Dear Members,

I hope you enjoy reading all the latest that is happening on the golf course over the next month.

Trial Bunker rakes
The Golf Committee has received numerous amounts of positive feedback
regarding the trial of the new plastic rakes. With that in mind we will look to transition the new plastic rakes back throughout our course with the aim to change over the greenside bunker rakes first and then make our way through the fairways. This may take a few months due to stock availability.

Greens
Greens have been performing well and consistently which is the aim. We have been lucky enough to have had a chance to get a couple of light sand dusting over the greens especially at this time of the year given the temperatures and rain.
The light dusting of sand helps with thatch dilution and therefore helps with less disease pressure. It also helps keep the surface firmer and smoother. I would like to spike the greens to help remove some surface water during a rain event, but this just makes our greens softer and pitch marks become more evident, so I have backed off our spiking of late.

19th Hole Usage
These past couple of weeks we have decided to rest some greens to help with some recovery. Whilst the holes have been closed, we have been able to fix up some bunker maintenance issues with tongues breaking away and elongating some entry and exit points to help members in and out of the bunkers. We have also been re-turfing some bunker tongues as many members are using these to gain entry into the bunkers and we get wear issues overtime.
Next week we will be closing the 10th hole to give the green a rest and the 12th hole the following week.

Mechanic’s Facility
We are very fortunate that one of our course team members is a qualified carpenter and has been busy building a Cylinder Grinding room and work bench, a storeroom for spare parts as well as an office and common room. This is nearly complete which will be great for our upcoming growing season. We are hopefully about to appoint a new Mechanic which will be great for our team and a huge asset to the club.

Restoration Phase
In late August/early September this year we will be restoring the 17th and 18th green complexes including bunkers as per Renaissance Golf Design concepts drawings completed in 2018. Brian Slawnik will be back at YYGC to complete these works along with our experienced team. We will be lifting the greens and laying them on black plastic for 7-10 days whilst we make the necessary changes. Once Brian has finished and happy with the surface, we will then be installing new irrigation and then relay the existing turf with the aim to have it back in play in 4 to 6 weeks. Whilst
these two greens will be out of play keep an eye on the newsletter and Proshop for details on holes in and out of play.

Regards
Clint Raven | Course Superintendent.

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