Course Managers Update - Around the Greens in March 2020

February, what a month! 407mm of rain, top temperatures of 47 degrees, wild storms and ridiculous humidity. Other than that it’s been a great month for growing grass.

Our Greens were hollow tined to 8mm early in the month in preparation for the rain. I’m glad this was done as they handled the 407mm very well. Preventative pesticides have done their job and kept disease and insect numbers to a minimum. A mild outbreak of Pythium hit us late in the month where we couldn’t get our follow up applications out due to weather. A small amount of damage can be seen on a few greens caused by Sting Nematodes, most of which occurred in the heat towards the end of February. Renovations are scheduled to begin on the afternoon of Sunday the 15^th of March.

Unfortunately, the tees have not performed as well as I’d like them to. They have a fairly good coverage but have not really thickened up since the rain. Miticides have been applied recently to reduce couch mite activity. The 1^st Ladies tee was laser levelled and turfed late in February and was cut with a rotary mower 8 days later. I’m hoping to have this tee cut down to the correct height, top dressed and in play by the end of March. A big thank you to the ladies for their patience while this project was carried out.

The fairways exploded with new growth with the rain and humidity. After being so dry, the fairways really took the rain in very well. 360mm fell in 3 days, but we were able to have carts and bikes out just 3 days later. Growth regulator was applied to encourage lateral growth. Some fairways are still thin in areas, so 3 ton of granule fertilizer will be applied in early March. I really hope to get the fairways covered by the time the cold weather hits. Ground Pearl patches are very obvious at the moment. The ground we made up on them last year with turfing seems to have been completely reclaimed. Two steps forward, three steps back!

The bunkers struggled with all the rain but with the exception of those on the 7^th and the 10^th , self-drained quite well. Routine trimming of bunkers was carried out during the month and grass faces required a growth regulator application.

Several trees were taken out by storms late in the month. The clean up is ongoing and we will have them removed as soon as possible.

The dead trees on the Amy St boundary are to be removed during March, along with a dead She Oak at the back of the 12^th green.

Shay Tasker

Course Manager