A lot of fertiliser going out this week in an effort to "wake" the grass up and get it moving.  Soil temperatures are still down so the effect is mainly cosmetic with an almost manufactured green coloring across the courses.  I have been fighting an issue with my irrigation pumps for some time now with overnight performance not where it should be which seriously effect the delivery of the irrigation water.  Couple that with the recent dry spell and it is obvious to see the results on some of the fairways with very dry conditions evident.  We also only have a single row of sprinklers up the middle of the fairways and whilst they have an impressive 30 metre throw on them they are seriously effected by wind which is almost a constant at Cool Tweed.

The temporary at 13 River green is well under way and the foreign Couchgrass was sprayed out today in preparation for the construction which is due to commence on Monday November 10.  The stolons were to be harvested from the existing green but the amount of foreign grass in the surface has meant that they have been ordered from a turf farm for delivery on Tuesday November 11.  So no doubt the drought will be breaking on that week end!!

And there are many warnings around the entire country about the threat of a major snake season this summer but spare a thought for this unsuspecting golfer at Sanctuary Lakes in Melbourne earlier this week when he returned to his bag to find a Tiger snake slithering in to it!!

YIKES!!

Very impressed to see that he was carrying 2 sandbuckets which both look well used and empty which would be nice if all players followed that lead!

Thursday was the day the "circus came to town" in the form of the Toll Charity Golf Classic.  Both courses were booked for the Friday event and not much expense was spared with a wide array of promotional paraphernalia ranging from serviettes to semi trailers and a guest appearance by Ricky Ponting.  A hectic couple of days bumping in and out but the courses were left spotlessly clean and anyone not on site on either Thursday or Friday would be blissfully unaware that anything had taken place.  A selection of photos below from the day.

6 West tee.  The $250K truck was the prize for a hole in one.

In front of the Half Way Bar

9 West tee

Another Prime Mover in the trees at 6 River

Perhaps somewhat fortunately for the sponsors 4 metres was the closest anyone came to a hole in one on 6W!!

Back on the golf course and a temporary green has been prepared in front of 13 River green in readiness for the re-surfacing of the green.  The main reason for the works is to prevent balls from running off the green at the rear right side and to also establish a hole location in the rear right of the green.  Initially just the back half of the green was to be done but given the opportunity to remove some of the foreign couch contamination at the front of the green the decision was made to do the entire green.  It is also very difficult to marry a new section of green with an existing surface and the green is now 16 years old.  Yes that's right the back nine River greens were re-constructed and converted from Bentgrass to 328 Couchgrass in 1998!!

Temp green 13R

Construction work will commence on November 10 and with good growing weather the green will be out of play for 12 - 14 weeks.  Stolons will be harvested from the green and replanted on the new green to maintain uniformity and a root barrier will be installed to prevent root encroachment from the Norfolk Pines at the rear of the green.  The single bunker will remain.

Not very much to report this week with the past two days involved in a massive clean up of leaf and tree debris after the strong north winds on Wednesday afternoon followed by the massive southerly change that was one of the most severe I have witnessed - Melbourne included.  A great effort by your groundstaff to get the courses back in order, particularly for the Vets open day on Thursday.  I have mentioned www.willyweather.com.au as the source of a lot of my weather information and they predicted the change to come through at 4.30pm which only just missed the actual time of 4.45pm.

A pleasing result with the aeration of the green surrounds on the West course and the firming up of these areas.  7 West tee has also been returfed for the coming summer.  Investigations continue in to a suitable artificial teeing surface for this heavily shaded small tee. 

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