Course Update – Condition of Putting Surfaces

Dear Members,

I would like to inform you about a recent issue that occurred with our irrigation system last Sunday night which has impacted the condition of our greens.

On the morning of Monday, 30th December, it was discovered that our greens had not been irrigated as scheduled due to an oversight in the reporting and monitoring of our irrigation system. This lack of water supply caused the greens to dry out significantly, resulting in visible but cosmetic damage. I want to assure you that measures are in place to avoid such incidents and maintain the quality of our course.

The problem originated from a failure in the irrigation system where the bore tripped during operation, leading to a drop in water pressure and subsequent system shutdown. This required the pumps to be reset, which includes bleeding and re-pressurizing the system—a process that normally takes about 40 minutes.

Regrettably, the necessary updates that would have alerted us to these issues early on were not communicated as per our established procedures. Rostered staff did not send the required 5 AM update,

As a result of these oversights, staff members have been disciplined by our Course Superintendent Dave Brennan and reiterated the importance of following procedures due to the critical nature to prevent future occurrences.

Recovery and Maintenance:

• Immediate treatment was applied to the stressed areas using a combination of wetting agents, seaweed, fish, vinasse (high in auxins and amino acids), calcium, and phosphite to aid recovery. We are already seeing positive results from these efforts.
• Our course pumps, which operate on demand, were not notified of the drop out, an issue we are addressing with additional system monitoring.
• To ensure sustained recovery, all greens will undergo a soil and wetting agent treatment on Tuesday, 31st December, as part of our ongoing maintenance program.
• We are also exploring more robust monitoring solutions for our irrigation system to enhance reliability and response capabilities.

I appreciate the frustration this incident may cause, and I deeply regret any inconvenience. Our grounds team shares in this disappointment, especially after their dedicated efforts to improve the health of the greens following a challenging year. The new program we’ve implemented has shown promising results, and it’s disheartening to face such setbacks. Please rest assured that we are fully committed to restoring the greens to their excellent condition and have implemented measures to enhance the reliability of our irrigation practices.

Thank you for your understanding and support as we work through these challenges.

Regards,

Des Shearer

General Manager