CAPEL GOLF COURSE MAINTENANCE

Last Sunday (30th) a main line ruptured on the front 9 Due to the nature and location of the break( 10m from bore, another 2m and we would have been OK) we are unable to isolate the pipe which means we cannot irrigate any areas on the front 9 with the irrigation system,  to add to our woes we cannot obtain the correct fittings till at least Wednesday 2nd Jan and then we have to slowly pressurise the system which will take time. As you can imagine with the heat we are having it is cause for concern, temperatures of 34 to 40 degrees combined with low humidity are effectively cooking our turf areas without water. The greens are our main priority, we are using 600 litre tanks to hand water greens early morning and late evening some tees are being watered in this manner as well. The front 9 fairways will be worst effected as we cannot water these areas as frequent by hand. You can expect we will endeavour to keep the greens "alive" as a priority, they will be slower as

The Christmas Curse struck again on Christmas day as it has done for the past 3 years, either a blow out on the back 9 old system or electrical problem on the Front and this year it was the Front 9 Auto system that decided to play Scrooge. With temps reaching 33 degrees C (91.4 F for our stateside readers) I thought I would take a leisurely drive to the course Xmas night to water some back 9 greens and check the front 9 system, I am undecided weather I am glad I did or not. One of the Solenoid heads blew off in the Fairway, low pressure activated and no water going or set to go off as a result. Forced to make some running repairs,  a quick rewire and then reset the irrigation programs and the leisurely drive took a few more hours than anticipated on Xmas night. At least I worked off some of the Christmas stuffing to make room for the pudding and had a quick dip to boot.  Must have been a sixth sense as I wasn't going in till Boxing Day morning, with the heat we are having an

On behalf of the Course Staff I wish all our members, management and directors a very Merry Christmas and safe New Year. May your festive season be filled with family, friends and great memories.

How many of you find your mail box is getting trashed with shopping catalogues with headlines like "LAST MINUTE GIFT IDEAS" conjuring up images of frantic shoppers racing about with last minute Xmas preparations and gift buying? Same every Xmas isn't it ? Well just like the reliability of those catalogues hitting your mail box and the frantic shoppers, Golf Course staff across the country will be attending last minute Course Preparations with the Xmas New Year period in mind, Not because we forgot some form of maintenance or anything like that, with the following 2 weeks very disruptive with public holidays, more work is being crammed into this week than any other on any golf course you may visit, along with preventative disease applications and other pest and stress concoctions of varied products to help relieve some of the stress and worry thinking about the course over Xmas and New Year, every Course Superintendent knows with less working days over the coming weeks,

The rain event during the week had the course soaking up 90mm of rain in 36 hrs, just under 6 times our December average and our wettest December for 11 years, while some areas of Bunbury received well over 100mm breaking rainfall records we will settle for the 90mm with a  sight we never see all that much of in December RAIN! I think this one belongs to the growing list of unusual events for 2012, this time though, one I won't complain about, the back 9 fairways were starting to develop the summer look of the inefficient irrigation system and inadequate coverage, the rain will put that look off for a month or so now. We had a few bunker washouts to repair along with some paths and soil erosion in various areas but other than that some much needed rain was appreciated particularly after recording temperatures over 30c for the 3 days leading up to the rain.  Prior to the rain constant 20 to 30 km/hr winds made presenting the course difficult, if anyone wants to know why I don&

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

I wish I was talking about a 3 club golf event or some other unusual novelty golfing event, but no the main topic for the maintenance crew this week was another " unusual weather event ".   The cold front associated with the deep low sitting off the coast which swept through the region on Tuesday night, Wednesday and Thursday bringing 85km/hr winds has been officially declared an  " unusual event "  for this time of year, certainly we do not normally experience this type of weather in the last week of Spring to add to the one in ten year event we experienced back in in June and a few other "unusual events " along the way this year......Does this make it an " Unusual " year ?  (Pictures courtesy of Ben ) yes my camera is still on the blink.  As for the impact on the course, we escaped any major damage however we did lose another 4 trees, and the small debris over the course was a mess, the main problem course maintenance wise is the loss o