CAPEL GOLF COURSE MAINTENANCE

Before I update green renovation outcomes I would like to thank the many Volunteers who arrived to pick up and level cores. To many to name individually, and at risk of missing anyone person, all as important as each other, a massive thankyou from the greenstaff !!! It's the same bunch of blokes that put their hand up each and every time they are needed and without which, the club would be all the more poorer for it, figuratively and literally. I would also like to thank my fantastic staff, especially my 2IC Ben for working extra hours over the 2 1/2 days, some 30hrs at fast pace, to get everything done. Thankyou ! I was very pleased with our processes during renovations which have lead to a very clean finish, probably the cleanest finish of renovations I've been involved in 35 years.  As a result of that, the initial expected recovery time, due to the amount of pre renovation works we carried out of 4 to 6 weeks has been reduced by near half that time, anticipating maximum 4 w...

I hope this post finds all our members happy and healthy, green renovations are on the way and we all know how our members just love this time of year, happy days ahead !😁 When I last left off, I was bemoaning the frustrating period we went through planning work which eventually was forced to be postponed due the tractor being out of action, we were sweating bricks as we got closer to renovations without the tractor as we use it to load up our native sand for renovations, we need at least week to do this prior to renovations so all sand is ready to go and no delays are experienced.  Thankfully the tractor is back in operation and we have commenced stockpiling sand in preparations just in the knick of time.    Green renovations commence Sunday afternoon 12th March, from 2.30pm and continues through Tuesday 14th. The front 9 holes will close on a progressive basis from 2.30pm Sunday, full course closure Monday and Tuesday.  During the renovation closure a...

The past 3 weeks have been a little frustrating for the course staff as we had planned a number of constructional type works in the small window of opportunity between the Capel Open and commencement of course preparations for the next Major Event the, Summer Cup. Works planned included, some urgent bunker repairs to a few bunkers, initial site preparations for the new proposed 5th black tee and 15th tee extension, all requiring our Ford Tractor playing a major role in the works. Unfortunately we experienced a worsening  fuel leak, we couldn't operate the tractor safely. The fuel leak was traced back to the diesel fuel injector pump which required removal and being sent off to the fuel injection specialists to partially / fully rebuild seals etc.  Long story short, as with all things many have experienced since covid, parts availablity and short staff in highly skilled areas have meant delays in getting the tractor back in operation.  The majority of the planned works hav...

Welcome to the very first instalment of the Maintenance Blog for 2023 !  On behalf of the greenstaff we wish all our members, staff and patrons a safe and happy New Year, bringing new beginnings, new hope drives find the fairways and your putts the cup !  As I write this, the first round field of our first major event of the year is making its way around our beautiful course.  It is always a challenge to get the course into shape benefitting a major event and no more so than on the back of a 3 and 4 day week respectively due to the Xmas and New Year Public Holidays.   with early tee times, it was a 4am start for the greenstaff No dinner by candlelight, it was bunkers by floodlights And once we could see The challenge compounded by the increasing winds we experience at this time of year, blowing debris through the course with 35km hr winds being relentless the last few days.  Connor with...

Welcome to another update of the maintenance Blog. Following on from the last instalment, the tees are making a very good recovery from renovations, justifying the decision to postpone the work till warmer conditions could hasten the recovery process. Getting a headstart at 4.30am with alot of work to get through, met with a nice sunrise. and no we don't start at 4.30am so players can also arrive, the course opens at 6.45am the early starts are critical for staff to attend certain duties without worry of players of which we contend with for the rest of the day. Tees were scarified and cleaned off  one tee picked up 17 more double tees to go. Cut down to 5mm with the old walk behind  Solid cored   and sanded  Some tees like the 10th great wall of Capel can't be sanded with the spreader. So it was synchronised sanding  The sand was rubbed in, all tees fertilised ready for recovery....

Pull up a chair, grab a coffee and enjoy the latest instalment of the maintenance Blog. During the week I sacrificed the mid morning coffee on one of the warmer days to share some chlorophyll with the locals  now that is sorted .... We have finally started seeing an increase in growth rates from our warm seasons turf areas, (Tees, Fairways and 1st cut Rough) after what has been a very mild spring and particularly cooler November with below average temperatures and overcast conditions. Our warm season turf requires at least 8 hours of direct sunlight and temperatures of 25 degree plus for healthy growth. Temperature and Light intensity play a critical role in photosynthesis in order to produce enough energy to grow and recover from normal wear.  The turf hasn't had the climatic conditions to provide the energy to do so. In the field, the mild conditions have held back recovery growth from winter wear from player traffic on our tee...