Rainfall for the week 14.0 mm
Rainfall for 2025 1050.5 mm
With the warmer nights not far away, the team has heavy scarified all
collars and aprons this week which removes a large amount of dead and decaying
material from the top of these surfaces. This is the same practice we performed
to the tee pads last week, but we didn’t scarify as deeply on the collars and aprons.
Once the scarifying was complete we ran over these areas with our
vacuum/debris collector which tidied up these areas quickly and neatly, ready
for play immediately on Tuesday morning. All collars and aprons were then mown at 5mm which is around
half the height that we usually cut them at (9mm), resulting in a very playable
surface after such a heavy renovation practice.
Tees were sprayed this week for mites which have become a problem pest of
couch grass in recent years as certain insecticides have become banned for
use in the turf management industry. Although microscopic in size, these pests
can cause significant damage when present in large numbers. They severely
retard the growth of couch turf, greatly slowing its recovery from damage or
winter dormancy. Mites also have several lifecycles over the growing season, so
consecutive insecticide applications are required to gain full control of their
populations. A growth stimulant was added to this week’s application to
initiate some early spring growth on these surfaces. This application will be
repeated over all collars and aprons next week.
The course is really starting to shine with all the hard work the course
team has applied over the last two months, and with the assistance of Mother
Nature. The addition of some new machinery has also helped and this week we
received 3 new mowers from Toro Australia (pictured below). A new fully electric greensmower is
one of these machines which is preparing maintenance operations for the future
when the new units are built. Being fully electric the only noise made by this
machine is from the cutting reels. The cutting heads on this new greensmower are
also an improvement on our existing unit as they can move/swivel in 4
directions instead of the traditional 2 directions, meaning the mowing heads
will ride over the undulations of the putting surfaces better and produce an
improved putting surface.
As the demolition of the clubhouse draws closer, we are inviting members
that would like to salvage any plants from the front gardens of the clubhouse,
to come along on Tuesday 7th October from 8am. You will need to
bring your own shovel, pots/bags, and any other equipment needed to remove the
plants yourself. We kindly ask that you do this in a thoughtful and considerate
manner, so that everyone has a fair chance to take something.
Our volunteers were at the club on Monday heavily involved with the moving
of the last remaining items from the clubhouse down to the temporary clubhouse
and the storage containers at the maintenance shed. Parramatta Grass weeds were
poisoned and fairway divotting was performed on Thursday morning, with David
spending the whole morning on the 3rd fairway due to its lack of attention
from members and guests. Thank you to all the members that volunteered their
time this week, your help and support is greatly appreciated.
Greens will be cut and rolled on
Saturday morning and then cut again on Sunday morning. I will be setting pins
on Saturday morning with Garry setting them on Sunday morning.
Happy Golfing
The Course Team.
