Rainfall for the Week: 17.5mm,  Rainfall for 2024: 250.0mm, Dam: 100%,  Green Speed: 9.5 feet

Work on the 9^th pond and green surrounds has progressed this week with the new turf to be laid around the pond edge and green surrounds next Tuesday morning. The pond edge will have couch laid around it, providing a 2-3m perimeter around the entire pond. This turf species has been chosen for presentation purposes, as well as maintenance requirements. Outside this couch perimeter we will be laying kikuyu which will include the improved green surrounds. Couch will be laid at the end of the concrete path which leads up between the two greens, and this turf will be covered with the green plastic mesh material to help protect this turf against the high wear it will receive.

The course received 14.5mm of rain on Tuesday morning which wasn’t ideal for the works around the 9^th pond. It did fill the pond very quickly and tested the drainage pit and pipe installations, which worked well as expected. The rain made the surfaces around the pond too soft and slippery to operate on, so the contractors started working at the 7^th tee site and creating the new sloping banks out towards the 8^th fairway.

Bunkers have been trimmed this week with just over half of the course completed. Runners have been removed and sand has also been moved around on the bunker bases to ensure the depth of sand is correct over these areas. Growth regulator has been applied to fairways and roughs on holes 1, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 17 this week. Roughs that weren’t mown last week due to the reduced maintenance hours because of the public holiday were mown on Monday but will need another mow before the end of the week as growth rates are very high from the high humidity weather.

The high humidity and high rainfall conditions are creating an ideal environment for disease development in our greens. Our preventative fungicide program is keeping disease populations under control, and next week we will be incorporating a cultural practice into our maintenance schedule which will further assist the greens. Over Monday and Tuesday, all greens will be mini hollow tined to remove a small amount of built up mat and thatch from the putting surfaces. By removing a small plug, oxygen will be available to the turf plants root systems and surface water will be able to infiltrate through surfaces more easily which will help surfaces to dry out quicker and not stay waterlogged or high in moisture. Excessive moisture and lack of oxygen in the root zone are ideal conditions for Pythium development. Pythium can affect turf very quickly resulting in death of the plant.

Our volunteers were on course Monday morning performing a bunker run before the competition, edging pathways, trimming fairway sprinkler heads, poisoning Parramatta Grass weeds in flyover areas, repairing and cleaning the practice nets, assisting with the bunker trimming process, and spraying weeds in gardens. Thank you to all those involved this week; your assistance is very much appreciated.

We will be cutting greens both mornings this weekend and rolling on Sunday for Major Pennants. 

Have a great weekend and happy golfing!

The Course Team.