CAPEL GOLF COURSE MAINTENANCE

When you know it takes 27 hours to manually irrigate the back 9 from Tee to Green just once, and you need to do this at least twice in a week plus extra for Tees and Greens, When you know the weather forecast is for temperatures above 30 degrees for most of the week, you have a public holiday and three competition days to work around, the last thing you want to see on the first manual shift of the week is this .... Fortunately we were able to plug the leak temporarily keeping the irrigation running for the complete first cycle then made the permanent repair without too much disruption or delay to irrigation before the competition players came through. Just another week in the irrigation season. Between other must do maintenance works during the week we recommenced work on the 6 th tee, all going well we hope to have all the amendments added and levels complete this time next week.   During the peak season with our very small staff, extra mowing demands...

We are often called on to attend, "not your average greenkeeping duties" from stopping wayward Bulls, (yes Bulls not balls), roaming the course, to fishing Golf Carts out of Bunkers, (lucky we dont have water hazards),  so I didn't think I was being "Fleeced" during the week when I was informed we had a few unwanted visitors on 11 green.   Fair to say Ben and I have a new respect for farmers herding their stock after these Baaaad boys were a little reluctant to go where we wanted them to.... Just goes to shows The grass is always greener ................   One project we have been trying to complete between Course Maintenance tasks is the establishment of a Nursery green to use as a source of bent grass turf to repair greens during events like above or general repair and planed improvement works, once established we will no longer need to remove turf from our practice greens and will also allow us to implement measures to remove Couch and Saltene encroac...

Always on a Friday or a long weekend and always when it is about to get hot !! Had to take time out from normal course set over the weekend to deal with a main line break on the back 9.  An 80mm section of pipe developed a 3 ft long crack, and as a lesson to the young padawans (apprentices) the crack was caused by the pipe becoming brittle as a result of excess glue used when joining many years ago that was left to pool in the pipe. In a case of less is best excess solvent cement left to pool in joints and pipes  will ultimately weaken the pvc walls leading to the above.   Happy Hooking and New Year to all

On behalf of the Course Staff I would like to thank all our dedicated volunteers, our valued members  Board of Directors and Management for your Support again this year. Best wishes to all for a Joyful  Xmas and Happy 2017.  Happy Hooking

During the week I had the pleasure of attending the 2016 Turf Industry Awards,   I would like to congratulate Ben as a graduate of the 2016 Apprentice Class of 2016 and for being awarded the 2016 Lecturers Choice Award selected from all sports turf apprentices, Golf, Bowls and Sports turf.  This is a massive achievement for Ben, recognising his dedication and commitment to his academic study to become a future Turf Manager over the past 4 years.   Well done Ben ! We are very proud of you . I would also like to take this opportunity to announce Ben, in recognition of his hard work and dedication to both his studies and work on course has recently been promoted to Assistant Superintendent. I am sure he will continue to be an asset to the maintenance team and Capel Golf Club as he adjust to his new role while still providing the same exemplary service he has become known for.   Thank you and Happy Hooking.

The fairway renovations went well, recovery is already well underway with all outcomes achieved. We are finishing off fertilising the fairways balancing the manual irrigation system with demand and once complete will have the fairways in good condition leading into the summer months.   One issue I need to address is the appearance of dry areas (dry patch ) on the back 9 fairways, this is not due to the coring but as a result of the manual irrigation system and set speed pumps with antiquated piping leading to inefficient irrigation.  While coring does drop the moisture levels temporarily,  it is the less than efficient irrigation system on the back 9 which can not quickly replace that moisture loss that results in these dry areas whenever we carry out works such as renovations, large scale spraying or any maintenance requiring follow up irrigation.  The combination of the manual system, set speed pumps and small old weak pipping in places mean we need t...

A great start to the working week with the start of coring the back 9 fairways, after 12 hours we have completed the coring brushing and clearing of 5 fairways and cored 6.  Tomorrow we hope to have the coring complete prior to the competition players catching up, leaving the brushing and clearing to do. Scroll cutting cleared fairways will also be attended.  Just a reminder, please do not hit up on staff unless called or out of the way during this important work. We do apologise for any inconvenience caused by disruption and we hope you understand, the aeration of the fairways has many advantages, allowing air and water into the profile, alleviating compaction, encouraging micro organism to breakdown organic matter, release of nutrients are just some of the major benefits. This provides us with a base to have healthy strong turf surfaces for you enjoyment.  Thank you  and Happy Hooking