Dave’s Diary

The diary is back by popular demand! With the onset of winter now fully upon us and the Southwest Open behind us we can now take a breath as things start slowing down on the golf course and we can catch up on all the little things that get over looked during the busy season… like this diary!

I began back at the club 2 weeks prior to the 2016 open and like to use the event as my gauge as to where we are at and how we’re travelling out on the course. Receiving the great feedback we got from players and sponsors this year and along with  being awarded the 2017 Regional Course of the year back in March is a real credit to the team we have down the shed.  I can’t speak highly enough about the team for everything they put in and how well they all work together which in return makes for an enjoyable work environment and it’s rewarding to see that transpire out onto the golf course.

As for the open we didn’t have the ideal weather leading up to it with 74mm of rain falling on the weekend prior along with a storm taking out 6 trees and littering the golf course with debris. We were once again blessed with the army of Soddies who descended on the shed first thing Monday morning to help tidy the course and by lunchtime Monday the majority of the debris was clear. A big thank you goes out to Allan Blake who came in for the latter part of the week and helped with further blowing and removing of debris from the playing surfaces. Other than the storm over the weekend preparations were going smoothly and we were very calm with how everything was going until about 9.30 Thursday morning when mother nature unleashed her fury. With the weather forecast saying 5-10mm of rain expected we spent all of that morning facing up bunkers and making them look good and that 5-10mm of rain predicted would of flattened them out nicely, at no point was 21mm in half an hour predicted and it totally smashed us. I have never seen so much water on a golf course in such a short period of time and I’ve worked in the tropics… After a quick tour of the golf course the decision was made to delay the start of scroungers and put a ban on carts for the day due to the amount of water still standing in areas. Not only was it hard to see the golf course looking like that after all the time and effort everyone had put in it was very disappointing to hear about certain members complaining about the ban placed on carts when all it takes is for someone to drive through the wrong area and we will all be still seeing where they went today. We made that decision not to intentionally annoy or mistreat members but the decision was made to protect the course ahead of the clubs biggest event of the year.

Over the open weekend we had a great turn out down the shed from volunteers who braved the cold mornings and very early starts on what should have been a long weekend for them, a very big thanks from the team go out to junior member and work experience kid Ben Carlson and his dad Ash who helped out in bunkers, Scotty Davey who was instrumental in the course set up and once again our serial big event volunteer in Jordan Beck (Melville Glades/greenacres turf) who I’m sure only rocks up with the sole purpose to empty my fridge. Their time is very much appreciated because without the help of these guys we wouldn’t be able to get everything done that we wanted and still stay ahead of the field.

Moving away from the open, this time of year is a good time for guys to take holidays and have a little bit of down time before we start ramping things up again for pennant visits and the Bunbury Bowl. Last year we were very unhappy with the condition of the greens coming out of the open  and throughout the majority of last winter and changed a lot of our practices and programmes to ensure we weren’t in the same position this year. So far im happy with the amount of grass coverage and how the greens are looking however under the surface still requires a lot of work. Over the years and I can vouch for the last 2 we have been fairly kind on the greens come renovation time and coring has become somewhat monotonous using the same size coring tine (better recovery) and at the same  depth of 4 inches which is the max for our coring machine. Unfortunatley after all these years coring to the same depth we have developed a hard crust 5 inches below and although it doesn’t entirely affect the surface it impacts soil health and root production which is vital to healthy and stress free greens which in return allows us to better manage and provide much better putting surfaces. During the lead up to our green renovations which is scheduled for 9-11 September we will provide you with more information regarding our practices and estimated recovery period.

With the 4^th green being our latest green completed as part of our green replacement program its starting to knit in well, originally the 12^th was on the cards to get done but due to doing the 9^th earlier in the season our nursery would have been fully depleted of decent turf and in case of any emergencies/vandalism we would have stuggled with any decent replacement. So in favour of not fully depleting our stocks we turned our attention to the 4^th which now means that our next green scheduled to do in September will definitely be the 12^th and the boys can breathe a sigh of relief not having to manage the old green through anymore summers.

A big shout out and thank you must also go out to Alan Plumb and Norm Ellery for all their efforts in helping with the Parramatta grass spraying. Over the course of the summer and autumn we made a huge dent in the amount of Parramatta grass out on the course and with the help of these gentlemen we made bigger impact then what I was expecting. Although majority of it has been sprayed some will grow back again next summer however less and less will appear each season until its controlled.

Not that I’m ready for it to get here just yet but looking ahead to next spring/summer we will turn our attention to the kikuyu in the fairways. Over the past 2 years I have tried different chemicals, mixing different chemicals all with varying results however nothing works better then glyphosate(round up) so after the Bunbury Bowl in late August we will turn our attention to select fairways and begin spraying. There will some loss of turf in these areas but couch will grow back over the course of the warmer months and preferred lies will come into play on these areas affected.

Of recent a few changes have happened down the shed in staffing with our 2^nd year apprentice in Will Shaw deciding that this was no longer the job for him and has left to take on another apprenticeship in welding and fabrication which is based out of Capel. We will begin advertising for another apprentice in the next month or so in an effort to have someone here by August/September.  Another recent departure from the team was our Canadian in Chad Fauchoux who was here on a 6 month contract over the summer months. Chad will be missed however its exciting times for him as he is heading back home to take on his first superintendent role at one of the local courses. Our second year in I feel our international programme was a great benefit to us and the club and we will start putting the feelers out around late August to bring another guy over for next summer.

In mid May we lost our other 2^nd year apprentice in Connor Butlion for 2 weeks as he  went over to the US and volunteered his time to work at the recent AT&T Classic on the PGA Tour at the Trinity Forrest Golf Club in Dallas TX . Connor will put a blog up on the website very shortly explaining the behind the scenes of what goes into hosting a tournament of that size. For myself I have been lucky enough to be involved in a few US Tour events and the experience you gain from being involved is second to none and for Connor to pay for it of his own back to get over there is a great testament of his attitude and willingness to learn which is why he has become an important team member for us down here at the shed.

Over the course of the winter I will try and update the Diary as often as possible to keep everyone informed with whats happening out on the course and whats in our plans for the next set of projects.

 

cheers!

Dave