Course Update

We are coming out of winter and gearing up for the course renovations. Renovations will begin the week beginning August 25th. We will be coring, scarifying, fertilizing, seeding and top dressing the back nine fairways this spring. Last spring the front nine were done. Some of the bad areas on the front nine fairways will also be renovated. In addition to this the greens, tees and green approns will also be renovated. Large hollow tines will be used on the greens and a heavy top dressing will be applied with fertilizer to kick start the growth of the greens.

Work on has continued on the areas between the 9th green and first tee. The path has been completed with drainage work to stop water collecting on the path and eroding it. The green tee has been completed with a bridge across the drain. The bunker has been cleaned out and the drainage point is clear for connection of the new drainage pipe. The bunker will be shortened slightly on the back end as there is an irrigation pipe running through the bunker. This will be covered with soil and the bunker shortened slightly. Some of the soil has been taken off the front mound so that the bunker will be more visible from the tee. Some low maintenance shrubs will be planted in the large bark area and a row of photinias will be planted in the long bark are between the paths.

Course Update

Winter has struck with cold windy conditions and 24 mm of rain in the last couple of days. Let's hope that is it for now as the course is saturated and many bunkers are now full of water. The boys have completed a great job on the bunker on the 8th which is now back in play. The turf around the bunker will remain GUR until it has knitted in well. Black lines have been put around the greens to indicate where carts can drive. Can you all ensure that you advise any playing partners to stay outside these lines as carts will cause damage especially in these wet conditions.
The next project is the bunker on the left of the 9th green and the surrounding area between the 1st tee and the bunker. Below is a run down of the work to be done.

9th green area proposal

Green Tee

• Build new green tee in the same spot as the existing temporary tee – existing tee to be moved towards the dam in the interim.

Path

• Extend existing path closer to the first tee to stop carts driving close to the green and damaging turf areas – this will extend along the side of the concrete path and join the path from the 18th to the white teeing area of the 1st tee. These paths to be timber edged and filled with granite. There will be around a 3 metre gap between this path and the concrete path which will be planted with photinias with mulch at the base between both paths.

Mounds

• Mounds to be constructed between the edge of the bunker and the tree line to stop water run-off from the first tee entering the bunker on the left of the green. This will be constructed so that water will be diverted in-front and behind the green. Allowing a mower width between the edge of the bunker and the start of the mounding. Mounding to be around 600 mm at the highest point blending into the surrounding turf areas so that it can be mown easily with the rough mower without scalping. Mound at the front of the bunker to be reduced in height by around 300 mm to increase visibility of the bunker.
• Area between the mound and the new path to be topped up with fill and grassed.

Bunker

• Bunker to be renovated with new drainage and sand. Lip to be raised on the green side at the back of the bunker. Base to be levelled so that ball rolls to the base of the bunker. Edges to be angled so that shot can be played near the back edge of the bunker which is currently too steep.

Update

• Greens – greens are being mowed now around 3 times per week with limited growth at 3 mm. Mowers will be raised to 3.5 mm in the coming weeks when the temperatures fall.
• Bunker – work on the bunker on the 8th is near completion. Sand needs to be brought in and turf replaced around the edges.
• Fairways – currently being mown once per week at 14 mm. Growth has slowed considerably in the past month.
• Rough – the length of the rough was lowered slightly after the wet period around 6 weeks ago. With the slowing of growth and the rough now under control the rough mower has been raised back to the original height of cut.
• Sand drum on 17 – this has been repaired. Some handy brick work by Chris.
• Black line for carts – Cam has put the black line around the greens to keep carts away from the green surrounds. Other areas will be roped off to stop cart traffic. Can all carts keep outside the black lines, especially with the recent rain as many areas will be extremely wet. Pass the word around and encourage all members to try to preserve the course for the enjoyment of others.
• Paspalum – spot spraying of this on the fairways has continued and help reduce the weed. This is done each year to reduce the spread from the rough. This will cease soon with the colder weather.
• Grass behind 16th green - the long grass behind the 16th in being removed as it has become taken over by weed in recent years. Other areas of similar grass will also be removed.

Course Update

• The course has dried significantly in the past week and staff have been able to get the bulk of the rough mown. The height of cut of the rough has been lowered slightly since the heavy rain in an attempt to get it down to a controllable level. Once the growth has slowed we will look at putting the mower back up a little so the rough provides some penalty. The bulk of the rough cut prior to the weekend. Bunkers are also receiving some work with removal of weeds, edging and additional raking.
• Greens – greens have recovered well after the renovations. They have been groomed a number of times in the past week and a half in an attempt to smooth out the surface and increase the speed slightly. They will be double cut Friday, Saturday and Sunday this week for the Men’s Open at 3mm. The championship flags and pin sheets will be used for both the Men’s and Women’s Opens. Des and Cam selected the pin positions today for the weekend. Hopefully not too many tricky ones.
• Paths – white dots have been put out on all the paths and roads where players can get relief. Des completed the job placing further dots to mark the end of the paths. The new rule is now in place allowing relief from the paths and road marked with the dots along with the concrete paths on the course.
• Bunker – work will recommence on the bunker on the 8th immediately after the Men’s Open. Poor weather and short work weeks have delayed this further. The staff will then continue with more bunker renovations over the winter months.
• Fairways – reels on the newer of the 2 fairway mowers have been ground and new bed knives installed which has improved the cut. We are currently cutting fairways twice per week at 14 mm. This will be cut back to once per week once the growth has slowed down.
• 13th tee – the white plate on this tee has been moved back to 172 metres to have the hole measured to more accurately reflect where the markers are often place and to reduce the wear at the front of the tee where the ladies markers are.
• Paspalum – spot spraying of this on the fairways has continued and help reduce this weed. This is done each year to reduce the spread from the rough. This will cease shortly as the cold weather approaches and the chemical is less effective. The staff have been cutting any remaining stalks on the fairways and tees to improve the playability and presentation of the surface.

Greens verti-drained

The greens were successfully verti-drained and top dressed over the last two days. The boys were hampered by rain on Monday afternoon, but with a dry day today were able to get the sand on and brushed in quite well. We had around 7 mm of rain which will be good for the course, looks like there is more on the way over the coming days. The verti-drain machine has solid tines and punches deep holes in the green of around 8 mm in diametre.

We will be moving the white plate on the 13th tee back to around 173 metres to better reflect the distance that is usually played and to lessen the wear on the front of the tee ground.