A quick apology for the absence of posts over the past month, the growing season has started and we have been exceptionally busy trying to keep on top of the many tasks that need to be undertaken to maintain the golf course at this time of year.
Red Gum limb - 1st fairway
The month started with the exceptionally high winds which caused damage across the majority of the state. Considering the strength of the winds we experienced I think we got away fairly lightly losing only one large Red gum limb on Wednesday 5th and the Cypress pine that was uprooted in the early hours of Thursday 6th.
Fallen Cypress pine - 6th tee
The weather then cleared perfectly in time for us to undertake Spring greens renovation. Greens were fertilised prior to coring to speed up the recovery process, they were then scarified on the Monday to a depth of 25mm, cored with 19mm hollow tones to 100mm depth over the next two days using a closer pattern than previous years to impact a greater surface area. They were then sanded on Monday/Tuesday, with the 18th green completed in front of the field on Wednesday, with some greens then receiving a top-up of additional sand on Thursday morning (a total of @100 tonne of sand was used this year compared to @70 tonne in previous years to complete the renovation process). The sand on the greens was worked into the core holes using a rotary brush and dragmats and received their first cut at 4.5mm one week after coring. They were then reduced back to their normal height of 3mm in stages over the next week. I am extremely pleased with the speed of their recovery and also the fact that we were able to achieve this with what I believe to be minimal disruption and inconvenience to the membership.
Stump munching contractor at work
A number of stumps around the course have been ground out by contractors, cleared and refilled by both BGC staff and Volunteers. These areas will be turfed in the coming weeks using surplus turf harvested from other areas of the course. The garden bed by the sand bin at the clubhouse has been cleared by BGC staff and then replanted by volunteers from the course beautification group with more appropriate native species so as to match the other garden beds around the clubhouse.
Newly planted clubhouse garden bed
Greens have been sprayed with fungicde to target some small areas of disease that have flared up after coring. Fairways have been sprayed to eradicate the Poa annua that has germinated since the last application of product.
