April 2024

 

Hello all, on behalf of the greenstaff, we wish all our Members, Directors and fellow staff a Happy Easter, and hope you enjoy whatever the Easter break means to you. 

With the Easter Cup on, there are a few us working this weekend both on course and in the club to ensure our members enjoy the 2 day Easter Cup weekend.  My thanks to those staff for giving up their time and making themselves available for the weekend duties. 

As anticipated the shorter turn around between green renovations and the Easter Cup meant we had to push the greens harder to have them in condition for this event. Whilst not 100% recovered from Renovations just 2 1/2 weeks ago, (nor did we expect them to be), I am very pleased with the greens response and have certainly recovered extremely well, allowing us to be back at a H.O.C of 3mm for the past week or so. The greens will continue to improve over the coming weeks filling in thin areas. 

Also during the renovation period, selected green surrounds were cored, seeded and sanded, they will continue to improve to provide for winter cover in high traffic areas. The majority of fairways were lightly verti cut, they have had wetting agents and fertiliser applied to assist in prepping the warm season turf for the winter period. 

Mullumbimby couch control is onging as time and weather conditions permit.

Back to the greens and after reviewing the recovery to date and taking into consideration a very condensed play schedule through April /May, we have decided that should a mini tine renovation be required it will take place after the Capel Cup towards the end of May prior to hopefully the bulk of the rain and of course Winter.  We may well not have to follow through with these works, we will asses the greens progress and update as required. 

I would like to alert members to a potential effect of our trial program for Couch encroachment mentioned last month, we will be using a relatively new product on selected green areas namely perimeters of the greens to selectively control couch grass. Areas sprayed may turn bleach white, including the bent grass 7 to 10 days after application. The effects on the Bent grass will be temporarily and will recover within a few weeks. Please see below picture of a sample effect from another golf course after a 2nd application was applied. 


We may not see results to this extent as we are applying to a different schedule, but the possibility remains and something you should be aware of, once again it is a temporary effect and will recover. 

As it is a trial the total area to be treated is limited to approx 500 square meters over different greens, no heavy infestation of couch areas will be targeted at this stage, some areas will only receive 1 application to be followed up in spring while others will be given 2 applications at slightly different intervals to determine the best method and turf impact specific to our conditions. Once we evaluate performance, effects and potential recovery time, if successful we will implement a larger program during spring and Autumn periods in future. 

 Till Next Time 

Happy Hooking !


Popular posts from this blog

November 2023

Image
Welcome to another instalment of the Course Maintenance Blog, I will try and slow down the typing, because we have been going at a cracking pace on the course over the past 6 weeks that would leave the Cup hopefuls in our wake.   The Finish line is in sight for a number of projects undertaken over the last month and looking forward to holding back the reigns( ok no more cup puns) to give time to consolidate the previous work performed.  My thanks to Ben for his tireless efforts, with a great many extra hours worked, my staff who have also worked extra hours and of course both of our major works could not have been completed without the wonderful help of our ever present volunteers. This should never go unnoticed, coming from a metro golf course background, where volunteers were scarce to say the least; I am forever appreciative for the help these members give. Forget the profit and loss sheet for a moment or the condition of the course/ facilities, the true strength of a NFP club l
Read more

Saltene and Couch Grass

Image
I thought I would talk about this subject instead of what has been run of the mill course work updates lately, nothing like a bit of variety to keep it fresh... It is this time of year (summer if you didn't know better) the couch and saltene in the greens become more visible and start to out compete the bent grass. If you have been good students and followed the turf 101's on this blog you would know Bent is a cool season grass preferring cooler temps, Couch and Saltene both warm season grasses preferring hotter temps for optimum growth. So what happens when the two compete against each other year round ?   During the cooler months,  April through October the Bent grass out competes the Couch and Saltene, the Couch and Saltene are still there just not as pronounced as during the warmer months, thanks to their vigorous rhizomes even tho the bent has control of the top, the couch and saltene are waiting to pounce when warmer temps arrive due to their extensive rhizome syste
Read more

Hydraulic Oil Leak

Image
Over the weekend we had a Hydraulic Oil leak under the mower when mowing greens, unfortunately as it was pre-dawn mowing with a heavy dew, the operator only detected it when the sun came up after he was halfway through.   Of 13 greens mowed, 8 are effected of which 4 are cause for the most concern. Wishful thinking, I am wondering, and will find out soon enough, with the greens renovations only just completed whether the vigorous growth we have encourage to recover from Reno's and the higher cut we were mowing at will lessen the impact and we may be able to cut out most of it....Experience tells me IT IS wishful thinking. With this type of oil leak, it isn't so much the oil but the temperature of the oil that causes most of the damage, instantly killing the grass it contacts. We have applied Activated Charcoal, and a dilute detergent to deactivate and dilute the oil, there isn't much more we can do I am afraid.  We have sanded the 15th to see if that helps, unfo
Read more