Dave’s Diary

Time for another instalment of the diary and keep you all updated on what has been happening down the shed, out on the golf course and to give you a little insight as to what we do and why we do it.

It finally feels as though the weather has broken, the past week as been beautiful out on the course and the sun has that extra bite to it again and hopefully it’s here to stay!

Renovation Time.

This time of year starts to get a little exciting for us down the shed as we start to roll into renovation time. Call us simple but we enjoy the extra workload in which renovations bring as this is basically the building blocks for our programs over the next 12 months. As much as any superintendent would love to core their greens every 3 months it’s just not possible so rolling everything into our 1 major reno for the year is kind of a big thing and has such a bearing on green health, my health and of course playability.

Coring of greens is scheduled for 9^th-11^th of September. Tee times have been altered on the Sunday to allow us to roll out onto the 1^st green at 1.30pm sharp to get a head start. As mentioned in the last diary we are mixing it up a little this year and hitting them pretty hard and really opening them up and Im expecting a 4-5 week full recovery as opposed to the 2-3 in previous years. The reason we are going harder this year is to try and incorporate as much fresh sand down into the profile as possible which will assist with better drainage along with stimulating new root growth and promoting deeper rooting down into the channels. Whilst the greens are open it gives us the best opportunity to apply soil amendments further down into the profile for maximum efficiency.

This year prior to green renovations we are also be coring all the green collars and approaches using a 20mm hollow tine. Due to the time of the year we will be leaving the core holes open on the collars and approaches as we haven’t got the soil temps to kick the couch into gear and push through any sand. Throughout the year these areas will now fall under our regular green dusting and topdressing program.

 

Kikuyu Spraying

This week we began spraying for kikuyu, the entire 9^th 11^th, 14^th fairways and intermediate roughs have all been sprayed with low-mid rates of glyphosate. Half of the 17^th along with select areas on 3&5 have also been sprayed and Im expecting these areas to start browning off in 10-14 days.  The Glyphosate will knock the couch around quite a bit but the rate won’t be enough to fully kill it, but should take the majority of the kikuyu out after a few applications. Spot spraying of the smaller areas with glyphosate will commence next week and we will be targeting the 2^nd and 18^th fairways. A trial area down on the right hand of the 4^th was sprayed back in March and although there is some scarring there is no kikuyu present and the couch is covering back over and I expect the areas we spray will cover quickly with a full season of growing weather. Our plan is to concentrate on select holes over a 2 month period before moving on to the next set of holes, as the summer progresses and the our demands out  on the course increase we will put the word out for volunteer assistance to help keep the program on track. Last summer with the help of Alan Plumb and Norm Ellery we made really  good progress on removing the Parramatta grass out on the course and Im hopeful that the ongoing Parramatta and kikuyu spraying over this summer  should leave us in a much better position in another 12 months.

New Apprentice

Over the coming days we will begin advertising for a new apprentice to join the team , If you may know someone we are looking for a very team oriented person with an interest in golf or a strong interest in turf based sports. Further details can be viewed on the club website in the coming days. Applications close for this position on September 14 and any interested candidates can contact myself at super@bunburygolfclub.com.au or on 0418 940 227

 

Special Dates

Monday 3^rd September                 Coring green collars and approaches

Sunday 9^th September                   Greens coring commences 1.30pm front 9

10^th-11^th September                        Greens Coring.

Monday 17^th September                Begin light fairway scarifying.

1^st October                                       Begin Tee renovations, scarify and core