May Greens Newsletter

Solid Blue lines

The club has sent out notices about the solid blue lines to all members, which was mentioned in the April newsletter. I make no apology for continuing to bring this to members attention.

Solid Blue lines now appear around all greens to protect the area surrounding our greens during the winter months.

This means that all buggies or carts that have wheels are not permitted within the solid blue lines. For example, the following are banned from being within the Solid Blue lines:

1. Push buggies
2. Electric buggies
3. Member motorised carts
4. GGC Golf motorised carts
5. GGC Golf motor bikes

The integrity of the course during the winter months is paramount to ensuring the course is presented in as good a condition as possible. Please respect your fellow members and abide by the solid blue line guidelines.

Own a hole strategy

After the Australian Junior Championships and Gosnell’s open, a hard core of volunteers ventured out on the course and have repaired over 6000 divots on all the par 4’s and 5’s. This action was taken to ensure the fairways continue to be presented in the best possible condition.

It is now imperative that all members realise that we all have a responsibility to repair our divots as well as a minimum of one other on the hole you own, together with raking bunkers and repairing pitch marks on all greens.

If one of your playing partners is unfamiliar with the correct process, please educate them on how to repair divots or pitch marks or raking of bunkers the correct way.

Over the past few weeks, I have witnessed many attempts to repair divots on fairways and I say thank you to those members who are treating the course with respect, but there are still many other divots that no attempt has been made and this is disappointing. Divots are mainly attributed to low handicap golfers [Not all] & I seek the assistance of these members [Juniors and adults] to work together with the rest of the membership to ensure we leave the course in better condition than when we teed off.

The photo attached records 2 divots on the 18^th fairway, approx 50m from the green with no effort to repair either divot. This is simply not good enough. As mentioned in a previous newsletter a divot repaired correctly by knocking in the sides or replacing the divot if sufficient roots and sand are still attached, may take between 1 – 2 months to recover, whilst an unrepaired divot will take somewhere between 3 – 4 months. This is why it is so important to repair all divots.

Allocation of holes has primarily been based on an alphabetical basis with details as follows:

Bunker raking

It is difficult to understand why a small group of members do not try to rake the bunkers correctly. Refer to the photos below. The effort made in the first photo on the second hole was pathetic. The second photo showing just footprints was on the 6^th hole. It appears they just walked in to collect their ball and walked straight back out with no effort to rake their footprints.

Scrollable

Dead trees 

Three dead trees were removed on the Wednesday, 22 June 2024. The first & second were on the LHS of the second hole near Warton Road. The large dead tree posed a threat to passing motorists if the tree fell over the road. The third tree was a dead pine on the RHS of the 13^th.

Motorised carts and bikes

All member’s carts or club carts and bikes must use the cart paths that are provided around the course. They are not permitted to drive or park within 5 metres of the tee boxes or greens. The classic example is the first tee when there is a concrete cart path on the LHS of this tee box. All carts must use the concrete path. The area on the RHS of the first tee will now be roped off.

Volunteers/EBs

The volunteers have commenced clearing the dead & fallen branches as well as removing the wattles in the golden / Bermuda triangle bounded by the 15^th, 16^th & 17^th

The volunteer EBs continue to repair divots on the first hole.

Bare areas

The ground staff have commenced repairing bare areas on the course such as:

• RHS on the 14^th fairway near the Ladies tee box
• LHS of the 17^th green.
• Approx 20m short of the 17^th green on the LHS of the fairway.
• Two areas on the 15^th fairway.
• Directly behind the matting on the warmup range.

Irrigation 

The club has engaged a consultant to conduct a full audit of our aging irrigation system. This will encompass the main lines, 2-way cable system and valve-to-head reticulation. The current system is around 30 years old. We expect this report to take around 2 months to complete. Upon receipt of this report, we shall determine the best way to implement the necessary recommendations.

General Maintenance 

The following was completed by Grounds during May:

• POA on the 12^th green has been sprayed twice. 3 more spraying is required to complete the program.
• Bare area near the ladies 14^th tee box has been repaired.
• Spraying for weeds around garden beds and trees.
• All greens, tees, surrounds and fairways have been fertilized to help keep a good colour and strength through the coming winter season.
• Greens are being dusted weekly in an endeavour to firm them up during the winter months subject to weather conditions. The greens have traditionally been soft at Gosnells. Our intention is to firm them up for future years. One option is to go back to coring and sanding twice per annum. This is a catch-22 position in that members will then face playing on sanded greens for around 8 weeks P/A compared with 4 weeks now. Is this a better option than soft greens? We shall discuss the best way forward over coming months.

Report by,

Terry Gale

Chairman of Greens