A wide range of weed control across the courses has been happening over the past several weeks.  The weather has a dramatic effect on just how much can be done, particularly the wind. A lot of the weeds we have are in the "difficult to control" category but we are making some headway in to them. We have also been trying a few alternative strategies to control Couch encroachment in to the West greens and will continue this over the summer months.  As has been mentioned before total eradication of the encroaching Couch is impossible so once again efforts are about limiting the level of encroachment.  Players will regularly see some dye used with the mixture which allows the operators to see where they have been as evidenced below on 17W green.

17W green dye

The West greens continue their impressive recovery from the recent renovation and are looking and putting very well.  One of the problems associated with the greens renovation especially with the weather warming up is the extra irrigation that is required which also puts water out on to the surrounds making them softer than they should be.  To help alleviate this and also to improve turf quality, these areas will be hollow tined this coming week and some fertiliser added.  Unfortunately fowl manure will be the best option so there will be a bit of a smell over this coming week on the west course!!

A very pleasant week of weather and the recovery of the West greens following their renovation has been outstanding.  The greens do need probably 2 more "sandings" to finish leveling the surface up but the warm weather may affect the timing of this.  The sand can literally "cook" the greens if you don't get the application just right so caution will be needed in the coming week or so.  The surrounds of the West greens received an application of herbicide this week which has resulted in a "burn" of the leaf which will grow out shortly.  The photo below does show just how good the greens look only 2 weeks after renovation.

        Burn around 4W green with the green

Signs have been placed on the 1st tees of both courses alerting players to the recent change on placing bunker rakes back in bunkers as follows;

PLEASE  PLACE RAKES  INSIDE THE  BUNKER AFTER  RAKING.

Always leave rake in the flat of the bunker with the handle parallel to the line of flight of the hole being played.

Thank you for your cooperation. 

 So this is not how to place the rake;

Rakes left on slope of bunker at 4 West

And this is where the rake should go....but please use it!!

Rake correctly placed but not used by the player.  They even left the ball behind for us!!

And a bit of history for recent members and for those who forget what things looked like:

The old buggy shed prior to extension......in 2007!!

A very big week of work on the courses this past week and the weather on the warm up.  The West greens have recovered very well from the renovation and have been mown several times this week.  It is always a difficult time as the best time to mow them is when they are dry but unfortunately that's when the players are out.  Mowing in the early morning dew makes the sand stick to the rollers on the mowers and the build up of sand then gets between the reel and bedknife affecting the quality of cut and this is the reason for the streaky lines on the greens.  The height is gradually being returned to normal so if all goes to plan they should be fine by next week end.

The Coots enjoying the lush growth on 7 West green

Another 100 cubic metres of sand was added to the River course bunkers this week with the rear bunker on 2 River and the right side bunker on 15 River having some repair work carried out.  A lot of stone had appeared in these bunkers so the existing sand was excavated and a liner installed prior to the new sand being added.  The liner will prevent any more stone coming up from the floor of the bunker but will still allow drainage.

8 River bunker before sand

8 River bunker after sand

2 River bunker lining and re-sanding

 

Some more dead and dangerous tree removal continued this week and unfortunately one of the Norfolk Pines at the rear of 13 River green had to be removed.  There was a major cavity in the tree that actually housed two bee hives and was beyond repair.  The photo below shows a white tee marker that had been thrown in to the cavity some 8 metres off the ground.  In addition to the beehive that was visible from the ground there was a native bee hive located in the upper cavity.

Norfolk Pine rear 13 River cavity

The cavity as seen from the ground

The West greens renovation has been completed after a very frustrating week.  The week delay meant that the contractor who assists in the aeration was unavailable which stretched my staffing numbers and the ability to get the job finished.  A shower of rain on Tuesday that didn't even register in the rain gauge wet the sand sufficiently to make rubbing it in almost impossible and then one of the aeration machines pulled some more material out which meant that more sand needed to be added to some greens which made the sanding task quite difficult to judge.  But all in all a good result has been achieved and the greens should bounce back full of vigour and ready for the summer ahead.

This week saw the removal of some more dead and dangerous trees from the courses.  A large Melaleuca on the left side of 9 West that was on the "to do" list came down and is a timely reminder why such trees are removed.

Melaleuca down LHS 9W

7R bunker before sand spread

The week also saw some 100 cubic metres of sand added to selected River bunkers which is the first time for a few years we have been able to do this.  The sand being used now is a 60 / 40 mix of specified bunker sand and brickies loam.  The brickies loam gives the sand the orange colour and also helps the sand from drying out too quickly and becoming fluffy.  It was interesting to read the article in the September issue of Australian Golf Digest about bunkers.  The recent Turf Conference on the Gold Coast had a bunker forum where architects and Superintendents described some of the methodologies being used around Australia to come up with a bunker design and sand that will please golfers.  Coolangatta Tweed got a mention for the Course Improvement Plan that will potentially see 30 bunkers removed from the two courses.  As quoted in the article bunkers typically take up about 2% of a golf course property but anywhere between 10 and 25% of allocated groundstaff hours.  They are hazards aren't they??

7R bunker after sand

Well that might be the last time I use the "D" word on here!  D for drought that is as mentioned a couple of weeks ago has seen a turnaround  to the tune of 250+mm since.  The courses lapped up the first 200 or so but have stayed quite wet with the follow up.  Some of the totals further south around Coffs Harbour were twice ours so not really complaining and we did really need it.  The wind this week wasn't really all that welcome though with consistent gusts of 50kmh bringing down a lot of debris.  A great effort by my staff in cleaning up today has the courses looking very tidy for the first round of the Club Championships tomorrow.  Good luck to all those playing.

The postponed renovations will take place on Monday with a good forecast at this stage.  The greens will be hollow tine aerated with 5/8 inch size tines.  A balanced NPK slow release fertiliser will be applied along with some Gypsum and then a fairly heavy sanding with the aim being to refill all the holes with a fresh growing medium.

A number of dead trees were removed this past week with more to come and the stumps will be removed on Monday next week.  Over the next few weeks there will be some constant tree pruning works carried out removing low, dead, dangerous and untidy limbs.

Next week will also see the start of some bunker sand replenishment.  Budget will not allow us to get to every single bunker that needs sand but the worst will be treated.  The sand will be the same that has been used over the past couple of years which is a 60/40 mix meaning it is comprised of 60% of sand that conforms to the Golf Australia recommendations for bunker sand and 40% "brickies loam" which adds quite a bit of body to the material to help prevent ball plugging.  We can't afford to go to high with the % of loam so as not to start blocking the drains.

And I know I harp on about bunkers not being raked and pitch marks not being repaired but this was the RHS bunker on 2 West green after the heavy rain earlier this week.  The rakes wouldn't make much of an imprint on such heavily compacted sand but that 10 divots that have been made and each one of those shots left a pitch mark on the very soft green which went un-repaired.

10 more pitchmarks!!

It never rains it pours goes the old saying and the virtual drought we have been having has now well and truly broken with flooding rains forecast across the week end and in to next week.  Unfortunately the first two rounds of the Club Championships were due to be played and have been abandoned for this week end and will now be played as a 54 hole event over the next three Saturdays.  The call was made on this after the forecast was assessed and options discussed at a special meeting of the Match Committee on Thursday afternoon in anticipation of the inclement weather.  After the fears of large rainfall figures were realised with torrential rain falling on Friday and the forecast of similar conditions prevailing on Saturday,  the decision that had been discussed at the meeting was implemented.

Perhaps the main reason for the call to made is that the West greens are in a condition that they can not take very much rainfall before water pooling commences rendering them virtually unplayable as relief from casual water can't always be found.  The reason for the water pooling is that the greens are such a tight surface at the moment which is one of the reasons for renovation where the soil pores are opened up and water can move through the profile more easily.

Unfortunately the greens renovation was due to take place next Monday and as predominantly dry conditions are required to allow the soil amendments and fertiliser to be applied, not to mention the extraction of the soil cores as part of the coring process which is very difficult on wet greens.  At this stage the renovations will be put back a week to Monday September 1st with that days Members competition being moved to the River course to allow for the works to proceed.

UPDATE:
 55mm had fallen on the courses to 5.00am on Saturday morning and whilst motorised buggies are off both courses which drastically cuts player numbers, the good news is that it has been very good soaking rain which is what the courses desperately needed.  Saturday mornings total takes us up to just shy of 160mm for the week with more to come.  Interesting that one forecast I saw predicts showers on Friday, Saturday and Sunday but "rain" on Monday so batten down the hatches perhaps!

A fairly quiet week on the courses with cool breezes which always seem to be around for the Brisbane "Ekka" week.  A few showers have softened some areas of the courses and some significant rain is forecast for the weekend.  Being so dry for so long it is going to take some slow steady rain to wet the soil profile right through so the fingers are crossed.  For the first couple of rain events as we head towards summer players can expect some significant pooling of water until the profile is wet through.

I attended a seminar during the week where I was lucky enough to hear from two of the best speakers on turf management I have ever experienced.  One of the slides put up had the following text;

The constantly rising standard of excellence in the maintenance of golf turf continually confronts the greenkeeper with new problems.  The artificial condition of growth to which turf has been subjected on golf courses undoubtedly increases the damage caused by turf diseases.  At the same time, the improvements in turf have tended to make the modern golfer far more critical and have increased the demand for turf of quality kept free at all times from any damage caused by disease or other agencies.

The room was full of Superintendents and you could hear a collective groan about just how accurate the quote was with respect to presenting a golf course that meets the demands of the players.  The presenter then informed us that the quote was from 1932!!  Things really haven't changed that much after all!!  Strategies for disease and weed prevention were high on the presenters agenda and a couple of tweaks to the management of the courses will take place as a result.

Last weeks photos of the bee hive removal are complimented by a good news story from Europe below;

European bee population in better health than we thought

Bayer CropScience reports that according to recent data of 400,000 bee colonies in 21 European countries, overwintering losses of honey bee colonies are at their lowest level in years. This is a key indicator of overall bee health. Additional data published by a nonprofit honey bee research group shows that the mortality rate of bees in the winter of 2013-14 was 9 percent. The previous winter season in the U.K. and Belgium had losses between 30 and 34 percent.