CAPEL GOLF COURSE MAINTENANCE

Hello and welcome to this weeks blogs installment for the week ending 26th Jan. Happy Australia Day I hope all enjoy the Australia day long weekend. Or should I say.. Gday mate, av a bloody bonza Aussie Day and your weekend is beaut..... (Cliches couldn't resist) News from the course this week is all positive as we continue to achieve strong recovery growth as condition improve to where we want them to be. As can be seen in the pictures and a casual round of golf all areas are recovering well. Thanks to some lower than expected temperatures over the past 2 weeks, high 20's low 30's combined with management practices during this time the greens are also making a faster recovery in terms of root growth than initially expected, so much so we are starting to re introduce normal maintenance practices for the time of year and recommenced herbicide control for Crab Grass, tho we are using the lower rate with split applications over a 3 week period to overcome any pote

Recovery Work Week! The past 2 weeks has all been about providing conditions for turf grass recovery as much as we can control along with of course normal routine maintenance and course mowing etc. All front 9 surfaces have had wetting agents applied, Green Surrounds cored in addition the 8th and 9th Surrounds scarified and seeded with Rye grass. I am not a big fan of Rye grass, however decided that as it was the turf established in the area and does germinate relatively quickly it would give us some quick grass cover considering the Ladies Summer Cup is only a few weeks away. Some light fertiliser applications to all areas rounds up the broad scale turf recovery. 8th Surrounds cored, scarified, seeded and sanded For the Fairways, Tees and Green surrounds we have done all we can to assist in recovery the rest is up to the turf, time and patience, our goal is to have close to all areas recovered by the Summer Cup. Fwy Dry patch recovering The greens remain a different chal

As promised answers to the most common non turf related questions about the recent main line break I have received. 1/ Why did the break occur ?  After inspection it appears the contractors who installed the main line did not install the thrust blocks as specified. With set speed pumps cavitation, water hammer is a serious issue with correct thrust block installation critical. Variable speed pumps are the most favoured but the system design took into account our set speed pumps. 2/ Why was water off of so long ? Due to the holiday period and most manufactures and suppliers closed there was difficulty in obtaining the correct fittings, our irrigation supplier did not have parts on hand had to source parts from various areas across WA. The location of the break only 10m from the bore head could not be isolated. 3/ Why didn't we have parts on hand ? At the time of installation we were advised due to our limited shed storage area we would only need to carry Toro specific spare

Finally after the longest 8 days of my career we can irrigate!!! The pipe repaired, the concrete set, some issues with repair sorted, the system flushed and pressurised, tested and monitored...... now we bloody water everything!!!!!!! I am not ashamed to admit the past 8 days probably rank up there with the most stressful periods of my professional turf career. Many thanks to Peter Dillon for his assistance handwatering and Mick Templemen for chasing up the phone calls which left me free to attend the course. Also to the staff for the great job they have done altering work hours etc to make sure we got through this in the best condition possible. All things considered the course has held up well, the Tees remain healthy, Fairways have quite a few dry patch areas but should recover quickly, and the most important we haven't lost any area of greens, however they will need to be closely monitored and maintenance practices altered for the rest of summer as will be explained belo

We ll after some difficulties obtaining the correct fittings and other frustrating delays out of our control, the main line break was fixed late this afternoon, (Friday) but we still cant use the system until the concrete used for 'chocking" the pipe cures, best case scenario Sunday morning, the flushing and gradually building pressure up will then commence. Tomorrow (Saturday) is D Day for the greens, so far they are hanging on with the limited water from handwatering from tanks however they are under moisture stress and tinkering on the edge, we continue to do everything we can to avoid loss of green areas.  Saturday will see a rise in temperatures back to the mid 30's and will place added heat and moisture stress. My concern is not the immediate impact but the knock on effect this will have on the turf weakening and reducing the root depth, hence the turfs ability to tolerate other stresses that will become obvious in the next few weeks, more on that once we get the i

Just a quick update on our irrigation problems on the front 9 - We have been advised the necessary fittings are in transport, likely to be delivered sometime Thursday with a hopeful resolution on Friday. In the meantime hand watering greens and tees from mobile tanks continues. Cooler weather at present is being appreciated by staff and turf alike as we continue to protect the greens and critical play areas during this difficult time. The fairways are browning in patches as expected but are holding up well considering, recovery will be relatively quick once water is available. Thank you for your understanding.