Course Update – Tuesday, 9 December 2025
Happy holiday season to all of the BGC community, as you are all well aware, the end of the year is near, and the grass is jumping in more ways than one.
A look at the last few weeks on course has seen a slight course re-routing to open Greens 2 & 8 and give 20 & 21 a well-deserved rest. More project works that include turfing the new mounding on the 3rd hole, which will alleviate some of the excess water running back up the fairway when we get those small weather events. Bunker works continue on the 7th Hole, new drainage has been put in to replace the old outlets that were crushed and clogged, new bunker matting and sand will be added to all bunkers on the 7th in the coming weeks. Areas such as the 11th Tee and the Chipping Green have been tidied and we will now look to get grass to grow back into these to further support our efforts in enhancing the Golf Course. Some further works throughout the vegetation/landscape areas to alleviate the excessive shrubs which are tired and untidy, so we can promote more turf focused areas that will be easier to maintain, less weed prone and provide a better experience for golf.
You would have noticed and seen a recent mini renovation on the fairways and surrounds of the course. This was done with our Terra-Rake implement which is a pull behind landscape rake with tines that pull up the stoloniferous growing Wintergreen Couch, and any dead organic build up in the leaf canopy. Afterwards, we cut the raised grass off with our Fairway mowers, and blow the excess chaff away to make way for new leaf growth, and allow for better water penetration through the leaf canopy. The timing of this was crucial, as we were scheduled for a pre-emergent herbicide application early this month which lets us control new weed germination for the next 6 months. Once this pre-emergent is sprayed, disturbing the playing surfaces afterwards would reduce the effectiveness of the application. Whilst the fairways look a little beat up, they should all still play well and will bounce back very quickly.
The new Greens have been getting regularly top-dressed and are all now being mowed with our Triplex Greens mowers, which will help smooth them out as they continue their grow-in. We’ll look to push these greens fairly hard in the next few weeks as the weather is optimum for growth to give them a great chance to fill in quickly.
On course, we can appreciate it’s a little inconsistent in regards to green speeds and playability. At this stage, our main focus is turf health, which means we haven’t put the time into ensuring all Greens are at the same speed. Once we have 18 holes back in play and are confident that we have good establishment, we’ll look to push them into gear and get back to a consistent putting surface across the course. We’re still putting lots of time into ensuring the majority of the playing surfaces are up to scratch, even with all the other work going on around the course. Greens are still receiving a weekly dust and foliar feed, and the Fairways will be given the Gypsum treatment in the next week, as a part of their regular nutrition program, and will have their regular foliar application next week to boost their colour and also help control the growth.
The waterways have taken a beating in the last week, as you’ve all been made aware a significant sewerage contamination occurred which has led Urban Utilities to intervene to rectify the contamination. This will be ongoing for at least a couple of weeks we envision, the recent storm that passed through dropped 30mm on the course and plenty more in the catchment, so the waterways have been diluted a significant amount. We flushed our irrigation lines last night and hope to stop any further issues arising from that contaminated water.
Going into the next couple of weeks, we will look to re-instate the bunkers that have been dormant for the last couple of months, continue our push to get the new Greens ready for the new year, as well as ensure the playability of the golf course is up to a high standard.
Look forward to seeing you out on the course, stay excellent.
Alex Blakey
Assistant Course Superintendent
The Brisbane Golf Club
