Welcome to the April edition of the green’s newsletterThe Gosnells Open & Senior Open have been run and won. The weather was perfect for the three days of the Open. The course was presented in immaculate condition with praise coming from all participants. Congratulations to all the winners.
We really are blessed by the outstanding performance of our Grounds staff over the previous 6 – 12 months. They have prepared the course in an exemplary manner during all weather conditions & members from other clubs have been extremely complimentary of the course presentation. Members who have played on other courses have also commented on how fortunate we are to play on a course that only continues to improve.
An update on all course activities follows:
- Bunkers – Levelling of all greenside bunkers has now been completed. We intend to level these bunkers on a more regular basis; however, we require the assistance of all members to ensure they rake the bunkers correctly. Members who are caught not making an effort to rake the bunker correctly will be written too and may need to front the disciplinary tribunal.
We intend to combine the fairway bunkers on the first & thirteenth holes to make it easier to maintain & enable the bunker rake to be utilised. Commencement date is unknown at the present time.
- Blue lines – Blue lines will appear around the greens shortly to preserve the most traffic use areas on the course during the winter months. The Blue lines means that NO motorised club or members carts or push or electric buggies are to cross the Blue line. In respect to motorised carts, they are not permitted to be driven between any greenside bunker and the green at any time during the year as per the Motorised Cart / Buggy policy. Refer the extract following in relation to Motorised carts:
Care of Course and other Golfers (inclusive of all carts/buggies)
- No driving in the rough
- No cart is to be driven within 10 metres of any Green, and 5 metres of a Tee Box or to cross a blue protection line. Golf carts are not to be used outside the golf course boundaries. All carts are to exit the fairway area at the designated sign. Carts/Buggies are to remain on the designated route through to the next tee
Please respect this Board approved policy which was enacted to preserve the integrity of the course for all members.
- Nursery – There are four distinct nursery areas surrounding hole 13A. These are as follows:
- Kikuyu nursery
- Pure Distinction nursery
- Couch nursery
- Sand pit
Members are not permitted to practice on any of these areas. The nursery is solely for the use of the course staff in case we need to replace any grass or sand on the course due to a variety of reasons. If members wish to hit balls from around 100m then they can practice from the elevated ground to the left of 13A green.
- Volunteers – The volunteers continue to improve the course by completing the following tasks:
- Trimmed and removed a number of small gum trees along the RHS of the 17th
- Trimmed the Melaleuca on the RHS of the 17th approx 180m from the tee box.
- Trimmed several trees in the bottom car park that were overhanging this area.
- Commenced trimming & removing any dead trees along the RHS of the 16th
- Extended the granite dust path on the 4th to past the large gum tree on the RHS of the green.
- Course machinery – The club is in receipt of a new motorised bunker rake. This bunker rake has a finishing brush attached which should eliminate any small grooves or ridges that were left by the old bunker rake.
- Fairways –
- All fairways have been verti mowed recently except the 4th and the 11th. Normally the grounds staff would verti mow all fairways regulary during summer. Verti mowing assists in keeping the fairways firmer and smoother by removing a lot of the mat material that builds up. Unfortunately this option wasn’t available this summer due to one fairway mower breaking down for 8 months whilst waiting for parts. Therefore Grounds had to use the mower that is used for verti cutting being set up for fairway mowing.
- All fairways have been liquid fed and Prino Maxx applied.
- The height is currently at 9mm and will be raised to 10mm in May for the upcoming Winter.
- A complete fertiliser will be applied in May to feed them up for the Winter months ahead.
- The greens height will be raised to 3mm from May.
Divot on 12th green – It was disappointing to note that a member in frustration took a divot within 10 cm of the 12th hole on Saturday morning the 15th of April and another divot was located within 60cm of the 16th hole on Thursday the 20th of April. Golf is an unforgiving game and can make the best golfers in the world wish they were somewhere else when things do not go right.
It is time consuming for us to investigate which group & member is guilty. We ask that if you cause any damage on the course that you self-report as this will go in your favour, rather than trying to hide behind anonymity.
What made these two incidents more of an issue was the fact they occurred within one week or one day of our signature events of the year.
The first photo below is of the 12th green whilst the second is of the 16th green.
Please respect the course & your fellow members.
Report by,
Terry Gale
Chairman of Greens
