Course Managers Update - Around the Greens in April 2020

March delivered a further 100mm of rain, taking our YTD total to 547mm. It was a stable month weather-wise with no real storms or freak weather events.

We renovated the Greens, as planned, on the 16^th of March. Unfortunately, rain on that day prohibited us from applying a top dressing of sand but with the cancellation of the Vets competition we were able to get it done on the Thursday morning. Some plugs have been put into the small damaged area on the 1^st green and repairs have been made to the crevasses left behind by our friendly Corella population. The 7^th Nursery has been over-sown with “Pure Distinction” bent grass and has had a satisfactory strike.

The Tees are in a satisfactory position leading into winter. Pre-emergent herbicide will be applied to combat the germination of Poa. Selective herbicide will also be applied in April to control the invasion of Kikuyu in our tee surfaces.

The 1^st ladies’ tee is finally in play. The height of the cut on this tee is currently 15mm and will remain so over winter. I will reduce the height down to match the rest of the tees in time for the October Championships.

A good dose of nitrogen-based fertiliser was applied to the fairways in March with a top up given to thinner areas a couple of weeks later. An application of another growth regulator was used on the fairways to reduce maintenance requirements. Some areas are still struggling to cover over but on close inspection, the Kikuyu is making progress. Ground pearl patches are slowly being taken over by their annual cover of Winter grass.

With the change in weather and recent repair work forcing us to drain the irrigation line, we have seen an explosion of leaks on the course. Most of these leaks are caused by failed valves inside sprinklers but there are also a few leaking pipes.

The panel for the 18^th pump has been installed and is working wonderfully. During installation we pulled the top off one of the pumps to check it as it was not functioning correctly and found that the “wet end” is not working and will need to be replaced.

The removal and reinstallation of the pump on the 8^th has been delayed due to wet weather but I’m hoping to have this work completed in the next couple of weeks.

Shay Tasker

Course Manager