February has certainly been warm. The greens & fairways are starting to show some signs of distress after two – three weeks of high 30’s low 40’s degree humid weather, despite the warm weather the course in general is holding up well although branches have been falling like nine pins. A lot of activity has still occurred on the course with details as follows:
EB’s – We are pleased to welcome the EB’s in assisting with course care. They were recently seen weeding the upper and middle car parking area. Thanks for your assistance, guys.
8TH Fairway – A small portion of the 8th fairway from near the green to approx the 100m mark was cored with the cores utilised to grass the bare areas where several trees were removed.
Greens – Bare patches on the greens are the result of nematodes. These nematodes cannot be seen by the human eye. They feed on the roots of the grass which severely impacts the health of the green causing discolouring and thinning patches. We are treating these areas with a pesticide.
Duckweed – on the 1st & 18th greens have been sprayed.
Foreign grass – in all our new greens will be treated and removed during the winter months.
The height of the cut has been raised to 3.5mm due to the heat we have experienced.
Bunkers – We have commenced levelling the greenside bunkers again. This was last completed 12 months ago. Many thanks to Paul Cooper for his dedication to this area of the course. To date, almost all greenside bunkers on the course except the 8th & 9th holes have been relevelled. Several fairway bunkers on the 2nd & 6th holes have had the flat areas at the top of the bunker removed. Bunkers should be left as per the photo below after exiting.
We are in the process of purchasing 2 rakes that have a brush at the end of the rake as an experiment to see if this can improve bunker raking as they do not leave any teeth or claw marks. Refer photo below.
17th green renovation – The renovation of this green was planned to commence on the 19th August but has now been put back one week.
Trees- We have had a problem with balls hitting the houses behind the warmup range from the 10th tee. In an endeavour to rectify this issue, we are looking at the possibility of purchasing half a dozen 2m high gum trees type species & plant them on top of the hill on the RHS of the 10th near the warmup range. They will take up to 10 years before they reach a reasonable height. This has the potential to solve this problem. We agreed to remove limbs hanging over the property of our neighbour at the end of the warmup range. This was completed mid-February with the range closed for the day.
Our neighbour next to the entrance has had roots from our trees lining the driveway affect his drainage system which has cost the club to repair said damage. As a result of this all trees along the driveway will be removed in due course to ensure this problem does not resurface.
Numerous large branches fell during February, and we ask members to be vigilant when playing. It is believed the reason why these branches are falling is due to heat stress, however there are several other theories such as:
- The water table is falling.
- Salt water is leeching into the aquifer.
Volunteers – The volunteers continue to mulch the tree limbs behind the 10th green as well as remove and mulch numerous limbs that had fallen over the past month. In addition, all granite dust paths have been edged.
Divots on the 6th fairway – Despite numerous requests via this newsletter requesting all members repair their divots, recently, we had evidence of a golfer taking multiple divots out of the 6th fairway approximately 130m from the green, without any apparent effort to knock them in & repair their divots. This is a disgraceful act. Firstly, no member has the right to more than 2 practice balls on the fairway. Secondly, should any member be caught doing the wrong thing will face the disciplinary committee where the Greens will be seeking a suspension. Refer photo below.
Tee boxes and fairways – Pockets of spotted spurge have broken out in various areas on the course such as the 6th and 9th tee boxes & weak grassed areas on the fairways. This weed has been sprayed on the tee boxes however before we use the chemical on the fairway, we wish to ensure the chemical is killing this weed on the tee boxes.
The height of the fairway cut has been increased to 10mm due to the heat.
General maintenance Feb – The following was completed during February:
- Tee boxes sprayed for kikuyu and summer grass.
- There was a fortnightly dusting on all greens.
- Areas around trees continued to be sprayed together with Bunker spraying.
- Spot spraying of Nutgrass around the course. This is the glossy long stem type weed that has appeared on the course over the past few years.
Fairways & surrounds – A 6 to 7-year plan has been put in place to grass the majority of bare areas on the fairways and surrounds as well as remove most of the parramatta grass. This commenced last year and will recommence during the winter months. At the end of each year, we will re-assess what else needs to be completed. We aim to address the following areas this year, but this is dependent on many factors:
- 1st Hole – The surrounds of the fairway on the LHS will be rotary hoed from approximately 60m from the tee box where there is both parramatta and it is sparsely grassed until the mound just before the fairway bunker. Cores will be utilised to grass this area when we complete the renovations in Sept. All bare areas from the fairway bunker up to the green will be returfed.
- 1st Hole – The RHS of the first fairway just before the fairway bunker will be rotary hoed and cores utilised to grass this area. The area between the fairway bunker to the RHS greenside bunker will be repaired.
- 3rd hole – All bare areas approx 100m from the tee box on the RHS of the fairway will be returfed. Parramatta grass will also be rotary hoed around this area. Bare areas on the LHS just off the fairway will also be repaired.
- 4th hole – Bare area at the back of the green will be returfed.
- 8th Hole – Bare area the width of the fairway where the vehicles enter and exit approx 30m in front of the tee box will be replaced, further bare areas on the tee box and further down the fairway will be returfed.
- 15th hole – Returf small bare areas on the LHS of the dry lake bed together will several other bare areas on the fairway.
- 15th hole – Rotary hoe bare areas just off the fairway near the pine tree for approx 50m together with bare area around 70m from the green. Cores to be utilised to repair these areas. Improve bare area where the two trees are next to the RHS bunker. One of these trees will be removed to encourage growth.
- 18th hole – Replace problem area in front of the 18th
