Happy EASTER!
Course staff have been busy preparing the course for this weekends Easter Medley, difficult task this week due to the Good Friday public holiday effectively having a 4 day week to prepare the course. I think we achieved what we set out to and the course is in great shape heading into the weekend.
The greens maybe a little slower than previous major events but you have to keep in mind the greens were only renovated 3 weeks ago, looking at them you wouldn't know it has only been 3 weeks, I m very pleased with the way the greens have come back, we knew it was always going to be a race against time to have them remotely close to condition for this weekend, while another week would have been nice, I think we won the race in the end. The greens are only 1/2mm off our usual major event height of cut being cut at 3mm, a fantastic response only 3 weeks out from renovations, we are only single cutting and this will contribute to slightly slower greens than normal major events.
Obviously those areas we were more vigorous with couch encroachment control will be a slower to recover than the rest of the green.
We have had a positive response in the most part to the new fairway definition and style, they are growing in and will improve in time, I have had some members raise concerns and my suggestion to anyone who has concerns regarding the new Fairway definition is to approach the Course Director or Course Committee members with those concerns.
Upcoming with another 4 day week next week, routine course maintenance will be the focus, after which removal of the sandy mounds to the left of the 3rd is on the cards, these mounds were not designed to remain GUR for any length of time, as it has been required to make these GUR consistently the decision has been made to remove them altogether and return the area to a flat sandy zone as was previously but wasn't GUR.
Other work which will be undertaken over the next few weeks include commencing stage 2 of the 16th mounding work, raising the right side sunken area of 17th Bunker lip / green edge, and finally re starting the Chipping green grow in now that favourable weather conditions have returned.
Talking of which, hasn't the weather turned quite suddenly this year, it was only a few weeks ago minimum temps were still around the 20 degree mark, this past week it has dropped to 7 degrees, but the 27 degree afternoons has made conditions ideal for a round of Golf, we have some 35mm rain this month and I hope this is an encouraging sign for winter rain.
Finally other work which will be attended shortly includes the final dry fertilising of all warm season turf areas before growth slows too much, by fertilising with a little Nitrogen (not a allot), more Potassium and some Iron, a little in advance of the much colder temperatures of winter we can encourage the turf to maintain a decent colour ( instead of the brown dormant colour), have a stronger plant heading into winter more resistant to winter wear and tear.
Course staff have been busy preparing the course for this weekends Easter Medley, difficult task this week due to the Good Friday public holiday effectively having a 4 day week to prepare the course. I think we achieved what we set out to and the course is in great shape heading into the weekend.
The greens maybe a little slower than previous major events but you have to keep in mind the greens were only renovated 3 weeks ago, looking at them you wouldn't know it has only been 3 weeks, I m very pleased with the way the greens have come back, we knew it was always going to be a race against time to have them remotely close to condition for this weekend, while another week would have been nice, I think we won the race in the end. The greens are only 1/2mm off our usual major event height of cut being cut at 3mm, a fantastic response only 3 weeks out from renovations, we are only single cutting and this will contribute to slightly slower greens than normal major events.
Obviously those areas we were more vigorous with couch encroachment control will be a slower to recover than the rest of the green.
We have had a positive response in the most part to the new fairway definition and style, they are growing in and will improve in time, I have had some members raise concerns and my suggestion to anyone who has concerns regarding the new Fairway definition is to approach the Course Director or Course Committee members with those concerns.
Upcoming with another 4 day week next week, routine course maintenance will be the focus, after which removal of the sandy mounds to the left of the 3rd is on the cards, these mounds were not designed to remain GUR for any length of time, as it has been required to make these GUR consistently the decision has been made to remove them altogether and return the area to a flat sandy zone as was previously but wasn't GUR.
Other work which will be undertaken over the next few weeks include commencing stage 2 of the 16th mounding work, raising the right side sunken area of 17th Bunker lip / green edge, and finally re starting the Chipping green grow in now that favourable weather conditions have returned.
Talking of which, hasn't the weather turned quite suddenly this year, it was only a few weeks ago minimum temps were still around the 20 degree mark, this past week it has dropped to 7 degrees, but the 27 degree afternoons has made conditions ideal for a round of Golf, we have some 35mm rain this month and I hope this is an encouraging sign for winter rain.
Finally other work which will be attended shortly includes the final dry fertilising of all warm season turf areas before growth slows too much, by fertilising with a little Nitrogen (not a allot), more Potassium and some Iron, a little in advance of the much colder temperatures of winter we can encourage the turf to maintain a decent colour ( instead of the brown dormant colour), have a stronger plant heading into winter more resistant to winter wear and tear.
