Course Superintendent - Peter Daly

2012-01-16T13:35:00.000-08:00

Well it has been a wet start to week 3 and we have taken advantage and got allot of fairways sliced, our fairway unit is out of action for a few days and is being fixed today so we hope to get the fairways cut Wednesday and Thursday.

Last week was busy and below is just some of the extra done on top of normal maintenance -

Week 2 – Jan 9 - 13

Turfed area on 17,2,3
Tidy up Tuesday – 11,12,13
Start bunkers on the 1^st and 15^th
Boystown meeting Monday
Bunker crew 11^th and 12^th bunkers
Sprayed greens growth hormones
Sprayed greens with weedicide – spot spray
Sharpened greens mowers and lowered
Sliced lhs 4^th and 7^th fairways and fert
Trees trimmed Rhs 11^th and Rhs 12^th
Flood kit for pump shed bought and put together
Staff – Terry got bug in eye taken to doctors , Peter skin cancers cut out

The 1st bunkers are looking very good we still have to place turf on the walk ins, we hope to do that this week as long as we can get some turf... as the growers dont like to cut it when it is wet.

Well to next time .. keep swinging and if the weather stays like this.. keep your gumboots handy pete

2012-01-05T17:02:00.000-08:00

Week 52 and week 1

well into the new year already, and a few warm days to start with,

I hope everyone had a good christmass and new year, and on the course we have had allot of social players and visitors over the last 3 weeks or so.

next week we will be starting on the bunkers on the 1st and the green side bunker on the 15th we will be doing these at the same time as we will need the material that we take from the first bunkers to use in the bunker on the 15th. so these hole will have temporary greens for some days over the next fortnight.

The following is a list of whats been happening on the course on top of our regular mowing and maintenance

Week 52 short week

Tidy up Tuesday – 18^th and pros areas
Ripped bunkers
Sprayed greens growth hormons
Started to formulate weedicide for greens spot application
Sprayed greens 18,12,1,9,8 with weedicide
Sharpened greens mowers
OOB on 4^th
Maintenance hole sign and sand out
Pump out bunkers water 1^st and 13^th

Week 1 1012 – short week

Tidy up holes – 9 and 10

Trimmed up trees LHS 8^th

Spot spray weeds in greens (all except 14,15,16)

Fertilised greens

Insecticide follow up on greens

Sprayed waterways 9^th and other areas for Singapore daisy

Fertilized 8^th fairway

Bunker crew 3 bunkers on 6^th

Bunker faces sprayed

Week 2 Goals

Start bunkers on the 1^st and 15^th

Verticut tees

Weed in greens followup and spray growth regulator on putting surface

Fert 7^th fwy

Slice lhs 4^th and 7^th fairways and fert

Tidy up holes 11,12,13

Monday 1.00 pm trenches working bee, if you can spare 1 hour come and give us a hand ...

Well to next time...... keep swinging..pete

week 51 2011 update

2011-12-22T12:41:00.000-08:00

Just a quick rundown of the week 51 of jobs done after all the mowing...

Greens sprayed with wetting agent

Greens sprayed for grubs, redheaded cockchafer, cut worm and sod webworm

We did not verti-cut greens this week as they were under stress and close to the wilt point (40%)

Tidy up Tuesday hole were 5,6,7,8

Trenches filled on 3^rd 15^th

Turf areas on 7^th, 9^th, 15^th

Bunkers completed 4^th , 3^rd, and 17^th walking turfed and finished off, sand watered and settled in and raked

Oob on 4^th done

Patches on 6^th green dug out soil put in levelled and turfed

Garden ladies piles picked up

Greens mower blades sharpened (backlapped)

Fairway unit backlapped

New bunker bike arrive Thursday morning

Turfed areas hand watered

Stick run done wed and Friday

And we tried our extra mow at 10.00 Thursday where we mowed the carriage ways (middles thus 90% of green and no circle cut) on the greens just before the comp – this acts as a roll or shine of the green and will cut only alittle but should get that extra half a foot on the stimpmeter.

Well that’s all for this week have a happy Christmas – we will be mowing the greens and rake the bunkers on saterday then in on Monday morning (not early…about 8.oo am) to mow and change holes if they need it….till next time keep swinging pete

bunker update

2011-12-14T17:42:00.000-08:00

The Bunker progress is coming along well with the final shaping and edge cutting and slopping done yesterday on the 4th and 3rd bunkers, all these have now had the drainage cut into and installed along with flushing out the pipe lines to the creeks.
The next process is the instillation of the bunker matting and pegging that down, this will be started today on the 4th bunkers just hope the rain stays away...

The new front 18th tee was opened up for the vets on Tuesday, this tee will have the white mens markers and in the future will also have the ladies black markers on it. till next time .. keep swinging... pete

week 49 update

2011-12-11T20:39:00.000-08:00

If you have played golf over the last week or so you will have noticed the bunker rebuilding taking place on the 4th bunkers, we did hope to have the two on the 4th done by the weekend but with the rain it makes it impossible to put in the drainage trenches so halting the process, so late in the week the 3rd bunkers were also shelled out.
Today was a dry day so hopefully we can get into the 4th bunkers tomorrow. please note that there will be temporary greens in play if there is work happening in the bunkers but all greens will be in play for the weekends.
We continue to treat the bare areas on the fairways caused by the floods recently we put turf out on the 16th and 17th patches we were having trouble with. the left hand side of the 7th has lots of new shoots starting and once these grow and spread a little that whole area will knit in and become a good surface.
well till next time ...keep swinging pete

Mid November wheres the rain?

2011-11-21T13:11:00.000-08:00

Well its midway through November or Movember for those participating, and we are waiting for this rain, Yesterday we had to release some water out of our dams into the creek, as the pumps were loosing too much pressure in the lift of the water thus affecting the output and breakup at the sprinkler heads.
This week we have been doing allot of testing with the irrigation system and fixing many of the faults so there are some water patches out there where a sprinkler has stuck on over night, sorry about that, hopefully over the next few weeks we will get it all sorted.
The area on the right hand side of the 7th where the weeds were sprayed out has been cored, and had amendments added to the soil and the cores from some good areas rubbed into the bare areas, so this will see some good growth over the next 3 weeks. the next area we intend to tackle is the right hand side of the 8th. the areas we have already done on the 8th continue to grow in well with the first 2 areas fully grown in
The turfed areas on the fairways are now mostly down to fairway height and blended in very well in fact you can not pick the early areas done except after rain when going down the13th and thinking that there used to be a area that held water here once now it is just even fairway with good turf coverage.
We have coped allot of flack over the last 6t months about the way we turf.... but the key point is to remember that we are putting the turf on a sand base and this will compact around 30 to 40 % thus when the turf settles in and is mown down to the right height it will all blend in at the right levels, as is proof in the many areas around the course where we have turfed.
The greens are coming along well they are rolling true and with the verti-cutting they are running out better at the end of the putt, the speed is up to 9.2 feet and this will increase some more as we slow the growth rate down.
Thanks again to the guys who come out on Mondays at 1.00 pm to gives us a hand with doing the trenches, it is a great help to us, so if you read this and you can spare 1 hour on monday afternoon come along and meet the guys. till next time .....keep swinging..pete

week 45 update

2011-11-14T15:10:00.000-08:00

This week has been spent mowing and watering, with the dry weather the turf is in need of constant waterings.
we have been continuing with our turfing program with areas on the 3rd fairway near the green being done.

(Above - Here is the sand and gypsum being rubbed into the core holes on the next section on the 8th fairway)

( Second photo - is of the second patch done on the 8th and is 2 weeks after treatment note all the new growth)

also with the turfing we have been doing areas with the verti-drain using core tynes to hollow tyne an area then move the good turf plugs (cores) into the areas that are thin or bare then topdressing and feeding these areas and it comes up good. the main areas we are concentrating on with this method is the 7th and 8th the first areas on the 8th we did 5 weeks ago are nearly all covered in in these areas we have also added gypsum to the soil profile to help break up the sediment left by the flood waters.
We also got in a verti-cut on the greens with out bringing up too much sand and with a few more it will continue to smooth out the roll on the greens. till next time ..keep swinging...pete

Week 42 update

2011-10-20T17:32:00.000-07:00

Well another week done, and dusted.
firstly a big thanks to the volunteers who have been coming out on Mondays at 1.00 pm to help with the irrigation trenches, this week we got 2 trailers out. this done all the12th fairway and the bad ones in the gully on the 10th.
thanks again guys for your efforts if you have a hour to spare come along and give a hand.
we had some clean up this week of drains and storm grates, we also put out turf on patches on the 1st the 2nd and 3rd.
bunker faces were all fixed up on Monday, and weed control in the bunkers throughout the week
the back 9 tees got verti-cut , and we continue to feed and treat the flood patches and we are seeing some good growth in these areas and these patches are getting less and less. and with the fertilizer and amendments the other fairways are thickening up and providing good turf for golf play.
next week we will get the verti-drain out and do some more areas.
till next time keep swinging....pete

verti-cut tees

2011-10-12T15:58:00.000-07:00

This week we managed to find time after the storm clean up to verti-cut the front 9 tees. We plan to do the back 9 next week. this task soaks up allot of man hours as the tee has to be dry before we start then the tee top is verti-cut we usually we go 2 ways, then a clean up mow comes along after the tee is verti-cut and this usually removes 2 or 3 catchers of thatch,
The tees mower then follows and gives the tee top a final cut .to do 9 holes with out any hold ups takes approx 4 hours so with 3 staff tied up thats a total of 12 manhours and the reason we do this is to remove thatch from the tee, the verti-cutting promotes lateral growth of the turf, it assists in leveling and thins out the sword of the turf which will provide long term a better tee surface.

First mow after Reno

2011-10-10T17:39:00.000-07:00

Well we have set a new record with the first cut on the greens 7 days after renovation.
Today we got the rest of the bunkers faced and cleaned up, along with allot of the mowing done late this afternoon.
The greens continue to do well and with that first light cut going well, we will cut them again on Tuesday afternoon then let them rest for Wednesday then hopefully get to lower them a bit for Thursday.
please note at this stage we can only mow when the leaf is dry as any dew on the plant will cause the sand to stick to the rollers and sit on top of the plant. so this weekend they will not be mowed.
but the way they are coming back it wont take long to be good again.
This is why it is so important to have the turf growing fast coming into renovations as it cuts down the recovery time significantly .pete

2011-10-09T19:07:00.000-07:00

The greens on Friday came up well after their rub in with the finishing mat.
The storm on Saturday has put a spanner in the works with most of today (Monday) taken up with repairing bunkers, picking up debris, and cleaning up storm damage and with more storms predicted for Thursday and Friday it looks like we will loose allot of time to this repair work this week. pete

Reno time again

2011-10-06T18:12:00.000-07:00

Well without having the use of contractors this renovation it has been a testing time to get equipment together to do the renovations at all. a big thanks to all those who came to our aid in getting this together.
also thanks to the ground staff for coming in on the Sunday afternoon (giving up the footy grand final) to set up the machines and familiarize themselves with the operations of the equipment which had only just got here, thus giving us a good start on the Monday.
pictured here is the scarrifier and corer we used

2011-09-04T14:59:00.000-07:00

just a quick one the 14th path way is starting to be built today, so a temporary green will be in place whilst there are workers working on and around the 14th green area.
also a reminder of our working bees for Mondays at 1.00 pm for 1 hour to help with the topping up of the irrigation trenches on the fairways..hope to see you there pete

Sand or Soil in trenches the great debate

2011-08-29T13:57:00.000-07:00

Sand or Soil in trenches the great debate

This is always a tricky question and it often has to take into consideration a lot of scope like size of trench, depth of trench, time of year, soil moisture levels, quality of the soil to be used, cost, man hours available, equipment available and much more, since we have a few letters of complaint about the decision to use sand instead of soil I am putting forward the pros and cons sheet we used in deciding to go with sand:

SOIL PROS-

· Readily available stockpile so little cost to source product

· Same soil that was originally in the ground

SOIL CONS

· Contained a lot of stones

· Very clumpy (not friable) thus hard to work with

· Gets caught in top of trenches thus creating air pockets , which after rain can collapse leaving a trench that thought filled only quarter filled

· Hidden safety hazard – in that the trench appears solid but is not.. potential duty of care problem for people who sink it to the trench thinking it to be full but is not

· Rain or irrigation made very muddy and sticky also soft so mud everywhere, and again a hazard if you stood directly on trench

· Heavy rain or irrigation on sloped areas still some wash out as the fine particles went along with the water flow

· The wash off out of the trench to the low areas hard to clean up and made a boggy area where it pooled or settled

· Soil has less heat generation than sand (heat to help couch runners grow into trenches)

SAND PROS –

· Sand will fill trenches from the bottom up to the top (thus leaving no air pockets)

· Easy to work with, easy to load, and shovel, also can use level lawns to achieve level surface

· No safety problems with a trench collapsing as when stood on if it looks filled and solid it is

· Can mix seed in with sand to help stabilize in trench for erosion prevention help

· Sand heats up well thus helping the couch in the fairways to grow into the trenches

· Sand is the preferred growing media for Couch thus will put a lot of root system into trenches (this is why the greens are made of sand not soil)

· A lot cleaner as in no mud tracks and no mud on shoes from walking on the sand

· If after rain some sand washes it is easy to pick up the wash and replace or can be rubbed in to the low area where it has settled and used as topdressing to fill in that hollow

· If irrigation pipe has leak or problem at joiner or fitting it is much easier to dig up around it if there is sand instead of soil

SAND CONS –

· Costs to buy in

· Heavy rain will wash out trenches on slopping areas

These are the pros and cons that came out of a brain storming exercise with the ground staff and irrigation instillation crew and I think that any reasonable person reading the whole list could come to the same conclusion as we did and that sand is the way to go, accept that there will be some wash outs but after a few top-ups it will grow in fine.I hope this answers the questions to those that have written letters in , but take note that if the trenches were wider or not as deep then the pros and cons list could and would have looked different.

So to the next part of the plan with the fairways now picking up the growth rate we would like some volunteers to help us out with topping up the trenches we plan to do this on Monday afternoons from 1.00pm to 2.00 pm if we can get 12 people to help the staff we will be able to get 2 crews going and will get it done over 4 weeks.

Hope this clears some thing up….. till next time keep swinging…pete

week 33 2011 update

2011-08-17T17:59:00.000-07:00

Well with the weather providing great days the turf is slowly starting to move, we continue to top up the trenches and we have also started to feed the fairways to help the growth along.

Our plan this growing season is to take advantage of the flood water which took out allot of the weeds in the fairways and this spring we will spray out the remainder of the weed so at the end of the growing season all the fairways will be similar to the 4th and 5th which were the fairways done first with the weed eradication.

We also have to address the issue of the sediment that remains just under the leaf surface so over the next few weeks we will be applying gypsum and other products that will help break down the sediment and help incorporate it into the soil profile. Along with our product applications we will also be verti-draining these areas.

Renovations this spring will be very important as the greens missed out on the February renovation. If you want to see what greens go like if you dont renovate take a look at the 12th and the practice putter the compaction effects show up very well on these two at he moment.

Unfortunantly the coring contractor we use is closing up his business, so we will have to fend for ourselves, which is going to be interesting as we don't have equipment to do this, so at the moment we are in the process of finding equipment we can either hire or loan. So this reno we will be starting late Sunday afternoon the 3rd of October.

The turfed areas are all taking well we have feed these up over the last two weeks and the root system is down about 7cm so we are getting closer to being able to play off these a light topdress and another 7cm of root growth should be right on the money so possible 3 weeks if all goes well.

so till next time ...keep swinging pete

2nd bunker area turfed

2011-07-27T16:27:00.001-07:00

Qpex this morning , with a 7.30 shotgun and having 550 square meters of turf to get down and roped off before hit off along with greens mowed, bunkers raked, all signs up betting hole and straight drive lines done...talk about cutting if fine.. but we got there...just.
The second hole now has the Right hand side bunker refurbished with new drainage and drains upgraded for better flow, and changed over the sand to a better quality sand, the Left hand side bunker has been totally redesigned and rebuilt with bunker matting throughout the whole bunker.
The turf will be let to grow so as to meander down among the rock wall, and this area has been marked out in orange with a drop zone at the front left side of the fairway. The bunker is in play but new turf a drop zone area.
The 18th tee continues to do well, it has started to send its roots down, and if the warm weather keeps up that will quicken the process, although we did have a light frost this morning, we will continue to asses this tee once the roots have settled it we will give it a light topdress and fill in the holes made by the deer walking on it. then once that firms up introduce play on it so possibly 6 weeks it all depends on the weather.
till next time .....keep swinging.. pete

mid july

2011-07-17T13:46:00.000-07:00

Just a quick one today we have been very busy filling trenches and rebuilding the social mens18th tee. This has been levelled and made allot bigger, when back in play it will have the mens white markers and ladies black markers on the tee top.

The tee will take a while to put its roots down so hopefully we don't get any storms before then.

Today we are starting work on the 2nd green bunkers and waterway edge along the 2nd green pathway so for this week we have cut in a temporary green.

The irrigation pump stations are all back and online, we still have a few leaks out there to be fixed and a couple of teething problems and with the computer not online yet we have been manual watering which consists of me changing the banks every half hour throughout the night ...so if I have been crabby the last few weeks I appoligise as lack of sleep will do that to you.

It was great to get some rain (14mm) this weekend, not so good for golf though and luckily not enough to overflow the creek and wash the 18th tee away although it came close, and which is the reason we have left the small dam draining..... well the excavators have just turned up, better go and fix these bunkers up... till next time ..keep swinging.... pete

Verti - drain greens

2011-06-22T19:02:00.000-07:00

Drastic problems call for drastic measures I've said it before and I will say it again. Our greens have a major issue of sediment just under the surface.

Well as Iv'e mentioned before in this blog (and talking to those interested) about the continuing problems of having the sediment layer still being present just under the surface of the turf and thus giving grief to watering, fertilizing,and weed control.

We have decided that even though it is not a good time to be doing this we have to verti drain the greens.

Our situation is that the benefits out way the negatives. The we water just sits on top of the sediment and it is very hard to pulse water with the system not fully set up at the moment, so we have decided to
verti-drain the greens with 8mm solid tynes and go down to 150mm then once we run the greens mower over them it is hardly noticeable. Now we can get the water and other products down to the root zone also the green is much softer. So far we have done 1,2,3,4,5,7,14,15,16 and plan to do the rest over the next week.

Once all greens are done we will do the tees.

We had our first light frost this morning , if the fosts get heavier we won't be able to mow or due off the greens as if done it will kill off that area and we will have no way of getting it back untill spring.

The top photo is the verti-drain on the 5th green and the bottom photo is of the 4th green just before we ran the greens mower over the surface to smooth it out.

We are also continuing to fill the trenches and turf the bad areas, we will be doing allot of testing of sprinklers and programming so I apologise in advance if a sprinkler pops up near you, we will endeavor to do most of this work early in the mornings so as not to affect play.

Well till next time keep swinging...pete

Turfed Areas

2011-06-13T17:26:00.000-07:00

You will have buy now noticed some turfed areas on the 13th fairway right hand side and this morning we did some on the right hand side of 17th fairway and a little near the 18th tee. We are going to attempt to do 2 pallets of turf at the beginning of the week. This will cover up and repair some of the larger areas where the trench fill was piled up.

The irrigation system is all installed on the new section, we are now upgrading the old system so all the course is the same once this is done we can go around and check each sprinkler and level it and start watering.

Until the upgrade is finished we will not be able to water fairways or greens. We will manually water if required.

We also are continuing to fill in the trenches and by mixing in the seed is helping a lot by not getting too much wash after rain.

Most of the end of this week will be spent on the golf expo areas and get them tidied up.

till next time ...keep swinging pete

rain rain go away

2011-06-01T18:07:00.000-07:00

Well I can't remember the last time we didn't get some rain during a week. and boy has it made things tough, with the sediment from the floods just under the leaf surface it doesn't take much to make things slippery.

The Irrigation installation is virtually complete, with testing and leveling still ongoing, the trenches have had sand and seed mix put into them and we still have many to do, along with re topping up where they have sunk this will be ongoing to spring but we are making progress .

The irrigation pump station is up and running , with the last pump in and getting repaired at this time so all four pumps are in as new condition.

There is only the upgrade to the old system to be done and we can then connect it up to the TORO site pro controller thus giving us more efficient watering and saving allot of hours from moving hoses.

The Verti-drain machine has been out when conditions allow us to use it and time available so far we have done the 7th, 8th, 9th, 13th, 15th, 17th,18th, the 15th has had its bare patches verti-drained and sanded and seeded and is coming back well, this week we ran the vert-drain through the water holding hollows on the 13th to help them drain.

We plan for next week to get into a few more bunkers and expose the drain and flush the sediment out so they can work( this is only a temporary fix) as we did on the left hand side of the 4th a few weeks ago we hope to get the 1st 13th and 4th right hand side done.

Well thats about it for today till next time keep swinging pete

Week 18 update

2011-05-05T16:34:00.000-07:00

Well the mornings are starting to cool down, with the couple of short weeks we have mainly been trying to get all the mowing done.

The irrigation is being put in on the 3rd fairway and is to be finished off next week this will complete the system proper then we have to adjust the sprinklers and get stuck into filling the trenches.

The original system will receive a upgrade over the next few weeks so that the whole course is on the latest Toro Site Pro system.

The 15th fairway has been verti-drained and all greens have been feed to get them ready for the cooler weather, as some of you know we have been very short staffed over the last few months and it is good to welcome our newest team member Terrance who started at the end of last week and is fitting in well, so if you see a new face say hi and remember he is still learning the ropes.

We had a visit from the sports minister during the week, it was interesting seeing his perspective as from his last visit to now we were standing near the 15th green and he turned and said "its amazing whenI was standing in this exact same spot just after the floods there wasn't much green anywhere and you were seriously contemplation the loss of three greens including this one (15th ) look at it now. I find that interesting from some one who has seen the area just after the flood and not seen it again to now and how he picks up the improvements and that when we see things every day we don't notice as much.

Well to next time keep swinging.....pete

Week 16 update

2011-04-20T16:29:00.000-07:00

The Verti-Drain out and in action last week.

We have been doing areas of solid tyneing with the verti-drain over the last few weeks it is a slow process but so far so good we have done areas on the 15th,17th,18th,and 8th and 9th fairways. We will get it out again after easter and all the short weeks are over as this does soak up allot of man-hours.

The bunker on the 3rd left hand side has had a drainage inspection and it is as we thought all the sediment has filled the drainage line so we flushed it out and got it draining for the short term but we will have to get in and totally re-instate the whole drainage system in the next few months.

We have seeded the irrigation trenched on the tees and re top-dressed a lot of these, and the trenches on the fairway have also had allot of topping up done on them as well. We plan to over-sow with seed all the trenches over the next month or so.

The weeds in the greens have been sprayed, and you will notice them starting to wither away, we have also started to feed the greens up and get them ready to go into winter a bit stronger.

The drainage for the 6th green has been cleared in the creek, every time this creek area flows it covers up the drainage for the bunkers and green so we cleared it with a excavator and gave it some area to run into.
There is a tree down behind the 15th green it is too wet in there to get at the moment so it will be removed next week once the ground has dried out abit. till next time keep swinging.....pete

Mounds between 8th and 9th

2011-04-13T16:18:00.000-07:00

Trees On the Mounds

After advice from council and industry arbourists we have taken out the remaining dead trees as they are not going to come back.

After the floods it looked like we were going to loose 80 to 90 percent of the trees in the mounds, I then got advice that allot of these trees will come back if we give them some time and used our irrigation system to irrigate thus putting water up onto the leaves, so this is what we have been doing and it has worked very well as most trees came back with new growth and are recovering well. So in the end we actually only lost around 7 percent of the trees we have also cut back the grasses around the edges and some of these are going well others will have to be replanted out this winter.

So this is the reason that we left the trees in the mounds, to give them every opportunity to recover and so by not jumping in too early we have saved 40 to 60 trees that otherwise would have been removed unnecessarily.

week 13 update 2011

2011-03-31T15:59:00.000-07:00

Well another week gone, this week we have put all our efforts into getting the bunkers back into a reasonable condition, and the course ready for monthly medals and pennants.

The problem with the bunkers is that the silt and sediment from the flood waters is still in the bottoms of the bunkers and mixed in with the sand, also it has clogged up the drainage pipes in the sumps under the bunkers thus every time it rains or even if we water too heavy the sediment comes to the top and clogs it all up. We have been scraping the mud off the top of the surface when ever we have time possible, but it is a long slow process and it is impossible to get it all.

This week we got all the greens sprayed for weeds, fertilized and rolling well for this weekend, I just hope the rain stays away.

This week we also took delivery of a verti-drain machine, it will be out next week doing the fairways that were worst affected and Ill do a separate blog next week on it. A special thanks to the fellows for putting substantial funds to purchase this piece of equipment it is a important piece of equipment that we now are able to utilize and as time goes buy I'm sure you'll notice areas improve because of the availability and flexibility of owning you own equipment. Thanks again for the funds being made available.

The irrigation installation is going along well, and this week a lot of time was put into topping up the trenches, next week will also continue on filling the sunken areas up. The areas left to irrigate are 14th fairway in the gully, all the 15th, 16th tee, 17th fairway, 2nd fairway and green and 3rd tee and half the fairway.

Well today is a bit sad in that Harley is finishing up after nearly 4 years on the groundstaff (Harley is going to give concreting a go as it is allot more wages than greenkeeping, ) all the best cob hope all goes well.

The council works department is still doing the sewage line replacement near the 7th tee and will possible be another two weeks.

Well that is about it for this week, keep well and keep swinging... pete

week 12 2011 update

2011-03-24T19:16:00.000-07:00

12 Week into the year already, time fly's when your having fun,
This week we have done allot of tidying up with sand in the trenches around the greens, stick runs, fertilising the bare areas on the fairways, and weeds in the greens sprayed
The council are doing works on the sewage line between the 5th fairway and 7th tee this area has been fenced off and has security guards patrolling the area around the clock. so when hitting off the 5th tee it will pay to aim a little more to the right. the works will take about 3 weeks to complete depending upon the weather.
The greens continue to improve the root depth is now steady at 15cm and it looks like we mightn't get much more going into winter as the night time temperature cools down.
Irrigation works is going along well with the 10th,11th,12th,13th,16th all completed , the 14th has only a couple of banks to complete it and that leaves the 15th and 17th holes to do and early next week we will go over and fill in all the trenches where they have sunk
till next time keep swinging pete

Australian Turfgrass Flood Edition 2011

2011-03-16T20:23:00.000-07:00

news letter article march 2011

2011-03-13T15:25:00.000-07:00

The following is a email to the Queensland superintendents newsletter on update

HI Mark

Well here at McLeod Country Golf Club things are starting to get back on track, not back to normal yet as I think that wont be to next spring

All greens are back in play and looking ok, the 15^th and 17^th are a little behind the others(as these were under water for three to four more days than the others) but still ok to play on, we have been putting a lot of effort into getting the root system back to a good length,, as before the floods they were around 27cm in length, and after the flood they went back to 3cm to 4cm and were looking very sad, withered and brittle, so that was our main aim, to get the root system back on track along with applying products that would force any salt and sediment left behind, through the growing media, thus far all is going well the root system is back up to 12 to 15 cm in length and they look healthy with plenty of root hairs visible.

The tees and fairways still have several bare areas on them, but the turf is coming back strong and hopefully the weather can hang in there to keep the growth rate going so as these will fill in before it turns cold, but some over-sowing will have to take place when the temp drops.

The biggest problem we face is player safety, as when it rains or we water the area it turns slippery, so any slopes become a problem, especially if you have elderly players like on vets day so it is a juggling act to play or not to play, but apart from that all is well.

I would like to take tis opportunity to thank all those who rang or called in or emailed to see how we were and if there was anything you could do to help, this is what got us through… those first few days, so thanks again to all for the support … the main thing I learnt from all this is, that when faced with a massive problem and the situation has the potential to overwhelm not only you but your staff and even club, is not to look at the problem as a whole, it comes back to a saying from a mate who is in the army… Q how do you eat a whale ? A mouthful by mouthful and its that saying that resonated with me at the peak of the flood. So with that in mind each day we just chose two tasks that we thought were the most important, and got them done and anything else achieved on that day was a bonus, that night we would all meet as a team and go over what we did for the day thus seeing that the main aim was achieved and go through all the extras we did, we then choose the next 2 tasks for the next day and so on. In that way you felt positive as you achieved your goals each day as the two most important tasks were done and a lot of bonus work done and as a result you weren’t thinking of the bigger picture as much but in fact were getting amazing results with a good positive and supportive team.

Well these are just my thoughts if you want to keep up with what we are up to at McLeod check out my blog at http://mcleodsuperintendent.blogspot.com/

Thanks again Peter Daly

Start of week 10

2011-03-06T14:23:00.000-08:00

Well its week 10 already, we got through open day with no rain and ladies have there interclub today and all holes are open so over all not too bad.

These last few weeks we have been concentrating on keeping the turf growing as fast as possible as we really want to get the muddy patches to grow in before the growing season stops. Our biggest problem is that every time we get any rain it just gets very slippery, and this then becomes a safety problem for machinery and carts.
and we have had several slips in the most unlikely places, so it will be good to get to the situation where the turf has grown over and this is no longer a problem.

We got a verti-cut in on the greens last week, and hope to get one in today as well, we will have to be on top of our game this winter as with the flood and salt water effects on the turf we were unable to scarrify the greens this February renovation, thus while we can verti-cut with the right conditions we will take every opportunity to get away with it now because in early spring the turf will be very tight and stressed similar to a plant that is pot bound. thus the more we verti-cut now the more thatch we take out, to hopefully get us through to our major renovation in October.

The other major problem we face is the weeds in the green, and here is the dilemma, the root system is still recovering and not even back to its appropriate length and health , winter and cooler nights are fast approaching which naturally cause the root system to retreat to a fair degree and if we apply spray to control the weeds it has a root pruning effect on the turf and can the turf cope with this added stress and recover quickly enough to be able to go into winter in good shape.... that is the million dollar question or as Shakespeare would put it "to spray or not to spray"

So the safest option is to spot spray the bigger weeds and with the colder weather most on the weeds will disappear as they overwinter, and we will get them coming out in spring.

Well to next time keep swinging Pete

Week 7 update

2011-02-21T14:40:00.000-08:00

Well what a week
A big Thank You to the volunteers who come out on Monday to help us in the bunkers, thanks guys it was a huge effort taking out a total of 15 trailer loads of mud, in the heat was a massive effort. Then during the week we cleaned up some more and added sand to some and overall we managed to get all bunkers in play by Saturday for open day.
Also a big shout out to all the vets who came out on thursday to do a general clean up, that too was a big effort and helped to get all the debris finally under control.
We had all 18 greens in play for Saturday and managed to get allot of mowing done as well. The major problem is that with the dew in the morning that has become very difficult to find enough time where the sediment is not sticky and clogging up the rollers and cylinders of the mowers.
well that is about it just a quick one, thanks for your patience and with the growth of the turf it is growing in very quickly and more areas are getting back to a good standard. till next time .. keep swinging pete

remember this ?

2011-02-07T13:37:00.000-08:00

Well it doesn't seem that long ago when we had this water all around, allot has happened between now and then, today we opened back up the 7th green and the 15th should be right for next week then 17th the following week , the turf is coming back nicely on the fairways, but great care must be taken if and when these bare areas get wet as it turns real slippery very quickly.
Today we pushed off the last of the mud on the 15th fairway, and began fertilizing the couch to help quicken the speed of recovery.
The root system in the greens before the flood was around 25 cms deep after the water cleared ( 2 - 5 days) the effects on the plant were obvious in the root system degenerated back to only 2 to 3 cms and all the healthy white root hairs non existent.but after extensive applications of potassium, calcium, auxinone and chemical treatment to ball the clay partials and force them down through the profile we are seeing great success.Now the root system of the turf is bouncing back with healthy and strong growth and starting to get some length ( about 7 cms) there is still along wat to go but we are heading in the right direction.
The greens Renovation will be altered so as to not stress the plant out thus we wont be scarifying this reno but we will have to verti-cut more often, we will be verti-draining the greens on Monday the 14th with a long thin solid tyne this will alleviate compaction and have very little disruption to the turfs surface.
Just a quick note about temporary greens - we do not mow these regularly in fact we mow these as little as possible as after a few mows the little turf that is there at the start will no longer be there after a couple of mows and turn to the surface back to dirt these are temporary greens and put in to use to enable some more holes to be played if these were not used we would still only have a few holes to play instead of 17 as is now the case and id say 17 is better than 7 .....just a thought.
well to next time keep swinging.....and thanks for the photos (Trev thoroughbred) pete

link to other clubs flood reports

2011-01-26T16:28:00.000-08:00

here is the latest link to our association web site for how other clubs are going and a link to some photos of golf courses in the area ....pete
http://www.agcsa.com.au/news/2011/jan/queensland_flood_update_%E2%80%93_tuesday_25_january

Week 4 2011 update

2011-01-26T16:23:00.000-08:00

Well for being only week 4 in the year we have packed in more than I thought possible in several months.

The flood clean up is going along ahead of schedule as of this morning we have opened up the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th 6th, 7th (temp green), 8th, and 9th.

These holes being open will be dependent upon the weather. If it rains the 2nd and 3rd will be a safety issue as the mud will get slippery again, thus no play on these hole if that happens.

The temporary greens on 7th,14th and 17th are ....well....challenging but it lets up get up 17 holes the 7th green should be ok to use late next week but 15 and 17 are a good 2 to 4 weeks away.

Hopefully by the end of today we will have one pump up and running to supply water to the irrigation system thus enabling us to get some water on to the greens which are getting pretty dry with this hot weather.

I have also just organised for some more bunker sand and possibly next week or early the week after we will hold another working bee to spread the sand out in the bunkers.

Well that is about all, we have plenty of mowing and still cleaning up debris as well as treating the greens and tees to flush the salt and sediment through the growing profile whilst also adding chemicals to encourage root growth as the turf recovers from recent events...but so far so good with the turf health coming along nicely, and once the 15th and 17th catch up we will start to lower the heights and get the surface back to where it should be.

Thanks again to all the help and kind words of encouragement please support the club in any way possible it all helps and is much appreciated by all. so till next time ...keep swinging pete

course update 21st Jan

2011-01-20T22:17:00.000-08:00

Well things are moving along well with our flood damaged areas. A special point to make again is that we can not rush bringing back into play flood and salt damaged greens. For the fact that it now looks like we will be able to save the greens to then open them up to play to early and totally destroy patches on them is not acceptable.

The working bee was very successful and we will be having a few more down the track when the areas that need work are safe to work on. At the moment the ground is so slippery it is too dangerous to walk or work in some areas.

Ill go hole by hole to update where we are at as of today

1st - tee is good and is able to be mowed
        fairway cleaned of debris but too wet and slippery to mow
        green cleaned up and is being mowed
2nd - tee is good and being mowed
         fairway to wet to walk on , started to remove mud from worst areas ( 2 weeks out )
        green cleared of mud and washed down turf very fragile and no play on surface for 2 weeks
3rd - tee cleared of mud and washed down turf very fragile possible need over sowing out for 4 weeks
         fairway very dangerous and out of play until further notice as per duty of care issues. mud started to be pushed off where we can get bunker bike into
        green cleared of mud and washed down turf very fragile ( 2 weeks out)
4th - tee cleared but not able to be mowed as equipment impossible to get to area to mow (1-2 weeks)
        fairway very wet too wet to mow or walk and is a safety concern until dried out and mown (1-2 weeks)
        green mud brushed off and washed down turf and had a light cut and is still about 1 to 2 weeks away from play
5th - tee cleared from debris and light mud, not mowed as cannot get equipment to area to mow 1 week away
        fairway growing well still very wet and not able to be mowed at this stage will need to be nipped then lowered and equipment not able to access area (1-2 weeks from play)
        Green mud broomed off and had a light mow turf under stress and greens mower not able to access this side of the course (1 - 3 weeks)
6th - tee cleared but not mown as not able to get mowers to area to mow (1 to 2 weeks)
        fairway OK but not able to be mowed as access to available
       green mud broomed off and had a light mow turf under stress and greens mower not able to access this area (2-3 weeks )
7th - tee OK but not mowed as no access to this area to get mowers to
      fairway very wet and slippery and a safety hazard some area to have mud pushed off when we can get bunker bikes on to the area (3 to 4 weeks out)
      green mud pushed off and hosed down green area very slippery and green under stress (3 to 4 weeks out)
8th - tee men's OK ladies not OK will need a new top as this tee was qld blue and is dead. not mowed (men's 1-2 weeks ladies 5+ weeks)
         fairway safety hazard still very wet and slippery well need some mud pushed off when machinery can get on to it then mowing (3-4 weeks)
         green mud pushed off broomed and under a little stress (1-2 weeks)
9th - tees OK but not mowed as to dangerous to attempt as slippage towards creek, and access to tee not available as too wet (1-2 weeks)
       fairway very wet not possible to mow to dried out ( 1-2 weeks away)
      green mud broomed off and had light mow under a little stress (1 to 2 weeks out)
10th - tee fine and being mowed
          fairway some mowed and rest needs to be dried out
          green fine
11th - tee fine
          fairway a little wet most has been mown
          green mud broomed off and being mowed is ok
12th - tee to be mowed next week
          fairway has been mowed and ok
          green fine
13th - tee fine
          fairway alittle wet some mown
          green ok
14th - tee ok
         fairway top half good and mowed in gully mud to be pushed of gully is hazardous to walking and machinery too slippery to work mud off to side ( 2-3 weeks gully out )
         green mud of green but still to be pushed off surrounds green under light stress (1-2 weeks)
15th - tee mud pushed off and tee hosed down still under much stress (3 to 4 weeks out)
          fairway duty of care hazardous area alot is still unsafe to work safe areas have had mud pushed off and is very slippery to walk on (3 to 4 weeks out)
          green mud pushed off 3 times , hosed off but under immense stress (4 to 5 weeks out)
16th - tee mud pushed off and hosed down turf under great stress (3 to 4 weeks out)
           fairway ok
           green ok
17th - tee ok
          fairway very wet some areas around green been pushed off still more to go (3 to 4 weeks out)
          green mud pushed off twice and hosed down turf under immense stress (4 to 5 weeks out)
18th - tee mud pushed off and hosed down turf under great stress (3 to 4 weeks out)
          fairway very wet to wet for equipment to get on (1-2 weeks)
          green mud broomed off and had light mow green ok

So there is the current position of the course please note that the groundstaff have been putting in a huge effort into getting the course open to play, and going above and beyond the call of duty.It is a unfortunate situation where in alot of instances we cant use volunteers as it is too dangerous or with operating machinery not holding a ticket along with the fact that alot of places are simply inaccessible.I believe that alot has been achieved in 7 days.

We would all like things moved along as quickly as possible but the fact remains that if forced to move along quicker than what we are currently doing, it will put those areas under stress at risk of dying back and undoing all the good we have done so far, resulting in areas having to be rebuilt at greater cost and longer time out of action.

Pete

flood update tuesday

2011-01-18T11:07:00.000-08:00

lots of people are asking how other courses are going ...so here is a link to our association page with updated info on the Brisbane golf clubs and how they are fairing follow the link http://www.agcsa.com.au/news/2011/jan/qld_turfies_begin_tortuous_cleanup_after_floods

a special thanks to all the volunteers and members who showed up today, we had 75 plus, it was great to see and in half a day saved us about a weeks worth of work thanks again to everybody involved ..pete

flood update monday night

2011-01-16T22:54:00.000-08:00

Well another big day today, and more mud pushed off , these last few days have been similar and you forget what day it is,
The main point to this blog today is to let everyone know that we intend to have a working bee tomorrow, thats Tuesday 18th at 8.00 am, registration will be at the club house, (so if every member brings themselves along with 5 friends that would knock it over pretty quick) The main jobs needing attention are a debris cleaned up and placed in piles so we can mow with out dodging chairs, tables, and logs. and also the thin skim of dried mud scraped out of the bunkers and placed out of the bunker to be picked up, so if you have a garden leaf rake and some old shoes come along.
As to the course we have now got all the greens clear of the thick mud, we still have to wash down the 7th, 3rd, 15th and 17th greens.
we have mowed most areas where we can get the mowers with out getting bogged, and we want to get as much mowed before we get any rain as this will make it slippery again.
special thanks to all the other golf courses,company reps, consultants and friends calling in with offers of help and their best wished as allot of these guys are in a similar situation to us.
to Michael thanks for all the support (and taking our lunch orders ) to all of us on the course its been a real life saver just when we needed it thanks ....
well see you all tomorrow bright and early.....pete

flood update sunday night

2011-01-16T02:25:00.000-08:00

Well the last several days have been a hard slog,emotional,physicaly and mentally draining, special thanks to the boys (ground staff) for coming in and doing 12 hour days trying to save the greens, as you have seen from the news and media the mud is everywhere, we still have to get to the 17th green, but the way thing are at the moment its looking like the 2nd and 15th greens might not survive and the 17th now being covered in mud and salt water for 6 days in not looking good, with only 6 staff we have been concentrating on trying to save the greens and as yet only a few tees have been attended to, as we just dont have the manpower to do the lot.
Tomorrow we will attempt to get the mud off the 17th green and also 18th and 15th tees
removing the mud just takes so much time, the 14th which is our smallest green took over 6 hours to get the mud off then 5 or more hours to wash it down.
The course is still very wet and slippery and just getting around has been very trying... hopefully the ground will be ok to collect and pile up debris on Tuesday so if you have any spare time feel free to come and help at 10.00 am.
The bunkers have to be scrapped out and dry mud collected , and mud removed off several fairways.
Another major problem is we don't have electricity which hampers repairs and maintenance of equipment
The pump stations went completely under so we have no way of getting water to any part of the course in the foreseeable future, with the temperature rising and some hot days coming the greens that came out of the flood ok now will need water and normal maintenance (fertilising, spraying ect.) which is going to be a struggle to provide.
The greens once having the mud removed and the surface washed down after a few days rest will need to be flushes and chemicals added to assist in the flushing of salt out of the root zone. this will require some wizardry,a miracle, extremely good luck or good management or a combination of all to achieve
Needless to say there will be no golf this week and im not sure when some holes will be available to play.
well that is where we are at till next time take care...pete

Flood update

2011-01-13T02:30:00.000-08:00

At the height of the flood waters the only parts of the course above water were the clubhouse, machinery shed and the 12th,10th 13th and 16th greens. we managed to get all we could to the highest ground around the 13th green and machinery shed and thankfully they stayed dry.
many residence would have seen us out late on Tuesday night doing this.
To all the locals who had and have flood water through your places our thoughts are with you and we wish you all the best in the clean up effort and if there is anything we can do to help just sing out.
Today with the water receding the 18th and 1st green became accessible to clean up, and we have removed debris and mud from these surfaces, we will attend each green as soon as it becomes accessible.
Our task once the top foot or so (root zone) dries out, is to replace the potassium levels in the plant as these are extremely low after the plant has been submerged under water for more than a 6 to 12 hour period the plant actually expels this element as part of a survival mechanism thus it is critical that we get this back into the plant structure so the turf can function properly and take any wear and fight off disease and fungi which is about with these conditions
please be patient as we get the plant back to a healthy state as looks can be deceiving, in that if play or stress of any kind is placed on the turf before it is ready to handle it will be disastrous.
We are very lucky in that we keep and hold our turfs health as a priority and our thatch removal strategy has placed us in a good position to get the course back into play as quickly as possible.
the heights of cut will be high 5.5mm to start of and very slowly lowered over the next few weeks so as to not place the plant under any undue stress again this will be a slow process as the mowers have to be kept extremely sharp so as to not rip the leaf and lots of time put into height adjustment and sharpening of bedknives to achieve the results we want.
well that is all for today tomorrow brings new challenges .....till next time keep swinging pete

Another year gone

2010-12-30T15:48:00.000-08:00

Well as i sit here thinking of the year past is has been a hectic 12 months, and the last 3 weeks with all the rain has had to be seen to be believed.
To all the Golfers and all those who have helped us out over the last year i hope you have had a safe and enjoyable Christmas and from all the groundstaff we wish you a happy new year.
Last Monday afternoon i came out to try to mow the greens got 3 done and 2 strips on the first when the storm hit that took me 90 minutes as getting the mower to the greens was nearly impossible. after the storm it was impossible, so we were in a situation where we could not get the mowers on to the greens to mow and the length of the leaf got too long to just mow it at the same height as we had been without causing damage to the plant, so we have had to raise the greens height and mow on Wednesday so that we are taking only a quarter of the leaf off and then each day slowly lower the height to get back to the height before all the rain.
This week we have just had to mow where we can and it has made a bit of a mess in some places but that has helped it to dry out and over the next 2 weeks we will get it mowed and tidied up hopefully we will not get to much rain over the new year break so we can get the tractor and trailer out to pick up branches and debris from the storm.
well that is all for now i'm off to jump on the rough cutter and try to mow some more rough, happy new year to all and till next year keep swinging.....pete

fake snakes

2010-12-15T13:30:00.000-08:00

You will have seen a few of these pieces of hose lying around near some of the greens. These are here to serve a purpose in that the birds that dig up the green think that it is a snake and keep well away.
I ask that if these are in your way of golf play, to just move them to another position that is out of you way of play. Please don't just fling them into the rough or creeks as then the birds will come back and dig holes in the green, feel free to move their position from time to time so that different spots are used around the green to help keep birds away.
To those that have been startled and though they were actually snakes, sorry about that but that just shows how well the neapreen hose works in this task till next time....keep swinging pete

Fairway Conversion program update

2010-12-14T13:27:00.000-08:00

We have finally found time from mowing to continue with the next stage of our weed eradication program on the fairways.
You will notice in the 4th 5th and 6th fairways 95% of weeds gone and we have a good couch fairway.
we have done the other halves of green end of 7th and all of 8th fairway this week. with this weather and growth they should come back very quickly
as you can see from this photo of the green end of the 7th where the whole of the fairway from the bridge crossing the creek to the green has been sprayed, you notice a clear definition of the area sprayed last season and it gives a good indication of how successful the program has been with the removal of around 90-95% of all weeds on the left hand side of this area.
We hope to eventually do all the fairways, as in the long run it will be of great benefit, as maintaining a pure couch fairway (Cynodon dactylon) is much easier and more economical to us in the long term
compared to our current fairways which are 90% weeds
couch doesn't need as much water and has a deep root system
couch growth rate is less than our current mix of weeds so less mowing
couch provides a better smoother surface for a golf shot
couch will have quicker divot recovery
couch mow's up better thus better presentation
couch has much better heat and drought tolerance
couch in winter will provide a mat layer to hit off and wont go back to dirt
So as you can see the overall benefits are many also in there you could say that it also looks better. so for some inconvenience short term the long term benefits are definitely worth it. till next till (ill be mowing,mowing,mowing) keep swinging pete

Week 49 update

2010-12-02T17:29:00.000-08:00

Well its all system go at the moment with the irrigation system mainline being put in on the 17th 14th and 15th, we have been very lucky with the weather and so far haven't had to get the hoses out.
Thanks to everyone for tolerating the inconvenience and shorter holes on occasion over the next few weeks we will start to put in the actual fairway sprinklers and tees and greens as we go they will be put onto the computer system.
We got the greens verti-cut on Monday and it will take a few days for them to recover, but the roll has definitely smoothed out and the greens are coping well with all the wet weather and disease around at the moment.
we hope to get on the the weeds (in green) that are just starting to germinate, we need a few dry days to put this spray out, so possibly the end of next week, and we are on top of the mole cricket this year so all good there.
The fairways weed program we started again for this growing season and the fairway areas that were sprayed last season were sprayed again to get rid of the last few stubborn weeds (mostly paspalem) and they are starting to turn yellow now.
Congratulations to Phil Boag and his wife Tak on the birth of their daughter in the early hours of Tuesday morning (12.20am and 8pounds) so if you see Phil around and he looks sleep deprived you'll know why.
You may have also notice the bridge on the 9th has been replaced with new timber and the turf along the side of this path is taking nicely with all the rain.
well thats about it for this time so till next time keep swinging...pete

Irrigation System update

2010-11-15T15:44:00.000-08:00

Today we start to trench lines for the new irrigation mains which is the beginning of the irrigation installation and so its all systems go for the completion of our irrigation system, With that in mind please help it to go smoothly, buy having patience and or giving way to the irrigation crew whilst also keeping an eye out for them as you play your game of golf. We will try to keep disruptions to a minimum. If work is being carried out on a hole it is most probable that we will shorten the hole so that players can walk around the irrigation crew and continue on with their game with minimal interference.
When approaching a tee if there are no markers on the tee surface, where they normally would be, look for some writing on the tee for instructions and look down the fairway for the markers that will be grouped together.
We apologize in advance for any hassles we cause, but we have been waiting 6 years for this completion and i think the way the weather is shaping up it will be an ideal time for this to be done now, with the ground not so hard and the constant showers which will help in the recovery of the trench areas and also keeping the course green and not having to get the hoses out....heres hoping. we will update regularly till next time ...keep swinging pete

Week 46

2010-11-10T18:09:00.000-08:00

Well its been busy,busy, busy this last two weeks,
The grass is growing at full speed , we have carted sand and turfed the edges of the path on the 9th, the greens height is down to 3.4mm and remaining healthy and if all is well we will get a verti-cut in on Monday.
The new irrigation system installation started today with ground work and setting out where we are going to take the main lines.Machinery will start arriving tomorrow and early next week, so when you see some trenches and pipe around the place that is what is happening, hopefully we keep getting showers regularly to keep the fairways going so we don't have to get the hoses out.
The fairway areas that we sprayed the weeds out of last growing season have been fertilized up to encourage the couch to send out runners which will help quicken recovery so that we can get the last bit of weed out of them, this will be done over the next few weeks.

well along with mowing and keeping the blades sharp thats about it ...till next time keep swinging pete

Week 44 update

2010-10-29T18:15:00.000-07:00

http://www.mcleodgolf.com.au/

Well its been full time mowing, these last two weeks, with rain coming at the right times and the weather warming up the turf is growing quicker than we can mow it.

We have lowered the greens gradually over the last 3 weeks and we are now down to the height before
reno (3.5mm) so now we switch from lowering and concentrate on hardening the leaf up to get our pace of greens up.

The bindi sprayed in the fairways is starting to melt out , and we are in the process of feeding up the fairways in our weed eradication plan.

The greens have also been sprayed for black beetle. the way the weather is going I think we are in for some grub and disease problems this summer, all the more important to keep out thatch removal programs going with our verti-cutting and microbe (thatch eating) programs all running in top gear.

We still haven't had any luck on the 9th pathway as each Monday it has rained and is to wet for a bobcat to work without making more mess than what is already there ...we will try again this Monday...

Well just a quick up date today whilst in the middle of spraying greens, until next time ....keep swinging pete

week 42 update

2010-10-14T14:45:00.000-07:00

Well week 42 here and gone thats only 10 weeks to week 52 where has the time gone ?
with all the rain we are behind with allot of our jobs, just getting out to mow has been.... well..... lets say interesting.......

The greens are coming along well they have had 4 mows now and the height is down to 5.5mm we will mow today then let them rest over the weekend as we are still bringing up allot of sand. Also with it being so wet we have to bring our heights down slower than normal as the turf is taking longer to recover from the stress of lowering the heights and the leaching of allot of nutrients from the soil from the excessive rain, but overall, things moving along nicely.

The path on the 9th didn't get a look in as it is way too wet, we will try again in a fortnight when we can hopefully organize a bobcat and if it is dry enough, get equipment in and around the site.

We are concentrating on mowing as much as possible while we can, there is another storm front heading this way as I type, this possibly here by late this afternoon, hopefully not to much wind as the base of the trees is wet and that is primed for some falling over if the wind gets up at this stage.

We haven't bothered doing anything with the bunker bases this week, as we feel it more important to mow surrounds and fairways as there is nothing worse than getting a bunker right then down comes some rain and puts you back at square one again...all wasted man-hours that could have been better spent , so we will get stuck into them (bunkers) next week, although we have trimed some edges and sprayed weeds in the faces this week.

The other main problem green keeping wise when we get weather like this at renovation time is disease. So far we have managed to stop the pythium spp. from spreading, we really need a good dry week to get everything back on track.

Well to next time hopefully back to sunshine .... keep swinging pete.

Week 41 update

2010-10-07T15:00:00.000-07:00

Always a big week, Reno week with so many man hours going into the greens nearly all other jobs we are behind on so for the next week we are in catch up mode.

The greens are coming along very well, and with the rain last night (22mm) that will only help in the recovery. We plan to mow (high at 6mm to nip the leaf) early next week, hopefully Monday.

There are a couple of reasons we leave the greens for a few days after renovation but the main one is that it gives the turf time to extend its root system. As with all grasses there is a ratio that goes, that the length of the leaf directly affects the length of the roots. Thus it is important to take advantage of this time after renovation and get the most out of the root growth as possible as this will put us in good stead during the summer where the plant is under great stress. So our efforts we put in now will be seen in the summer period.

The Bindi in most fairways has been sprayed, and we have mowed as much as possible with the remaining time available.

Next week we will concentrate on the greens, 9th path, and weeds in bunker faces.
well till next time keep swinging....Pete

Spring Renovation update

2010-10-04T12:53:00.000-07:00

Well on Sunday afternoon I must say I was very worried rain coming down, forecast looking like more of the same, the reno contractors ringing up to ask if we will be able to core on Monday or was it too wet to get the equipment on the greens, we have had a good run over the last 9 years so we are due for a bad one, things were looking bleak.

Monday morning .... clear blue sky ..happy days.

Well its early Tuesday morning we have scarified all the greens two ways, all the scarrifings have been broomed of the greens and all greens have been cored.

We have added our organic mix to all greens ( fertiliser, nutri-smart, organics, wetting agent) and rubbed this in with the drag-mats. we also managed to top-dress 10 greens and get them rubbed in and got it all done just as the rain started to fall (10mm)...not a bad 14 hour day.

Today we will top-dress the remaining greens and take all the scariffings to the heap and cores out to bare areas then hopefully get 2 rub ins on each green to work the sand down into the core holes. then water tonight.
Well thats were we are up to thanks to all golfers going around us during the day, well better go load the top-dresser and make a start..till next time keep swinging...Pete

week 40 update

2010-09-30T17:45:00.000-07:00

Well this week has all been about getting the greens growing at optimal growth rate ready for Mondays renovations.

We need the growth rate as fast as possible to help the greens recover from coring as quickly as possible.
If you are wondering why we renovate the greens read the earlier blog on renovation.

The new roughcutter has arrived this is to replace the stealth slasher and just in the nick of time as with all the rain and heat we are having both machines are running flat out to try to keep up with it all.

Jon Boag our apprentice for the last 3 years has finished his trade course and qualified for his greenkeeping certificate and was signed off on Thursday so from all of us here good luck in your future endeavors.

Well to next time keep swinging...Pete

Golf Australia Thank you. September 2010

2010-09-23T18:20:00.000-07:00

Opening Ceremony Australian Teams Golf 2010 @ McLeod Country Golf Club
The 2010 Australian teams event was great success. All the teams enjoyed playing at McLeod, Oxley and Wynnum Golf Clubs. Therese Ritter from Golf Australia wrote the following thankyou.
The Club would to thank the members for allowing the event to take place.

and so it begins

2010-09-15T16:15:00.000-07:00

Well its finally here the Gladys Hay Event we have done all that we can to get the course up to a good standard , now we hope for no storms and not too much heat so the greens will be able to last to the end of the week.
Over the week we will be working split shifts so early starts to get everything ready in the morning i.e. mow greens (double cut) rake bunkers, mow tees, change holes, rubbish run ect.

Then we are all back in the afternoon to do as much mowing as possible on fairways and surrounds as well as bunker faces fixed up and any work on the green to keep them alive for the duration of the week. So far so good..... this is Adrian giving his approval that this bunker on the 3rd is right to go. pete.

week 37 and 7 days to go

2010-09-05T16:28:00.000-07:00

Well last week was a busy one with lots of tiding up, and some bunker work, the greens were running nicely at around 9.2 to 9.4 speed all was going well.... then along came the rain.....back to square one.
Thats the way it goes sometimes we had 35mm last night so this week we will be pumping bunkers out , trying to get them back to good condition, and allot of work on the greens has to be done as when they are being quickened up they are put under extra stress, that then often means that if we get moisture or high humidity disease (fungi) can become a real problem and there is some (as seen on the 13th green) about so this week we will have to tackle that problem as well.
The area on the left hand side of 14th where the builders left tyre marks has been top-dressed and leveled as well as seeded and fertilized
This friday Earl Warmington (old 2ic) is to get married and we all here wish him and new bride (sue) all the best hope to catch up soon.

well to next time keep swinging pete

week 35 update

2010-08-26T18:33:00.000-07:00

What a windy time we are having, the last 2 days have really dried things out after all the rain on Monday.
At this moment all our energies are going into getting the course ready for the Gladys Hey event so mainly keeping everything mown and tidy.
The 5th, 6th, and front of the 8th greens have been resown with seed.
The Poa annua (winter grass) has been sprayed on greens except 5 and 6 where the phantom sprayer caused much damage which is still struggeling to recover and blow me down in that we still have a problem in that our phantom sprayer has returned spraying patches on the 4th and 7th fairways.This is a very serious situation as we have had alot of problems with workplace health and saftey just recently and this person who is spraying without going through the right channells and fill ing the correct forms and recieving instruction is putting us at risk of recieving substansial fines.
all spraying of any product must come through myself so as the correct proceedures are followed so if you see anyone spraying on the course please let myself or the board know.
well to next time keep swinging pete

ekka time - flu time

2010-08-04T17:59:00.000-07:00

This picture is from 2008, since then we have been watering and applying fertiliser and it is really paying off as the area now is greener and healthier, shame we still have those hoses...(one day)
Well its that time of year again, the wind picks up, we have lots of visitors and in most times we all cop the flu.... well for this year we went a little early with trev myself and jon all having a touch of the flu so i sympathize with any one who is crook at the moment.
Well around the course a bit has been going on, with the massive Qpex days gone and ladies Championships on last weekend as well this week having the mens championships we have been concentrating on on the greens so as buy the weekend there will be some pace in them.
As you know last week we wettasoiled the greens to stop the dry-patch this requires alot of water wash in, usually around 14 to 20 mm so with the chemical holding the water it then hangs around the root zone, which softens the greens up, but also slows them down allot. so this week we have cut the water to minimum and increased our mowing frequency, the greens today were running at 8.9 and if all goes well and we get no rain they should be up around the 9.5 on Saturday morning.
this week we have also been painting our office and staff room area and we are in the middle of re-arranging our office space to make it more efficient- you have no idear how much parer work is involved and we have to get a bit more organised in this area
we have mowed most fairways this week and tidird up some areas of rough over all we are ontop of our core jobs, next week is country week and ekke wednesday so some buisy days there untill next time keep swinging and keep away from anyone with the flu....pete

week 29 update

2010-07-22T18:25:00.000-07:00

Well back from holidays and the boys have done a great job keeping the course tidy. I took my holidays hoping that the cold weather would mostly be gone by the time i got back ... but no such luck this morning was down to 6.

we have wetta soiled the greens today as the dry patch was starting up, this is always a problem in winter as the greens surface is constructed on sand but the surrounds are not thus to give the greens the water they need the surrounds get really boggy and have lots of water laying around so we cut the amount of water to the greens and over time they get dry that eventually leeds to them getting dry patch , so with the wetting agent applied to the soil of the green this will let the water hang around the root system of the turf for a bit longer we usually get about three weeks out of this product. it is also a hassle to put out as it has to be washed in straight away thus we need a clear day with few golfers to put it out.

Today we also have the rating team out doing the course measurements and ratings so it will be interesting to see the results after they have done all there calculations a special thanks goes out to marg and julie from the board who have given up there day to help out in the rating process thanks guys well till next time keep swinging pete

Peter Goes On Holidays

2010-06-21T16:22:00.000-07:00

Peter is taking a well earned rest and will be away for 3 weeks. Phil Boag will be looking after things on the course in Peter's absence.

Week 23 & 24 update

2010-06-09T17:01:00.000-07:00

Well winter was definitely here this morning, with the boys all rugged up and that cool breeze still getting through our jumpers it makes for a few hours of unpleasant conditions, but those greens have to be mowed, the bunkers raked and fertilizer put out so we suck it up and continue on.
With the cooler weather and the Turf slowing down we will drop out a few mows on the greens and dew off instead, we will also only do the circle cut of the greens once a week as we don't want the ring cut stressed out and areas around the edges to retreat back to bare dirt.
The bunkers have been edged again and the faces sprayed for weeds, we will level out the bases and add some sand where needed over the next few weeks.
The bare patches on the fairways have been over-sown and some top-dressed with sand as well as continuing to fertilize them, they are slowly making progress, i know this (bare patches) annoyes some people but if you go to a fairway that we have sprayed the weeds out of and stand where you can see some original fairway and some that has been sprayed and is pure couch you can see that the effort is worth it, the 5th is pure couch and eventually the rest will also be pure couch. And this in the long term will be a huge benefit to the club as fairways without weeds will use less water, less fertilizer and less mowing, for at the moment we are really pouring in alot of resources into looking after and maintaining the weeds in the fairways to keep them green.
Till next time keep swinging pete

week 21 update

2010-05-27T14:37:00.000-07:00

Week 21 hasn't been to bad, the mornings are fairly mild, and with the grass slowing down a bit we save some man-hours to do other jobs an example of just one area on the course is the mowing of the rough with the tractor and stealth mower, for the average week it takes about 33 man-hours so during the growing season we have one guy (usually Adrian ) tied up on the stealth mowing the rough, so this week,with the rough not growing much we decided not to put the stealth out. This enabled some free man-hours to do other things, like cut down the 4 dead trees on the left hand side of the 14th, trim some trees on 18th 2nd, do a path run , fix the ruts near the 11th tee, reface all the bunkers , wiper-snip the creek along the 6th and plant some more plants in the garden area,do a couple of jobs for the garden ladies and also to clean up after the rain last weekend.
We also got the greens sprayed this week, as it is important we get some potassium into the plant before that first frost comes along.This will strengthen the plant leaf and the cell walls in the plant, helping protect it against wear and stress and damage which is a important part of our management to keep the greens out of dormancy.
On the tees you will notice where we have been incorporating seed with our topdressing of divots, the seed is growing well, hopefully we won't have totally chopped up tees come July as we usually have, but so far with our plan of more regular fertilizing with less actual product(because if the fertilizer is too strong it will kill the young shoots of grass just germinating) and the addition of seed in the sand used for divots is going ok.
well thats about it for this week a special thanks to the garden ladies who have been very busy in the last few weeks, obviously been getting stuck into the weeding, as we took away six big trailer loads full of weeds well done the clubhouse and gardens are looking great.
well to next time keep swinging pete

week 21 update

2010-05-24T15:12:00.000-07:00

Well you can tell then the winter is nearly upon us the boys are rugged up in the mornings as can be seen here Trev and Phil with there jackets on.
This is a interesting time for us as the grass growth rate slows down it is important that we keep the turf as healthy as possible and try to reduce the amount of stress placed upon it as much as we can, all whilst keeping the putting surface smooth and at a fair pace.
The big concern for us is if the greens go into dormancy there is no getting them back out of dormancy until spring.
so with the pennants over and with the leaf laying over as there isn't as much sun to stand it upright we will mow the greens less often , we will still dew off for comps , and we have lifted the height by 1mm this will strengthen the plant up while maintaining a good roll
a good example of a green in dormancy is if you look at the back of the first green it has just started to head towards dormancy if let keep going the plant will retract and leaf will disappear then all that is left is the thatch layer , which in our greens there isn't much of.
Well around the course you will notice the right hand side of the 14th has been tidied up at this stage we will let this grow over and now it has been shaped we will be able to mow it
we have also started to plant out the garden on the 4th i'm still waiting to receive my main plants from our nursery
well to next time keep swinging pete

week 19 update

2010-05-19T15:12:00.000-07:00

This week was mostly taken up with fixing water main pipes that have broken, the major ones were on the 1st,11th and 18th with the colder weather the ground contracts more putting pressure on the old pipe system thus in some cases where there was a small crack it breaks, we usually try to do several at a time as the cost of getting in the excavator and hire of it is very costly so if a leak is not too bad and out of the way of play we will often let it go until we have three such areas to fix
On the new automatic side we have gone through the system and fixed all the faults in the decoders so it is operating properly and we have just got three leaks on that side one on the 5th one on the 6th and the one on the 8th we have got the parts on the way to attend those problems so all should be good in a week or two....for a while anyway
till next time keep swinging pete

week 18 update

2010-05-06T17:11:00.000-07:00

well another short week and our two apprentices away at TAFE for two week giving us a shortfall of 132 manhours thus only the core jobs got done this week, you will notice some areas of the rough are long these areas will have to wait to next week so keep on the mowed areas.
The areas on the 5th and 6th green where the phantom sprayer has struck, we have changed our plan of attack, originally we were going to sod cut and re-turf the area, but a big concern was getting it back into play and smooth by the 11th of Sept, we have opted to try using a type of grass (Poa trivialis) ,we will verti-cut around the collar and over the sprayed areas, then over-sow with the poa triv and this way we will keep the levels of the surface and have it back in play sooner.
Finally around a few greens you will see some pieces of black hose this is to keep the birds away from the greens and from digging holes in the turf so far is is working, so if you land near it just move it out of the way don't fling it into the rough as we need to keep around the surrounds area of the greens.
well that's all for this week till next time keep swinging pete

who is the phantom sprayer ?

2010-05-03T16:16:00.000-07:00

WHO is the Sprayer ???

Unfortunantly some people trying to help out by spot spraying weeds have sprayed round up on the green surface on the 5th and 6th greens, unfortunantly this area will not recover until next summer which is a shame as the weeds sprayed would have disappeared as soon as we get a cold morning as they are a annual type of plant.
This area is now a major problem with some big tournaments comming up we are forced to sod cut the area, level it as best we can and turf out the area. But to get it back as part of the green it will take a complete growing season to topdress out. thus it will be this time next year before the area is back to normal
As a consequence, we are now enforcing that no spraying be done on the course proper unless you are on my spray persons list, these positions will only be available to those doing the mounds and some gardens.
The cost of turf alone to repair the 5th is just over $1000.00 then we have hire of sod cutters and for the 6th a excavator so possible costing of well over $6000.00 and time and labour of fixing this up so other jobs on the course will have to be droped to accommodate the time put into fixing the 5th and 6th greens
So if you see anyone spraying weeds please ask them to stop or report them to management or commitee we have to stop this before any more damage is done. thanks peter Daly

Week 17 Update

2010-04-29T17:44:00.000-07:00

Well another short week, and some beautiful weather, great for golfing and judging by the number of golfers out this morning (Friday) plenty of people taking full advantage of it.
Well we got a verti-cut in on the greens on Tuesday but i don't like our chances of getting another verti - cut in as the mornings are getting a bit chilly around the 11 to 13 degrees, we will have to see how the greens recover and take it from there.
The garden bed on the 4th has been mulched we will let it settle then start planting it out over the next few weeks.
The dangerous tree on the 12th near the green has been trimmed and some dead trees have also been removed near the 3rd green.
The bunkers on 2nd, 14th and 15th have been topped up with sand and weeds in the faces have been sprayed.
the fairways have been fertilised along with the tees to try to get as much growth before the winter temperatures slow things right down.
well that's about it for this week till next time keep swinging pete

week 16 update

2010-04-21T13:32:00.000-07:00

Week 16 update
well a bit of a wet one this morning with 35mm falling yesterday and last night, great for the course as we were just having to gear up the watering to maximum so with this rain we will be able to put the hoses away for a week or 2 which is a huge time saver for us as it ties up 42 man-hours just setting up then moving irrigation for the week, this will free up some time to get into our job list
This week we got a verti-cut in on the greens we haven't been able to do this any sooner as each time we tried we bought up to much sand, we will try to get in as many verti - cuts as possible before the nighttime temperature drops this will smooth out the greens, rip out the older leaf of the turf and thus encourage new leaf which is stronger and more healthy thus getting the golf-ball up on the turf instead of in it ( if we are lucky we may get one or two in)
The garden area on the left side of the 4th has had its topsoil added and we have resprayed the area which because of the rain will have to do again next week, the 4th path has had a topper on it we will let this pack down then do(top with crusher dust) again in a few weeks
Lots of mowing done this week especially the rough which we deliberately left long for the Mcleod cup which seemed to tighten up the course going on the scores of the day.
The walkway between the 2 bunkers on the 8th has been opened up we still have a little bit of work mainly on the edges but for now it will be good to get some weight on the area and see how it goes. well till next week keep swinging pete

week 15 Update

2010-04-15T14:45:00.000-07:00

Week 15 Update
Well another busy week, our main focus for this week has been getting everything ready for the McLeod Cup this Saturday, and getting some pace on the greens after last Sundays result where the greens speed got slower, this actually happens a lot as when you cut the turf at a lower height (remember last week we went from 3.75 down to 3.5mm) it will stress out the plant and the golf ball instead of running along the top of the leaf will actually nestle down in the leaf thus creating more friction on the ball thus slowing it down. (you can usually tell when this is happening, buy looking behind the ball on a straight putt, the ball will wobble from side to side instead of running straight a bit like a pinball machine) The topic of greens speed is a huge subject with many factors affecting the end results so over the next few months ill try to explain some of the main considerations we look at regarding greens speed so stay tuned
Back to this week, we changed up our mowing schedule and got in some double cuts, we also made the plant use up some of its nitrogen stores thus helping slow the growth rate and along with the plant getting used to its new cutting height (it usually takes 4 to 6 mows to achieve this properly) thus the ball is now up on the leaf instead of in it, so the overall result is we have quickened the greens up, they are running at 9.2 on the stimpmeter. We have also for this weekend left the rough long this is to tighten up the course proper
We have also had a fair few irrigation breaks, these always seem to happen at the most inconvenient time, the 2 main ones were the top bank on the 4th fairway and the other at the green end of the 9th this one required the replacement of the actual solenoid thus the main pipes had to be dug up and flexed to enable us to fit another in the problem with poly pipe is that everything must be exact as there is no room for error if it goes back and its not spot on it wont hold and you will have to do the whole thing again.(for the record all went well first time)
Unfortunately irrigation leaks are a regular occurrence especially on the old system as the pipes are very old and in some spots are wearing down the wall of the pipe so making it thin and thus easier to blow out, and with the colder weather the brittle pipe is more prone to break
The area on the 4th where the garden- screen is going has been shaped and sprayed, we have let it settle down this week and then will add our topsoil and mulch next week.
The 8th crossing is growing in well we gave it a light top dress in the joins this week and next week will peg any areas that require it we should be on it very soon
well thats about it for this week till next time keep swinging pete

week 14 update

2010-04-08T14:02:00.000-07:00

Well another short week and lots of fog about this morning as i write this. The greens this week have had a lot of work done on them we have sprayed the weeds, treated the dry-patch, lowered the height and pumped some water into them with pennants and the McLeod cup and plate next weekend we want to get the greens a bit quicker for these events, so our mowing schedule will change to give us more pace and we have lowered the height of the cut from 3.75mm to 3.5mm
the big problem around this time of year is that the turf is in a transition period, as the night temps get cooler and less daylight for the plant to photosynthesize so the turf is trying to adjust to these new conditions thus it is easy to put the plant under stress which is a real problem.
turf is a funny creature a lot of what we do now only shows up several months later,for example at this time of year we must increase our potassium levels in the plant and also get as much root growth as possible to ensure that coming out of winter we don't get spring dead spot. a lot of people often wonder, why don't they(ground staff) just do this or just do that and get a bit upset when we don't go along with some suggestions, the fact is that without seeing the big picture and looking long term down the track, the actions we take now which possibly could be a quick fix to a minor problem at the present moment could actually lead to a major problem down the track so for this time of year our priority is keeping the turf healthy and as stress free as possible in to the winter proper as we don't want problems with the turf during winter or even worse coming out of winter in the spring transition stage.
well to all the pennant players good luck and to everyone else keep swinging pete

18th fairway

2010-04-07T15:20:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to let you know that the couch seed is starting to germinate in the patches on the 18th fairway, if you look closely you will see many little plants at the 4 leaf stage, we will feed this with starter fertilizer in the next few weeks to encourage it to grow, the 4th and 7th are about 2 weeks behind the 18th as this is the first one we seeded. i just hope the cold weather stays away for a while as the couch doesn't particularly like mornings below 8 degrees (a bit like me really).
You will also have noticed that soil has been placed down on the 4th fairway where the old social tee was, this is to make a tree bed to plant out with dense trees to make a barrier to stop balls going into the houses along the left hand side of the 4th.
we are using the same procedure used to make the garden behind the 16th green, and as you can see from that garden bed the plants love it and are growing well.
speaking of gardens a big thanks to all those involved with weeding the mounds , spraying weeds, and helping us out over the course, it is a massive job and we don't have enough man-hours available to do everything each week, so to get some help is great as it takes a job off the list thus enabling us to tackle another problem area, so again a big thanks too all.
till tomorrow keep swinging pete

8th crossing trial

2010-03-31T17:48:00.000-07:00

For a while the crossing between the bunkers on the 8th has been a major problem
It is a high traffic area that funnels the traffic through a narrow pathway consequently any work done would soon be pounded into the ground.
We have had the idea of widening the crossing for a while but still believed that a track would be created as everyone tends to walk on the same line.
Just recently, Geofabrics have made a new product called Grassprotecta. It is a grass protection mesh that is heavy duty and UV stabilized, the idea is that it is laid on top of the turf surface thus allowing the turf to grow up through the mat creating a very strong stable surface. The mesh is designed so you can play a golf shot off it, and it will distribute the wear of the high amounts of foot traffic over the whole of the grid, sounds good, so we thought it worth a try in this area.
The original path was dug away with all turf and topsoil removed, we shaped the sub soil surface to distribute any water into both bunkers to use that as drainage
We then bought in sand to widen and lift the crossing, this was put down in layers and packed tight then another layer put on and packed and so on to the right height and width was achieved.
We then repacked the bunker faces and topped with bunker sand and packed this as well thus helping support the actual crossing, this was also done in layers. the area was watered and turf laid over the crossing then the grassprotecta laid out and cut to shape then pegged down that is where we are at now.
we will leave the area to settle down and let the turf take root and grow through the grid, we ask that the crossing not be used to the edges stabilize thanks pete

2010-03-31T16:40:00.000-07:00

Week 13 Update

well a short week this week, that means we have to keep moving to get all the weeks general golfcourse maintenance jobs done and then try to fit in the special projects (13th fairway turfing patches and 8th bunkers walkway) as well as some tree planting to boot, this means that we all get in and attack the projects as a group thus allowing us to do it quickly and properly and get back to our regular maintenance jobs as soon as possible, its a shame that we cop some criticism on the Tuesday when we were all getting in and fixing the pathway on the 8th, that some recon that we had too many staff there helping.
to that i say that it was a very labor intensive job, all work had to be done by hand and we are using new materials and different methods(see next blog) than have been used in the past, thus it was a good opportunity to show all the staff how i want this type of project done in the future, so my main message is that unless you know all the facts don't criticize on what you know nothing about.
The weeds in the greens have been spot sprayed, and will be followed up over the next few weeks as the chemical we use is slow acting thus giving the couch time to fill in underneath the weed and not leave a hole in the turf
The mole cricket have had a second dose of bait thus most of these are gone and we have also sprayed the greens with Neem oil thus making the area unattractive to these pests.
we attempted to verti-cut the greens on Monday (back of 1st green 4 runs of mower) but we were still bringing up to much sand so we till try again next week, as i would like to get 2 verti-cuts in before winter this will smooth the roll of the ball and give us a little more pace on the greens.
You'll notice a few new palms on the 2nd hole i plan to make this a feature of the 2nd so if you have any palms in pots that you would like to donate they would be most appreciated thanks and until next time keep swinging pete

2010-03-25T15:57:00.000-07:00

Week 12 update
you by now will have noticed the three bad water holding holes on the 13th fairway have been filled with sand and leveled we have left this for a few days to settle down and compact a bit as sand will compact around 40 to 60 percent next week we will level the surface again and lay turf over the sand
The Greens this week have also had a lot of work done on them as with all the overcast weather the last few weeks and with the high levels of nitrogen after renovation we have had some disease (Pythium spp.)which has been sprayed also the mole cricket has been tended too.
Our new mechanic is going well its great having the mowers all sharp and running well this saves us lots of time and lets the machines run at maximum efficiency
The bare areas on the sprayed fairways have all been sanded and seeded with a common couch we are already seeing a strike on the 4th so over the next few weeks these areas will fill in and be pure couch fairway.
well thats all for now the ladies pennants are all away so i better go and prepare for the weekend comp till next time keep swinging pete

Course Renovations Article.

2010-03-22T16:27:00.000-07:00

Why Greens have to be renovated!

Renovations Love it or Hate it ……. actually I haven’t found anyone in my 27 years green-keeping who love it but each year, on or around the third Monday in February and on the first Monday in October, the greens are renovated. This happens each year and the dates are always in the fixture book. No doubt members think that this happens every year just when the greens are at their best. The reason that they are at their best is because they were renovated the previous year.

Greens face two major problems, one compaction and the other thatch. Compaction is caused by foot traffic, machinery, irrigation and rainfall. Thatch is a layer of organic matter between the top of the grass and the soil, it is naturally occurring in that the older leaves lay over and die as new leaves grow up through the turf surface.

Compacted greens do not allow water to get down to the roots. This will result in greens drying out and eventually dying back. If die back occurs greens may never recover or at best take many years to recover. To stop die back occurring it is necessary to core the greens. This involves the use of a machine, which takes out a large number of pencil shaped pieces of the green. These holes, so created, allow the oxygen, nutrients and water to get down to the root zone. As we do not have our own renovation equipment we have to employ outside expertise.

Thatch is removed during the October renovation, by a special machine, operated also by an outside expert who is booked from year to year by a number of courses. The material that the machine removes is actually large amounts of thatch. Thatch that is not controlled can cause the greens to become soft and spongy, roll inconsistently and be much more likely susceptible to disease spreading through them.

Unless renovations are carried out the greens can become diseased, play inconsistently or even die back which then to make right becomes costly and time consuming Thus it is important these renovations are carried out at the optimum time for turf recovery so that for most months of the year we have greens that run true and are in good health..

Peter Daly

Why Greens have to be renovated.

2010-03-21T22:07:00.000-07:00

Why Greens have to be renovated!

Renovations Love it or Hate it ……. actually I haven’t found anyone in my 27 years green-keeping who love it but each year, on or around the third Monday in February and on the first Monday in October, the greens are renovated. This happens each year and the dates are always in the fixture book. No doubt members think that this happens every year just when the greens are at their best. The reason that they are at their best is because they were renovated the previous year.

Greens face two major problems, one compaction and the other thatch. Compaction is caused by foot traffic, machinery, irrigation and rainfall. Thatch is a layer of organic matter between the top of the grass and the soil, it is naturally occurring in that the older leaves lay over and die as new leaves grow up through the turf surface.

Compacted greens do not allow water to get down to the roots. This will result in greens drying out and eventually dying back. If die back occurs greens may never recover or at best take many years to recover. To stop die back occurring it is necessary to core the greens. This involves the use of a machine, which takes out a large number of pencil shaped pieces of the green. These holes, so created, allow the oxygen, nutrients and water to get down to the root zone. As we do not have our own renovation equipment we have to employ outside expertise.

Thatch is removed during the October renovation, by a special machine, operated also by an outside expert who is booked from year to year by a number of courses. The material that the machine removes is actually large amounts of thatch. Thatch that is not controlled can cause the greens to become soft and spongy, roll inconsistently and be much more likely susceptible to disease spreading through them.

Unless renovations are carried out the greens can become diseased, play inconsistently or even die back which then to make right becomes costly and time consuming Thus it is important these renovations are carried out at the optimum time for turf recovery so that for most months of the year we have greens that run true and are in good health..
to next time keep swinging....pete

week 11 update

2010-03-17T17:18:00.000-07:00

hi all
what a week we have had with the grass growing at full pace after all the rain (over 150mm over 2 weeks)we are slowly catching up with it.
we have started back in the bunkers to get them into decent condition, we always fall behind with bunker maintenance when we renovate the greens as all our manpower goes into getting the renovation done as quickly as possible thus all other schedualed jobs on the course get backlogged and it usually takes us 3 to 4 weeks to catch up
The Fairway upgrades are going along well we have got rid of the paspalem and other weeds from the 4th and 5th as well as halves of 7th 8th and 18th we have been encouraging the turf (winter green couch) to creep into these bare areas, alot of the smaller patches have grown in and now with the weather starting to cool down we will oversow these areas with a seeded common couch to give us cover throughout the winter season
please note that we leave this sowing to the last minute as we want the wintergreen to have as much advantage and to get the most growth as possible
you will notice that the 4th and 18th have been oversown there is plenty of seed and the birds will get a good feed but that is one of the things we cant stop.
well to next timekeep swinging pete

The first Blogg

2010-03-17T15:51:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the first blogg for Peter Daly your Course Super. Over the following months Peter will endeavour to answer your questions and help explain the reasons behind the way we do on things the course, to help the members get a better understanding of Course procedures etc.

If there are any questions you have please don't hesitate to post a blogg and Peter or Phil Boag will do their best to help you.

The Board is very keen to improve communications between all areas.

We hope this is on more step to achieving this goal

Regards Michael Richards