Dave’s Diary
Published on 13th June 2017 in Course News, Members NewsIts been a while since my last installment but we have had plenty on over the past 10 or so weeks which has kept me rather occupied, Numerous times I have sat down in front of my computer but with the magical weather we have been having I have found it very hard to stay office bound for any longer than 15 minutes.
With the 2017 Nexus South West Open now behind us we can sit back and reflect on what has been a very busy/productive couple of months down at the shed for the team.
2017 Nexus Southwest Open
With near perfect conditions over the weekend it allowed us to showcase our course to not only our members but to all of the visitors and touring professionals. We are very appreciative of the amazing feedback we received but it is a real credit to the amount of work the boys down the shed had put in. For me it’s a pleasure to come to work each day as we have got ourselves a very good and hardworking team down here – nothing is ever too much and they have great enthusiasm and energy towards what we do. Over the weekend itself we had an additional 2 guys brave the 4.30am starts to help set up the course. A big thanks must go out to Lee Shaw who came in to assist young Will on the bunkers, each morning the father son duo went out and blew, faced and raked bunkers making them look very inviting to hit into each day. Below was our schedule for the week
Monday – Greens: dusted, dragged and PM roll, PM foliar feed with inclusion of Primo (growth regulator) in tank mix
Fairways: Green collars and approaches foliar fed,
Bunkers light edge, blown, raked. green sprinklers trimmed
Tuesday – Greens: Brushed AM, 2x cut PM (2.75mm) holes changed
Fairways: Cut (clockwise) and debris blown, Green collars and approaches cut 8mm
Tees: Foliar feed, tee blocks edged/tidy
Wednesday – Greens: AM 1x Roll, PM Brush, 2x cut and blow
Greens Collars & Approaches cut
Thursday – Greens: 2x Cut AM 2x Roll PM
Fairways Cut & debris blown
Green Collars and Approaches cut par 3 fairways 2x cut
Tees cut 8mm
Friday – Greens: 2x Cut 2x roll, course set up
Fairways Cut & debris blown
Bunkers Faced, Blown Raked
Green collars & Approaches cut, par 3 fairways 2x cut
Tees: cut holes 1-6,8,10,11, 15, 16 (over seeded)
Saturday – Greens 2x cut 1x roll 1,10,14 2x roll remainder, course set up
Fairways cut & debris blown
Greens collars and approaches cut, par 3 1x cut
Bunkers, rake, face all par 3, blow debris
Sunday – Greens: 2x cut 1x roll 1,10,14 2x roll remainder, course set up
Fairways: cut
Greens collars and approaches cut, par 3 1x cut
Bunkers: rake, face all par 3, blow debris
Monday – Greens: 1x cut all greens, 1x roll 1,10,14,15 2x roll remainder greens, course set up
Fairways: cut & debris blown
Greens: collars and approaches cut, par 3 1x cut
Bunkers: rake, face all par 3, blow debris
Update
Even though the Open has been in our thoughts for quite some time all of our work over the past couple of months has been to prepare the course for the upcoming winter season. At the start of March and directly after the Leschenault Classic we began our preparations by verticutting fairways at a time when our fairways usually get a good flush of growth from the cooler temperatures and extra moisture present from our first heavy dews. By verticutting the fairways this late in the season allowed us to use this growth period for the recovery and kept the fairways nice and tight until the growth began slowing down some 4-6 weeks later. Over the Easter period we trialed a wetting agent infused with a fish/kelp extract which we injected into our fairway and Tee irrigation over a 5 night cycle (18L per night) From this the green up was impressive and from then we have simply kept topping up our nutrient levels with foliar sprays every 4 weeks.
One of the notes we made at the conclusion of last winter was the lack of fairway definition and rough, as the winter goes on the rough declines as it goes into a state of dormancy. At the end of March we applied a granular application of Sulphate of ammonia in an effort to kick the rough into gear, unfortunately the usual April rainfall we were anticipating never came which hampered our efforts a little as I would of preferred it to be a little thicker and more even in growth then what we currently have.
Last winter we trialed over seeding the 10th fairway with perennial ryegrass for purely aesthetics and from the positive feedback we received we decided to go one better and do all the par 3 fairways this year. As soil temps drop and the couch slows the rye grass continues to actively grow giving a year round surface and due to the ryes winter growth and recovery we have also incorporated it into our par 3 tees and other tee tops that are severely impacted by traffic and winter shade (1,2,3,4,5,6,8,10,11,16).
Another note from last winter was the conditioning of our greens collars, they lacked adequate grass coverage and had poor definition. As the couch stopped growing the collars had a muddy, compacted and uneven appearance to them so at the beginning of April we solid cored all collars and approaches and oversowed them with a perennial rye and fescue blend (chewings & creeping red). The timing of the seeding turned out to be quite tricky as once again we were waiting for those usual April rains to assist in germination but without them meant we were juggling with irrigation on areas (greens) we wanted to keep dry and firm. In the end we got a decent strike from our seed but I feel if we got that one or two showers of rain we would of achieved a better outcome. Looking ahead we have set aside an area at the end of the range which we will use as a collars nursery for any upcoming works or kikuyu replacement within the collars as our aim is to have uniformity within our prepared surfaces
9th Green
In the previous edition of the diary we had started to prepare for the upcoming works on the 9th green, everything was in place but I was a little worried on how the turf would lift off the nursery as it was still a little young and hadn’t quite knitted together tightly. If we proceeded with the works and the nursery didn’t lift too well we would of battled with greens surface for the duration of the winter and the upcoming summer so we thought it would be best to put the project on hold until the spring. At this stage works have been penciled in to begin on September 11.
New Machinery
The past couple of months have been quite busy for us but also quite rewarding with the arrival of some new machinery down at the shed. A big thanks must go out to Mark Thomas and DT for all their work and assistance in helping set up a lease plan with Toro. At this stage we have set up a plan on all our higher use gear, gear which should be turned over every couple of years before extra maintenance and reliability costs become an issue. With this plan we have seen two new 3150 greens mowers, a petrol powered GTX workman, a 3100 Sidewinder (collars and surrounds), 360 Quad rough mower, proforce blower and the HDX sprayer call our shed home. We ended up trading in quite a few of our older/unreliable pieces of equipment to make way for the newer pieces to have pride of place in the shed. As part of the Lease plan Toro cover all warranty work and costs associated plus cover the machinery replacement if a machine was to go down for an extended period. We are very appreciative for the club to go down this avenue to give us the tools required to present the course to a condition we want to pride ourselves on.
The Scotsman
At the conclusion of the Open we said farewell to the Scotsman on our crew Dave Mcpherson. Scotty was here as a seasonal worker for the summer months and was a big part of our team. Having an experienced operator in the team over the summer period was invaluable as you could give him a task and he would set about it with very little fuss. Scotty was our first “guniea pig” in our trial to get experienced staff for over the summer period and I was happy with how it worked. For us its having an experienced operator when we need it and the added savings of a full time salary is a bonus to the club. Around September time we will be putting our feelers out around the globe for once again another experienced international to join our team.
Upcoming Tasks
With having the Open at the beginning of winter helps us set up our maintenance for the next couple of months. The course generally looks after itself a little and frees up members of staff to take holidays and focus on areas which get overlooked over the hectic summer period. This winter we have earmarked the cleaning of the silt out of the dams and to further organise our maintenance facility and operating procedures. Out on the course monthly foliar feeds to fairways and tees will help maintain colour and growth. Planning and preparation for the 1st tee project along with relevelling and resurfacing of other tee boxes around the course. Heading into the spring we will be ramping up our Kikuyu spraying focusing mainly on our bad holes 5,7,11,14. Due to the size of the kikuyu on these holes some turfing may need to take place so over the winter efforts will be made to clean an area on the driving range where we can harvest clean winter green turf.
As for myself I’m about to take a couple of weeks break and head over to the UK with the family, Our Assistant Superintendent Michael Newman will be running the show and I have complete confidence he will do a great job whilst Im away. Michael has proven himself to be a very handy assistant over the past 12 months and has built a great working relationship with myself and the other members of the team.
In the mean time make use of the course conditions whilst the weather is still perfect. Please keep in mind that as the growth is slowing down recovery takes longer and over filling divots with sand can take even longer to regrow and not to mention the effects the sand has on our cutting units.
Cheers
Dave