GROUNDS NEWS

With the warmer weather now starting to kick everything into gear the course is slowly starting to take shape and recover from an aggressive renovation period.  The majority of greens responded well to the double coring they received this year but our usual and ongoing weaker areas continue to still give us a little grief. In hindsight, should we have not been so aggressive on these areas or is at a dammed if we do or dammed if we don’t as the sole reason of double coring this year was to bust up that severely compacted layering and incorporate fresh sand and soil amendments down into the profile to give these areas and the greens a new breath of life particularly as some of the greens are pushing 30-40 years of age.   Although they may look a little average at present these areas will recover however we are planning on replacing the back section of the 17th over the coming fortnight and whilst we do it we will take the opportunity to strip the turf back and rotary hoe that section of the green which will help loosen up the soil and remove all the surface roots courtesy of the gum directly behind the green.  We aren’t expecting a great deal of disruption to competition play as the turf is ready to go on our nursery and the replacement works will be undertaken on a Monday morning and it should be a seamless transition once completed. If all goes to plan we should be able to have pins on that back section of the green within 2-3 weeks of completion.

Green Replacement

Our next green to be done as part of the ongoing green replacement program will be that of the 12th green, again a temporary green will be in play until the green is ready in another 5-6 weeks. Only minor changes will be made as we intend to take the green back out to its original shape on the right-hand side along with removing the large hump from years of sand build up on the front edge of the right-hand bunker. As we have done with the previous 3 greens (15, 9, 4) we will remove 200mm of soil and replace with a fresh root zone with soil amendments and additives blended evenly through the profile.  The discarded fill will be then used to level the walk off areas to both the men’s and women’s 13th tees.

Parramatta Control

Norm Ellery is once again on a quest to obliterate any Parramatta grass that crosses his path, we are very appreciative of the amount of effort Norm puts in as it allows us to put time into other areas of the course.

Volunteers

We are always on the lookout for anyone wanting to volunteer their time and they can contact me on either 0418 940 227 or super@bunburygolfclub.com.au