week 51 2011 update

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

verti-cut tees

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

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

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

2nd bunker area turfed

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

Verti - drain greens

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

rain rain go away

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

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

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

                                                     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

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

Start of week 10

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

remember this ?

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

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

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

flood update tuesday

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 sunday night

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

fake snakes

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

Irrigation System update

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

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