SUMMER CUP
The new flags are out, the cups are painted and the course striped up
It must be time for the Associates major event of the year and the first major event of the year for the club, yes the 2 day Summer Cup has arrived!
The past 4 weeks have been all about peaking the course in condition for this event with a focus on surface quality from Tees and Fwys to Bunkers and Greens and has involved allot of hard work and extra hours, specially with making sure the back 9 Fairways didn't suffer with our manual system of turf valves and extra time and effort spent using hoses to irrigate the gaps of no coverage, my thanks to all the staff for their incredible hard work over the past few weeks, in particular this week to get the course the way it is looking and playing at the moment. The course as it stands tonight at 9pm after doing some more clean up is a credit to them.
Our task has been made all the more difficult with seasonal winds up to 50km/hr, blowing debris over the course, with no means to clear them besides our trusty Kubota outfront mower, it can be a very frustrating, time consuming task trying to keep the course presentable under those conditions, to the staffs credit they stuck at it and thankfully tonight it is calmer and with a few more hours in the morning the final clearing will be complete.
As for the greens, the goal was to peak them for the summer cup, in healthy condition and increase speeds to 11ft, they were at 10.5ft this morning after a water and only a single cut and in healthy condition, with little water out tomorrow and double cut they will definitely be hitting the mark if not more, so yes your hearing a very happy Super after all the plans and work come together with the challenges we have faced.
Now I realise, my last comment there about green speed contradicts what I wrote previously, so just to clear that up - - We can sustain increasing green speeds and all that entails for short periods or for special events during Summer, i.e. We aim to peak the greens specially for that event and involves a substantial increase in input of costs through increased turf product use and labour time, something we can not sustain over a longer period during the hotter months without major risk of adverse effects to turf health or over extending our budget.
In any case enough of the trumpet blowing, my thanks again to our dedicated staff for all their hard work and not forgetting our regular volunteers Syd, who today spent the most part cleaning all the signs and markers and Ned who spent some time cleaning up branches that were down from the wind, also Ben for helping as usual with the clean up and watering. Thanks guys your efforts, they are very appreciated.
