Dave’s Diary

 

 

Welcome to another instalment of the diary, at this time of year it can be pretty quiet for us out on the course and with the recent weather impacting on what we can achieve allows us to get a little more organised down the shed and gives the guys an opportunity to use up some of their annual leave before we start building up to a very busy part of the year.

 

At the moment our focus is centred around the Bunbury Bowl and Mens club championships, providing the weather plays nicely I’m confident that we can have the course looking a treat and playing nicely. The greens have been a bit of a concern for me over the past 4-5 weeks but are starting to bounce back. Due to the greens thinning out after the South West Open it’s inevitable that poa (wintergrass) will jump in and begin to grow. When the greens are thin chemical treatment isn’t an option as this will further decline the growth of the bent at the moment we have been applying bio stimulants and aminio acids in an effort to produce additional carbohydrates within the bent to spur on growth and density at a time of the year when soil and air temps are at their lowest. Once weather permits we will begin applying endothal regularly at half rates in an effort to start killing off the smaller poa plants.

 

Kikuyu & Parramatta

Once the Bunbury Bowl is completed we will be starting our Parramatta and kikuyu spraying, this time we will be focusing on our worst holes to begin with – 11^th, 14^th, 5^th 7^th.  As these holes have quite a lot of kikuyu within them we will begin spraying them with MSMA which will damage the kikuyu and yellow it off/highlight it and then spray these areas with glyphosate to achieve a full kill, over the summer we will be pushing the couch to naturally grow back or if needed we will patch these areas out with new winter green. These fairways will look a little worse for wear over the next couple of months but due to the amount of kikuyu present it’s our only real option to aggressively control it, preferred lies will come into play on these fairways in due course.

 

Coring

Coring is scheduled to commence on the Monday the 11^th of September , we will be using a 19mm hollow tine to open up the greens . Healthy greens solely rely on 3 basic principles, oxygen/air flow, moisture and nutrients so by opening the greens up it allows us to:

 

• Get vital oxygen and air flow down into the profile and allow the escape of Co2 gases,

 

• Allows moisture to evenly penetrate through the compacted profile,

 

• Open core holes allows us to get much needed soil amendments down into the root system making it readily available for plant uptake. Even though core holes are generally filled for faster recovery and smoothness the sand still stores trapped oxygen amongst the particles and allows for moisture to easily penetrate.

 

As the core hole grows over (usually within 2 weeks) you will find that the roots will begin regenerating and start to dive down through the core hole for the abundance of oxygen and moisture that is present. Usually within 2-4 weeks directly after coring you will find that the surface will return back to normal but the impact in the health of the green with be two fold and allow us to push the greens through another grueling 12 months.

 

9^th Green & Surrounds

Directly after coring we will begin our works on the 9^th green, this job was originally scheduled for April but with the nursery not quite ready to lift we postponed it until this time of year. The green is scheduled to be sprayed with glyphosate on the 23^rd of August (weather permitting). A temporary green will be available however the actual green will still be in play up until the match committee’s discretion. Directly after coring earthworks will commence on the 12^th of September and conclude with turfing scheduled for the 21^st of September, works will be slightly larger on this green as opposed to the 15^th due to the amount of kikuyu on the right hand side of the green and down to the edge of the driving range tee. With weather permitting and no unforeseen delays I’m hopeful we can have the green back into play by the 18^th October. Once completed this project should look really good and will complete the 1^st stage of our clubhouse surrounds project.  For further details about this project click here for the scope of works presented to the board.

 

Tee Projects

Over the summer months we will be looking at re building some of the tees out on the golf course, at this point in time we are looking at scheduling works to the 1^st tee to commence around December and this will also include the area in front of the tee and leading up to the road. Early into the new year work is also planned on levelling and enlarging the ladies 17^th tee . A scope of works on these projects will be available at a later date.

 

Other Upcoming tasks

Tree work scheduled for 28^th August, this will include removal of dead tree RHS 1^st green, Trimming up of trees around 5^th and removal of large marri on 6^th mens tee plus additional stump grinding.

Bindi and broadleaf spraying on tees and fairways is scheduled for the 1^st week of September (weather permitting)

 

Until next time, good luck to everyone participating in the upcoming bowl and Mens Club Championships, Hopefully the next installment of the diary will be post 9^th green and will include a full wrap up of the greens renovations plus the 9^th and any other additional tasks.

 

Cheers

Dave