Green’s Update – Jan 2023
Chairman of Greens, Terry Gale
The summer cup has been run and won. Congratulations to all winners of this prestigious event. The course was presented in immaculate condition with a number of members from other clubs impressed with the continued improvement of the course & surrounds.
I would formally like to announce that Matt Gannon has joined the Greens committee. Matt has already proved his weight in gold by assisting in the repairs to the Tractor arm as well as providing technical expertise, equipment, supplies & labour to assist with the installation of a fence next to the 3rd tee box.
An update on the course activities is detailed below:
- New Course Machinery – The second fairway mower is expected to be received around late January to mid Feb 2023.
- Bare spots –The large uneven & bare area on the RHS of the 17th fairway past the large gum tree has been rotary hoed & seeded. This area will be GUR until such time as we have full grass coverage. The expected timeframe is around 12 weeks.
- Bunkers – To date six bunkers have been improved by way of widening, flattening the bottom & scrapping surplus sand from sides.
- Right hand greenside bunker on the first.
- Both the Left hand & right hand side bunkers on the 10th
- All three bunkers on the 14th.
I would personally like to thank Paul Cooper & 2IC Simon Platt for their work in rectifying and improving these bunkers. Work on other bunkers will be completed when time permits.
Many members have expressed their concerns over the state of the bunkers since my return as Chairman of Greens. Despite the efforts of Paul & Simon above & plans put in place to improve our bunkers, many members are simply ignoring the request to rake bunkers correctly & leave the bunker in a better condition than when they entered. I implore all members to check that when their playing partners enter a bunker that they confirm they have raked the bunker correctly. To all the members who do the right thing, thank you. To those members who believe they do not need to leave the bunker in a better condition than they entered, then I strongly suggest you change your ways. We need to weed out these perpetrators.
- Warmup range – Bushes along the lower carpark are in the process of being removed so that we can install the 4m high fence along our boundary line. This fence is planned to be installed either late Jan or early Feb.
- Stumps – We hired a stump grinder for three days in early Jan and some 80 stumps / roots were removed. I would like to thank Lawrie Bennett for his dedication in assisting with this task. If funds are available we will look at hiring the stump grinder for another two or three days within the next three months & endeavour to remove the remaining stumps as well as grinding down roots that are protruding above the ground.
- Roots in the fairway – Captain Paul Cooper has removed a large number of roots that have encroached on the fairways. There are still many more to remove. Thanks once again Coops for your commitment to this task.
- Divots on fairways – I have noticed that there are many divots on the fairway that have not been knocked in. Some of these are quite deep. Members, please take the time to repair your divots. I am sure you would not like to play out of one of these divots. In addition, it appears that there are some members who are pitching three or four golf balls onto several of our greens & not repairing any of their divots during their practice rounds. This practice is to discontinue & reflects these members lack of care to their fellow members. Should anyone be found to be guilty of this practice then a severe punishment may be enforced.
- Volunteers – Mark [Doc] Halliday has joined the volunteers. Thanks Doc. Life member Lawrie Bennett has done a magnificent job in beautifying the 1st & 16th garden beds before the Summer cup. Two dead banksias have been removed along the LHS of the 18th
- Trees – Two trees were removed in late Jan. The first was along the lower carpark boundary fence. This was required to enable the new fence to be installed. The second tree was the large tree behind the 13th Several large limbs were overhanging Campbell Road and encroaching onto the roundabout which was dangerous if one of these limbs fell during school hours.
- Trivia question – The photo below is of the second tee box and was taken in January 1993. I also attach a recent photo which highlights how quickly trees, bushes etc can grow if they are not regularly pruned and maintained.
