Course Update – Wednesday, 13 August 2025
Another two weeks has raced by on the Golf Course; home pennant matches are almost done and the course has presented and played well. We are happy with the feedback from players and supporters all round. Greens have managed to stay up at around 12ft on the Stimp, and are rolling true. The top-dress and needle tine have shown great benefits already, giving a burst of life back into some tired greens.
19, 20 & 21 are being managed carefully during the week as to keep up with the golf demands. This will certainly improve when those warmer September days kick in.
11, 12 & 13 Greens are pushing through following the heavy top-dress a couple of weeks ago, and we are pleased with the surface, especially the smoothness, as we prepare them for opening in a month’s time. Still, plenty of work to do on the holes that are out of play before we re-open, and we are ticking off projects almost daily. The 12th Fairway bunker is ready for action after being shelled, re-drained, re-lined and packed with new sand, this should provide players an opportunity to get a bit further down the fairway if they do get caught up in the fairway trap.
- We are managing the winter wear well on course, this can be attributed to the nutrition program that’s in place, little and often, giving the plant small doses of what it needs regularly to keep everything in order. Rainfall and those regular foliar applications on our turf surfaces mean that we’ve still got great colour from Tee to Green as well and with the rough slightly dormant, we’ve also seen good contrast between the Fairway and Rough (which is a favoured look from us down in the shed).
- The first few metres of rough that we targeted during the summer months with herbicide applications are showing great results as well. It’s looking much cleaner, fewer weed species and germination which is really promising going forward. This is something we will keep targeting once the weather picks up again.
- August winds are keeping a fair bit of debris out on course which can also cause issues for maintenance. You may have seen some scarring on the 2nd Green from a recent altercation with a stick and a Green’s mower. Small debris can be hard to see when mowing in the early hours of the morning so they can be missed from time to time. These scars will heal fairly quickly, and whilst unsightly, shouldn’t impact play all that much.
- We are doing our upmost to keep the course in good playing condition as we tick off our project work, Tees and Fairways are being mowed regularly at 10mm, Greens are still at 3.5mm which we may look to raise the height of to 4mm to get us through the next couple of months. Bunkers are being tended to regularly, blown and detailed. Weeds are continuously sprayed in our garden beds and out of play areas in preparation for summer.
- Some Tee complexes are still receiving some TLC from our vegetation groundsman Eric, who is doing a great job clearing unwanted weed species and overgrown limbs from playing zones and mowing surfaces.
The next few weeks will be quite busy getting the course in shape for the next instalment of Greens resurfacing, and there will likely be some flagging done on holes 2, 7 & 8 as we prepare and mark irrigation locations for the contractors.
Stay excellent out there, and hit them straight!
Alex Blakey
Assistant Course Superintendent
The Brisbane Golf Club
