Course Update

We are pleased with the way the course came through the winter. It was in sparkling condition for our Spring Tournament and Pro Am.

The fairways have greened up well and most of the areas shaded by large trees have caught up to the rest of the fairway.

We will be undertaking some trial spraying on some fairways, to assess the best option for removing some difficult to kill Poa annua plant. These plants have become resistant, or are too big for the selective herbicides to kill. We need to get on top of this problem, as these persistent plants have the potential to smother out the couch grass.

We had good weather again this year for greens renovation. It is very important to have a dry week to help brush the sand and organics into the core holes. This year we have sprayed the greens with a product to help reduce the amount of seed head forming on the Poa annua. We should be able to assess the success of this treatment through November and December, as this is the time of year the seed head is most evident. A reduction in the seed head will help produce a better looking green with a truer surface.

The two new tees at 11th & 13th North, are settling in well with the turf starting to recover from being cut down to a playable height. The tees will be cut at fairway height for the first summer, before being lowered again to tee height. There is still some work to be done to finish around the tees. This will happen at an appropriate time, depending on what is to be undertaken in each area.

The extra winter rain this year has germinated a lot of weed seed. We have needed to spend some time spraying weeds from most areas but mainly the roughs. We need to keep the roughs clean of weeds and grasses to give the couch grass every chance to spread and thicken up.

Another product you will see around the course over summer is crumbed recycled rubber. We are looking to use this more extensively to help the couch better survive in high traffic areas i.e. ends of paths and around tees.