At last a dry greens renovation week and what a difference it made with the volume of thatch we were able to remove from the West greens.  It was the first time in 3 years that we were able to hollow tine (remove a core) the greens and although only a 7mm diameter core was used the amount of material was huge.  A good definition of thatch is - The intermingled layer of living and dead grass stems, roots and other organic matter that is found between the soil surface and the leaf blades. The biggest benefit of the coring as well as removing thatch, is getting oxygen to the root zone.

We also verti cut the greens at -5mm meaning that the blades cut 5mm deep into the surface.  This was done 3 times up and back then followed by another pass at -2.5mm and a final clean up pass at -1mm.  The video below shows a -5mm pass in action.

 

The greens were sanded on Thursday with a sand containing various amendments and fertilised with a slow release granular product on Friday.  We are aiming for a first mowing on Thursday next week.

The fairway fertiliser that was applied a few weeks ago is showing obvious results and the renovation and follow up fertiliser on the tees is having a similar effect.  I have mentioned many times over the years of the issues we have with shade, not only on greens but also tees.  Both 18 tees have always been badly shaded with a thin cover but thanks to TC Alfred a number of the trees causing the issue blew down.  I can't recall ever seeing both the 18's this healthy at this time of year.

18 R tee.

18W tee.

Although the AGM was postponed due to a lack of a quorum it was nice to hear several members I spoke to comment that the courses are in the best condition they have seen them in.  An absolute credit to the hard working Coolie Tweed course crew.  

A bit of a wild week weather wise with some gusty winds, cold temperatures and the southern lights to top it off.  Weeks like this are always a bit frustrating when the wind swings 180 degrees almost daily so the mess from the leaf litter is magnified.

The River greens have recovered well from the renovation although that is in part due to the weather we experienced which meant we couldn't do as much to the greens as we would have liked.  The West greens renovation is scheduled for next week and the forecast has seemed to shift in our favour a little with not too much rain predicted early next week. 

Players in Wednesday's comp would have seen the helicopter flying relatively low for around an hour in the middle of the day.  They were doing an aerial survey of the course which will result in the Club receiving a topographical plan of the entire property that has a very small tolerance which will enable any future course works to be planned knowing the ground levels.  While they were up there they took some panoramic shots as per below and the clarity of the photo's is nothing short of amazing

60kmh wind gusts = no worries!!

The flight path!!

 

Great view!!

 

In the high res version you can see the balls on the green.

The photos don't come up as clearly when reduced to a size suitable for the Blog but the originals are clear enough to get the number of the Members cart that isn't on the path adjacent to the green on 15R!!

 

Please use the cart paths!!

 

 

A great week of weather with a few welcome showers earlier in the week although the ladies run of outs continued with some rain about during their shotgun on Tuesday.

The maintenance closure on the River course on Tuesday allowed us to get the fairways fertilised and then the slow follow up play after the ladies shotgun meant we got all but 2W fertilised on the West course.  In days gone by many members would wonder how I knew it was going to rain and time my application accordingly but with the new irrigation system that skill is now defunct.  As soon as the fairway is fertilised we are able to immediately run a cycle to wash the product in.  This achieves two main things, it gets the fertiliser prill off the surface and into the turf canopy and thus preventing damage from golf carts and it also means less burn on the leaf as there is less on the surface.  The photo below shows the type of wheel marking we would get previously from an application and what we got this week.

12W wheel burn a couple of years ago.

4W wheel burn this week.

As mentioned the new irrigation system showed it's worth with a precise application following the fertiliser to get it off the surface and then a follow up the night following to start the release.  We expect to get a response although the fairways are under growth regulation so there shouldn't be a surge.  The Kikuyu based fairways weren't fertilised as they are growing well enough and a change of formulation of the growth regulator has us struggling to get a rate that will control them.  5.6 tonne of fertiliser was put out at a rate of 200kg per hectare.  It is a custom blend that is produced to my specification which hasn't changed in 20 years and it works so well for us.  There is some upfront release and then we get up to 3 months of continual release to keep the fairways ticking over.

 

The sprinklers in action.

The white dots in the photo aren't golf balls but are foam drops that indicate driving runs to help with accurate application. 

The West greens renovation is due to happen on Monday November 17 and wouldn't you know it, a rain event has been predicted.  The long term forecaster I have mentioned before has nominated November 18 as the start of a prolonged wet season and he made that call months ago.  All the amateur sites are now almost unanimous with something brewing from November 17 so we will wait and see.