Time For a Make Over

Welcome to the refreshed New look Blog ..
I hope it is more user friendly and appealing, like the Golf  Course we are always looking for ways to improve what we provide whilst respecting our history.
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Pro Force Blower
It is amazing just how much a seemingly simple insignificant piece of equipment can play such a vital role in Course Maintenance and presentation of the Golf Course, it is not until you stop using it that the benefits it provides are noticeable.
The Pro force Blower  has been out of action for the past 2 weeks with warranty related issues, the first and longest period of time we have not operated the blower in 4 years, present conditions are back to pre blower days and I dare say anyone who had questions about its acquisition of this peice of equipment have their answers !!

The impact it has on clearing the course both for maintenance to be carried out and appearance / play conditions is remarkable. From a maintenance perspective, we need to clear debris from all fine cut areas (Greens, Tees and Fairways) and bunkers before maintenance can be carried out, otherwise we risk damage to turf, equipment and gauging depressions in bunkers. Without the Pro force we are back to using hand blowers, water jets and the slasher to clear areas all of which do not do as good a job and takes considerably longer meaning other maintenance task can not be attended. For example bunker preperation for play is taking a combined 6 hours compared to 4 when the Blower is in operation.
With the Blower out of operation not only is it impacting maintenance and maintenance times but play as well,  debris are quickly back on the playing surfaces with the wind we have experienced, with no means to remove them quickly, efficiently and back into the bush far from play, inevitably players are experiencing increased frustration clearing the lines of Putt, and encountering loose impediments in bunkers.
We hope to have the Blower back in action in the coming weeks, in the meantime we endeavor to continue providing quality playing surfaces for your enjoyment (or frustration).  After all golf is a nice relaxing way of getting really frustrated !

Toro Workman
Keeping on machinery and equipment, you will notice the new beast being utilised around the course.
The Toro Turf Utility vehicle is replacing the aging Quad Bikes and will offer improved safety and versatility for course staff and maintenance. Quad Bikes have a higher risk rating for WHS (OHS) and have limited capacities to undertake a variety of work, but they were required for the manual water shifts of sprinklers pre Irrigation upgrade days.  With sprinkler manual irrigation changes no longer required we have the opportunity to replace the quads with much more suitable and robust work vehicles for Golf Course maintenance and use.
Due to the higher payload capacities, robust construction and suitability, turn over costs will be similar or even less than the quad bikes due to increased turnover periods from 3 to 5 years minimum.

Thats all for this week.
Happy Hooking !!

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