Course Managers Update - Around the Greens in December 2024

November weather was similar to October’s weather with an average maximum of 26 degrees. A string of mid to high 30-degree days at the end of the month gave us an un-invited taste of what’s to come this summer.

There was a total of 60mm of rain with 25mm of that falling in one day.

Greens’ renovations, 10mm hollow tines, were carried out as planned on the 10^th and 11^th of November. The greens have come back very well with the first cut being at 4mm just 5 days after renovations took place. The greens have softened up a bit since then with the rainfall and the slight change in management practices shifting towards surviving the summer. In saying that though, they are in excellent condition and all very healthy with full coverage as we head into the hardest 10 weeks of the year.

Average green speed is down to 9’6” as expected after renovations.

Tees are coming along nicely with the warmer weather. Tee renovation work commenced in late November and should be completed early in December with minimal disruption to golf. Tee renovation consists of coring with half inch hollow tines, cores removed followed by the rubbing in of loose soil with a steel drag mat then cut. Soil amendments in the form of Gypsum and organics are then applied.

Our fairways are also in great condition, loving the warm weather and regular rainfall. Some areas have seen an explosion in Ground Pearl activity, but action has been taken to get control of this pest.

The cores from the tee renovations have been collected and used on bare Ground Pearl patches in fairways in an attempt to establish Couch grass.

November also saw some fairway renovations carried out with the “aerovator” attachment on the Ventrac machine being used to break up some of the harder areas, allowing air, water and hopefully Couch to get in with minimal disruption to the surface. In all though, I’m very happy with the progress of our fairways and I’d say we are slowly winning the battle against Ground Pearl.

The bunkers performed fairly well up until a big storm on Dec 1. The 7^th bunker has been repaired after the irrigation blowout. Twenty tonnes of sand has been added to the bunker which is now ker is back in play. The other bunkers have all been edged and faces mown as per our regular maintenance program.

Shay Tasker

Course Manager