good coverage, and they’ve just been sprayed with some Urea and Iron, hoping to keep the plant as Green as possible this time of year to aid in chlorophyll production, as well as a Wetting Agent, to help water intake and dew dispersal. Little and often is the motto for our nutrition applications, so we get over all the playing surfaces regularly.
• Tee to Green surfaces remain at 10mm height of cut, so we aren’t taking many clippings off this time of year, essentially mowing to eliminate divots and keep the turf tight.
• The Tee signs on course have all been sanded and stained, which is highlighting the need to clean the actual plaques, so in due time we will give those a scrub and touch up with paint where necessary. The sand and rubbish bins are next on the agenda for a refurbishment, and we look to tackle those in stages.
• We received our new Ventrac (Tractor with implements) last week, and that will get a good workout on a lot of those pesky areas that we can’t get our finish mowers into. The left-hand side of 19, that has been too wet to mow for quite some time, has now been tidied up and hazard stakes removed. Only a few balls were found, none of them harmed.
• We continue to work on our list of winter projects, but will look to ramp up some course works in the coming weeks to set up for a busy 3 weeks of pennants at home.
• Once again, we thank our volunteers for their ongoing support in enhancing the golf course all year round. They’ve put in their time to assist clearing under the canopies of the trees between 11 & 12 this week and it looks great.

As always, enjoy the golf out there, stay warm and don’t forget to say g’day!

Alex Blakey
Assistant Course Superintendent
The Brisbane Golf Club