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.

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.

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

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

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