Wildlife on the Course

Koala and baby - 7th fairway

Red bellied black snake - 18th dam



Both of the above pictures were taken by keen eyed members of staff during the past week. The koala and baby were spotted by Cathy crossing the 7th fairway on Monday morning and the black snake was spotted sunning itself on Thursday afternoon by Nick and Lee.

The work on the new irrigation installation has continued on the 5th hole, with the green complex and the first four laterals across the fairway completed. The 5th hole has been brought back into play for the weekend and will be taken out of play again on Monday morning to allow the contractors to continue unhindered. The remedial works to the left-hand side of the 9th green have also been carried out by staff this week. This involved the removal of the sod, re-contouring of the profile to facilitate better water movement off of the green surface and then re-laying of the sod. A number of fairways have been sprayed with product to eradicate broadleaf weeds, with the remainder to be completed early next week.

Irrigation mainline installation

Contractors starting to trench the irrigation mainline across the 16th/17th fairways

Work has now started on the 1st stage of the new irrigation system, with contractors installing the new irrigation mainline from the pumpshed over the dam wall and across the 16th and 17th fairways. Work has so far progressed to the rear of the 5th green which will allow us in the coming weeks to continue to install the irrigation to the 5th, and then, 4th holes.

Course maintenance over the last two weeks has also seen staff busy preparing the course for the upcoming club championships and a busy two months of trade days. Greens and surrounds have been fertilised, and fairways are now starting to show signs of Spring growth. The rough is growing at an alarming rate and the rough mower is being used all day, every day to keep on top of things. The weather has certainly been changeable, with a mixture of strong winds, high and low temperatures and rain all within the last seven days.

Another victim of the strong winds

On a lighter note it would be remiss of me to mention the long-serving member of staff who on Ladies Pink Ribbon day made a special effort and looked resplendent in a full length pink dressing gown - a great effort!

Routine maintenance

After coring of greens and tees in the last few weeks, this week was a more normal week maintenance wise with all areas of the course being cut and bunkers being raked and returned to normal after last weeks heavy rainfall. The rainfall pattern for the month of September was unusual in the sense that 66% of the total fell in the last three days of the month.

	September 2011	September 2010	average
Rainfall	100 mm	111 mm	90.5 mm
Year to Date	726 mm	712.5 mm	698 mm
No. of rain days	10	14	-
Average Temp.	19.1°C	16.3°C	-
Average Humidity	64.1%	76.4%	-

As this has been a relatively quiet week I will take the opportunity to enlighten you on some of the finer points of bunker raking

• Before exiting a bunker, a player should carefully rake over all signs of play in the sand, and then leave the rake with the handle pointing toward the tee of the hole being played.
• In the bunker, the teeth of the rake should be used to repair the floor of the bunker and only the flat reverse side of the rake should be used to smooth any damage to the bunker faces/sides.

Step by Step Guide  

1. Your entry into the bunker matters - always enter the bunker at the lowest point. Stepping in and out on a steep face causes unnecessary damage and pushes sand off of the face into the bottom of the bunker. Plus, it's much easier to rake flat areas of sand.
2. Begin raking over the signs of play from the sand - the area where your club made contact with the sand and your footprints. Pull the teeth of the rake toward you as you begin moving back to the edge of the bunker.
3. Be careful not to pull too much sand toward you. The idea is to restore an even surface to the sand without displacing too much sand. If you are pulling too much sand toward you, try pushing the teeth outward a few times. All the while, you should be progressing back to the edge of the bunker.
4. If required, rake other affected areas. Use only the flat reverse side of the rake to smooth any damage to the bunker faces/sides.
5. Do not pile sand at the edge of the bunker. To complete raking, step out of the bunker and push back any excess sand using only the flat reverse side of the rake.
6. When you have finished, the sand's surface should be evened out, with no signs of divots or footprints, and no excess sand having been pulled toward the bunkers edge. There will be little furrows left from the teeth of the rake.

Before you step away from the bunker, the most important thing is that the sand be in as good or better condition than that which you found it in. Make sure golfers following behind you have a good quality bunker from which to play any necessary shots.

Thank you for your co-operation, as the more care you take when raking bunkers means the less time staff have to spend on repairing damage, which in turn means more time spent on other essential maintenance work.

An interesting week weather wise

2nd fairway mid-morning Friday

The contrast in the weather this week has been quite incredible. Tuesday saw us reach a high of 27.5°C which came as a bit of a shock to the system. This was then followed up by 59mm of rain over the next three days and a high of 12.9°C on Friday. The rainfall has not only been great for the course in general terms, but also has had the added bonus of accelerating the recovery of the greens after last week's renovations. I am extremely pleased with the speed of their recovery and also the fact that we were able to achieve this with minimal disruption and inconvenience to the membership.

3rd surround mid-morning Friday

Finally to the member, who in a fit of temper during Wednesday's competition, took the divot shown in the photo below from alongside the hole on the 2nd green, this is not acceptable golfing etiquette and I hope that you are proud of yourself!



Divot - 2nd green

Coring Week

16th Green after sanding

Greens renovations took place as scheduled this week, with the weather and machinery breakdowns having a slight impact on the overall timing of the operation. Greens were scarified on Monday to a depth of 25mm, they were then cored to 100mm over the next two days. Due to the 16.5mm of rain we received overnight on Monday sanding of greens took slightly longer than normal. The majority of greens were sanded on Monday/Tuesday with the last four greens 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 @70 tonne of sand is used throughout the renovation process). The sand on the greens has been worked into the core holes using a rotary brush and dragmats and are on schedule to receive their first cut early next week..

Fallen limb - 13th Ladies tee

The strong winds of last weekend also saw numerous branches brought down around the course with the largest falling across the Ladies 13th tee on Sunday night.

Irrigation System Upgrade

The new pump station being transported to the pumpshed

This week saw the club start on the first stage of the irrigation system upgrade. A new packaged pump station incorporating multi-stage variable speed pumps has been installed in the pumpshed. These new pumps will reduce the strain on the existing system and extend the serviceable life during the installation of the new system.

New plantings at the rear of the 5th tee

You may have noticed the temporary shade cloth screen at the rear of the 5th tee, this has been put in place while the new plantings of the hedging plant Syzygium australe - Hinterland Gold establish and grow to an acceptable height to provide a permanent screen from the road.

Don't forget that next week is coring week. Weather permitting, the front nine greens are being cored and sanded on Monday and the back nine greens on Tuesday. All greens are also being scarified as part of the process, with this operation being carried out by a contractor throughout the day on Monday. While every effort will be made to keep disruption of play to a minimum on the in-play back nine greens, your co-operation will be required to help this operation run as smooth as possible and this may be a good opportunity for you to consider using your Club Advantage card.

Spring Tees Renovation

The first family of Black Ducks this Spring

This week all tees have been cored using 19mm hollow tines to a depth of 75mm to remove some of the thatch that has built up since the autumn renovation. Thatch in turf is defined as
an accumulation of living and dead organic matter that occurs between the green vegetation and soil surface. Thatch development is a natural process and is composed primarily of turfgrass stems and roots. Hollow tine aeration (aka coring) is the physical removal of unwanted organic matter from the upper portion of the rootzone; this process also relieves soil compaction and increases air and water movement into the soil.

The majority of tees have also been overseeded and sanded, with four tees still to be completed at the start of next week to finish the renovation process. Greens have received an application of a biologically enhanced organic fertiliser, prior to the start of renovations, to promote active growth to aid with the recovery process.