Hi all, the club has a new website that will now be hosting the Greens and Grounds news that I will be continuing to update with course information. Below is the link to the new site. The page can be found under the News menu.
Cheers
Simon
http://www.murrumbidgeegolf.com.au/category/greensgrounds/
04 March 2015
24 February 2015
February Update
Some unexpected rain last night. Had somewhere between 10 and 15 mm of rain at the course last night. Although had 33 mm at my place only a kilometre or so away and over 40 mm recorded in some areas of Weston Creek. Anyway, should be good for the course and add a little to the dams.
Greens to be renovated next week with a contractor coming in to verti-drain the greens (solid tines, no cores to be collected). Our boys will do the remainder of the work including scarifying, fertilizing and top dressing. This is the minor renovation and the green should be back in good condition within a couple of weeks.
Tees and short surrounds areas have been sprayed for summer grass which has been very noticeable this year with the periods of wet weather. These will be renovated also and reseeded as the summer grass will go dormant through the cooler months.
The paspalum on the shortly mowed areas is being spot sprayed by volunteers. This will need a follow-up in the next couple of weeks and then the paspalum will start to die off. This is done each summer once the plant has become active to keep the amount of paspalum in the fairway, tees and surrounds to a minimum. We will not be able to eradicate this completely as the weed is thick throughout the rough and surrounding areas.
We have also had a large filter installed on the intake to the main pump near the 18th tee. This will help stop sprinklers and valves becoming blocked that are irrigated from this pump and reduce the occurrence of valves getting stuck on which happens from time to time. This will also reduce the amount of time spent cleaning out valves and sprinklers that become blocked.
We are also trialling a bank of 6 new sprinklers on the 14th hole around 200 metres from the green. These sprinklers are gear driven and able to throw the full distance to the adjacent sprinklers which are spaced at around 20-22 metres apart. The current sprinklers are a knocker variety and in with the current set-up and conditions are able to throw around 17 metres.
Greens to be renovated next week with a contractor coming in to verti-drain the greens (solid tines, no cores to be collected). Our boys will do the remainder of the work including scarifying, fertilizing and top dressing. This is the minor renovation and the green should be back in good condition within a couple of weeks.
Tees and short surrounds areas have been sprayed for summer grass which has been very noticeable this year with the periods of wet weather. These will be renovated also and reseeded as the summer grass will go dormant through the cooler months.
The paspalum on the shortly mowed areas is being spot sprayed by volunteers. This will need a follow-up in the next couple of weeks and then the paspalum will start to die off. This is done each summer once the plant has become active to keep the amount of paspalum in the fairway, tees and surrounds to a minimum. We will not be able to eradicate this completely as the weed is thick throughout the rough and surrounding areas.
We have also had a large filter installed on the intake to the main pump near the 18th tee. This will help stop sprinklers and valves becoming blocked that are irrigated from this pump and reduce the occurrence of valves getting stuck on which happens from time to time. This will also reduce the amount of time spent cleaning out valves and sprinklers that become blocked.
We are also trialling a bank of 6 new sprinklers on the 14th hole around 200 metres from the green. These sprinklers are gear driven and able to throw the full distance to the adjacent sprinklers which are spaced at around 20-22 metres apart. The current sprinklers are a knocker variety and in with the current set-up and conditions are able to throw around 17 metres.
29 January 2015
January Update
January has been a very wet month with around 140 mm at the Tuggeranong weather station. This is well above the average of around 50 mm. This has encouraged the rough to grow and help keep the course a little tougher (although the daily course ratings seem to be below the scratch rating for most comps).
This rain has encouraged the growth of a number of weeds across the course. In particular the summer grass and paspalum seem to be thriving. Below is a photo of the 14th tee showing a clump of paspalum mixed in with the summer grass. The wet weather has encouraged the summer grass this year. This grass will die off once the cold weather sets in and can be sprayed with a selective herbicide. As the grass is spread throughout the tees and fairways this would required a large amount of chemical and would be very costly.
The summer grass spreads quickly by sending runners across the surface and by spreading seed and it is a prolific seeder. Continual mowing will reduce the generation of seed and slow the spread of the grass a little.
The paspalum you can see from the photo forms a clump and can be spotted easily. Over the past few years we have been spot spraying the paspaulm from the fairways and the tees with good results. This is being done gain this year to reduce the amount in the short playing surfaces. This can be broad sprayed also but would be very costly. As you have probably noticed there is paspalum spread every where throughout the rough and we will never be able to eradicate it entirely.
This year's Greens and Grounds committee is Simon Miels, Cam Griggs (Superintendant), Rob Bendle, Rod Drayton, Elaine Wilson, Heather Millar and Les Giovinazzo. If you have any questions or suggestions please feel free to talk to any of the committee members or send us a line. You can comment at the bottom of any of these posts with suggestions for topics that might be useful for the members.
Also, spread the word about about the blog so we can get more members reading.
Below are a couple of links if you want find out more about these weeds.
Summer grass
Paspalum
This rain has encouraged the growth of a number of weeds across the course. In particular the summer grass and paspalum seem to be thriving. Below is a photo of the 14th tee showing a clump of paspalum mixed in with the summer grass. The wet weather has encouraged the summer grass this year. This grass will die off once the cold weather sets in and can be sprayed with a selective herbicide. As the grass is spread throughout the tees and fairways this would required a large amount of chemical and would be very costly.
The paspalum you can see from the photo forms a clump and can be spotted easily. Over the past few years we have been spot spraying the paspaulm from the fairways and the tees with good results. This is being done gain this year to reduce the amount in the short playing surfaces. This can be broad sprayed also but would be very costly. As you have probably noticed there is paspalum spread every where throughout the rough and we will never be able to eradicate it entirely.
This year's Greens and Grounds committee is Simon Miels, Cam Griggs (Superintendant), Rob Bendle, Rod Drayton, Elaine Wilson, Heather Millar and Les Giovinazzo. If you have any questions or suggestions please feel free to talk to any of the committee members or send us a line. You can comment at the bottom of any of these posts with suggestions for topics that might be useful for the members.
Also, spread the word about about the blog so we can get more members reading.
Below are a couple of links if you want find out more about these weeds.
Summer grass
Paspalum
08 December 2014
Dams full
With the recent rain the course has received a much needed drink and both main dams are now full. Good rain in the past couple of weeks had helped, but with around 40 mm at the course on Saturday afternoon and evening we should have enough water to get us through the summer months. The pump was to be installed in the river in early January if we didn't recive signicicant rainfall. We will now be able to wait until our dam levels reach the point where we need to consider installing the pump.
Fairway margins - you may have noticed some blue lines on the margins of some of the fairways. These blue line represent the suggested mowing lines for the fairways. This is done each year to re-align the fairways and align them with the guidelines. These are:
There are areas on slopes that we have struggled to grow grass in the past and the fairways have been shaped around these areas to avoid bare areas on fairways. An example of this is the tongue on the left of the 3rd holes in the medium driving area. The quality of this grass has improved over the last couple of years with renovation and we are now going to trial cutting some of this back to fairway along with part of the tongue on the right closer to the tee. There are other areas where we have marked to lengthen or widen the fairway to correspond to the fairway sprinkler irrigated area. We have also marked the right of the 2nd fairway further left to slow balls down running towards the ponds. These are some examples of the marking that has been performed in the last few weeks.
Fairway margins - you may have noticed some blue lines on the margins of some of the fairways. These blue line represent the suggested mowing lines for the fairways. This is done each year to re-align the fairways and align them with the guidelines. These are:
- Average width of around 25 metres – allowing for some narrower areas and wider areas depending on the hole and the distance from the tee (landing zones)
- Keep the fairways on the flat areas that had been designated as fairway – allow first rough cut on the flat area also
- Avoid bare areas caused by trees and tree roots
- Emphasise shape of hole encouraging players to play a certain line especially on holes that have a dogleg
There are areas on slopes that we have struggled to grow grass in the past and the fairways have been shaped around these areas to avoid bare areas on fairways. An example of this is the tongue on the left of the 3rd holes in the medium driving area. The quality of this grass has improved over the last couple of years with renovation and we are now going to trial cutting some of this back to fairway along with part of the tongue on the right closer to the tee. There are other areas where we have marked to lengthen or widen the fairway to correspond to the fairway sprinkler irrigated area. We have also marked the right of the 2nd fairway further left to slow balls down running towards the ponds. These are some examples of the marking that has been performed in the last few weeks.
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| Overflow near ladies 9th tee submerged |
30 October 2014
Course update
Well that raps up the Snooze Club Championships for another year. The course held up pretty well with few players breaking their handicap and the course providing a good test of golf. The greens were a bit quicker being double cut each morning and the rough a bit of a penalty. The scratch rating for the blue course is 74 and the daily ratings for the four days were 73, 74, 74 and 75.
Now that the championships are over what does the maintenance program look like. The greens will now going back to being cut 5 times per week. The greens are normally mowed on Saturday (single cut) and not Sunday unless there is a special event. We are also now not mowing the greens on Thursday and they are rolled with our light weight roller. This helps smooth the surface and increase the roll without having to mow. The greens were dusted (light top dress) between the the weekends of the championships and we will continue this once per month in the growing season. This helps with smoothing the surface and increases firmness slightly.
The growth of the rough should slow now with the drier and warmer weather we are starting to experince. The cut of rough to the tree line is done weekly and if we don't get any significant rain only the watered areas will remain as thick. This should make it a little easier to play when off the fairway. PS. If you are having trouble hitting it out of the rough, you could try a lesson from Matt to see if you can straighten up your drives. You could also try hitting a 7 iron from the rough and not expect to be able to hit your 3 wood from anywhere on the course.
For those avid readers I have included a link to an article about green firmness. I thought it was a good read.
Firmness First
Now that the championships are over what does the maintenance program look like. The greens will now going back to being cut 5 times per week. The greens are normally mowed on Saturday (single cut) and not Sunday unless there is a special event. We are also now not mowing the greens on Thursday and they are rolled with our light weight roller. This helps smooth the surface and increase the roll without having to mow. The greens were dusted (light top dress) between the the weekends of the championships and we will continue this once per month in the growing season. This helps with smoothing the surface and increases firmness slightly.
The growth of the rough should slow now with the drier and warmer weather we are starting to experince. The cut of rough to the tree line is done weekly and if we don't get any significant rain only the watered areas will remain as thick. This should make it a little easier to play when off the fairway. PS. If you are having trouble hitting it out of the rough, you could try a lesson from Matt to see if you can straighten up your drives. You could also try hitting a 7 iron from the rough and not expect to be able to hit your 3 wood from anywhere on the course.
For those avid readers I have included a link to an article about green firmness. I thought it was a good read.
Firmness First
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