A very big thank you to the membership at last nights AGM who approved the expenditure for the full replacement of the irrigation system.  The proposal is in the final stages of tender evaluation and a decision is hoped to be made very soon with regards to the successful tender.  Works will hopefully commence in the new year.  Being 36 holes it is one of the biggest installations on a golf course and a large amount of stock needs to be purchased.  More than 25km of pipe and 1600 sprinklers will form part of the job.  So the countdown to start day begins.  More about scheduling and order of works will be advised following a planning meeting with the successful bid.

River greens renovations kick off next week and just as much as players don't like them neither do my staff as they indicate long days and a lot of work to get through in a limited time.  The forecast looks good which will make a change from the last couple of years when showers and storms have interrupted the process.  Dry conditions give us the best result and the wind forecast looks like that will be the case.  At this stage the greens will be scarified (aka ''tram lines'') to a depth of 5mm and then de-thatched to a depth of 3mm.  They will then be hollow tine aerated with 10mm holes, have amendments / fertiliser applied and then heavily sanded to fill the holes and restore the surface.  The greens are the priority for the works but if we get a good run then the tees may be aerated and scarified as well.

Topdressing sand arriving for the renovation.

And just on the sand we had to source a new supply after the closure of our previous sand supplier Action Sands at Chinderah due to government regulations making their business operation untenable.  Sand supply for the sportsturf industry in SE Queensland is challenging at present as the sand companies are supplying so much to the construction industry whose specifications are much looser than the requirements for fine turf.  Action supplied all the sand for the West greens re-construction which started way back in October 2016 for the back nine so the greens are turning seven.  How time flies?