JANUARY 2022 GREENS REPORT
Due to the large amount of rainfall this month following Christmas, it has been a great challenge for the course staff with keeping up with the rough areas.
Considering the large river flowing more than once through the middle of the course, all drains have been working great and all the new cart paths have seen great use in these conditions.
The team has been non-stop on the rough mowers and we have managed to keep everything mowed most weeks, which included all snipping to dam walls, banks, and around tee areas, and including all daily maintenance work to the course. All bunkers have been trimmed and after assessment, a top-up of new sand will be added next month.
Two new mats have been replaced in the practice area after being stolen, a first that I have seen, and hopefully the last.
Fairways are currently being mowed twice a week with fertiliser applications sprayed during the month to fairways, green surrounds and tees. All greens will be targeted for any foreign weeds on the surface, and this will be done by spot spraying over the next two weeks, prior to scarifying the greens at renovations.
This summer, renovations will be conducted on the 7th and 8th of February. As the same with prior years, on Monday the greens will be scarified at 4mm depth and cleaned up throughout the day. Nine holes will be open for play and will be changed over once the first 9 have been completed, and this will be repeated for the next day’s renovations on Tuesday.
On Tuesday all greens will be cored with 12mm solid tines, followed by amenities and heavy top dressing and rubbed in. For the rest of the week, all greens will have irrigation constantly running throughout the day and night, so I please urge that anyone playing golf during these time to NOT touch our course irrigation valves. This has been a common problem and can cause costly damage to our system.
The course is looking great after all the rain, and the greens are at a very healthy stage for renovations. This is a great sign as we prepare to move out of summer following renovations.
ANDY BOSWELL – COURSE SUPERINTENDENT
FEBRUARY 2022 GREENS REPORT
Course renovations were very succesful, with everything completed to the greens and that included foreign grass such as carpet grass and crows foot sprayed out prior to a heavy scarify (de-thatch).
Aeration of 12mm solid tines with holes filled with heavy top dress of sand. All amendments were watered in throughout the week.
Last week we lightly top-dressed the greens again, and this second process is not to fill in any holes but to help with the surface as the grass is repairing itself. The greens have completely recovered this week, only two weeks post renovations. This is an excellent and fast result of coverage as the greens will be in a great stage before the conditions cool down.
The greens are currently being mowed with our old mower, and the cut is higher than normal and is not as neat as our sharp units. However, this is done over the first two weeks until the sand is completely washed in so we don’t damage our good units from the sand still present.
Next week the greens will be cut with our main mower at the height of 4mm. This will then continue through to winter with our roller in action a lot during the next two weeks to firm and bring back that smooth surface. After two more weeks the greens will be where I would like them. Faster, smoother and in a healthy stage moving forward.
This week all bunkers have been completed, and without a bunker machine the boys did a great job with adding over 30 tonnes of new sand to all our bunkers by manual labour. They have also been weeded and trimmed prior to adding the new sand.
There is currently a major, and I mean major irrigation issue next to the 4th green.
To keep it simple when the green and surround of the 4th hole was rebuilt years ago, the mounds added to the surrounds was built up another two metres. Consequently, our main pipe in this area sits nearly 3 metres deep. As the pipe work is old there are multiple leaks. I have the area roped off under G.U.R until I come up with a better place to put this main line so we don’t have these issues in the future. This will be done with help from Kev and his excavator over the next month.
All rough areas have been continuously mowed every day, and as we move from one end of the course to the other end it is literally growing behind us. We are cutting the grass as low as the mowers can handle under load. With saying that the course looks great. I have heard of plenty of rain coming this week: over 200 mm! I hope they are wrong. I do need a little rain however, as this week all tees and green surrounds have been fertilised.
Next month I will have in my report information for any members wanting to join the working bee group. I am currently still brainstorming the idea and will discuss with Steve next week, and all information will then be posted for any members that would like to join and help out the course staff throughout the year.
As the greens staff have spent most of their time working on renovations and mowing the main areas to our course, over the next month we will be attacking all snipping areas to tidy up the remainder of the course.
ANDY BOSWELL – COURSE SUPERINTENDENT
MARCH 2022 GREENS REPORT
This month would have to be the wettest I have seen the course for this time of year in the last five years. We all know how much rain we just had from February through to March so I will leave it at that, but what and how did the rain affect our course?
We were actually quite lucky compared to other courses on the coast, with how much clean-up was needed after the water had drained away from the course. Both bridges were swept away between 3 and 4 and the boys had to re fixture them back in the right place. However, the walkway bridge is currently closed as there are some parts to the bridge that need work done before we can re-open it. In the meantime the main bridge can be used for walkers and carts.
Most of the debris from the floods was left in the middle area of the course with most of the rainfall coming off our hills. This made the clean-up a little easier. The irrigation main pump was taken out of the dam and has been fixed and back in action. All bunkers were washed out and new sand was added. A lot of roped off areas have been in place for carts and for the first time in months these ropes have been pulled in and also the 7th men’s tee will be back in action now that the 7th fairway is dry and safe.
Although the staff had the machines pulled out by the tractor from being bogged let’s say 7 times, they did an amazing job with mowing as much rough as possible in these very wet conditions.
The rough was at an all-time length (height) so mowing was very slow, but after this week of sunshine, the rough is back and the grass clippings that have been left lying have been mulched and cut again.
Through this wet month we have prioritised the main areas of the course including rough, fairways, green surrounds, tees and the greens. Now that we are seeing some sunshine, the boys will start the snipping to all our dam walls and other common areas.
The greens are in great shape, we have only seen minimal leaf disease on some greens, with the conditions so severe over weeks, I am very lucky, and happy with the condition and health of the greens at our club. Yes, the greens are slower than normal and my main reason for not having them as fast as they have been is I have raised the mowing heights from 3.2mm to 4mm.
Our biggest issue to the greens at our club is the shade issue through winter, so over the past few years and learning what the greens go through throughout the seasons, I have made slight adjustments in mowing practices. This will give the greens more strength through winter and have more of a constant surface all year round. The greens are also very wet underneath and that will affect the pace, although the greens are cut a little higher with sunny days ahead and with our rolling twice a week, there will be improvement with pace.
There have also been several crows foot weeds that have spiked from all this rain, however the boys are on to it and will be targeting these weeds this week. All things considered, the course and greens are great with what we have just been through, and the sun is out today and I hope it stays that way for the rest of March. The team will be busy this month snipping , mowing and next month I will discuss what projects will be commencing when the weather cools down.
ANDY BOSWELL – COURSE SUPERINTENDENT