Hi members,

Greens – new

I am very pleased to have now opened the 17^th and 18^th greens with plans to open the 2^nd and 7^th greens this weekend.

I wanted to thank all the members for their patience with the new restoration holes as I am extremely happy with the outcomes. I just need the couch grass that we have laid to take root so we can start to cut and top dress it and get it back in play. We just need some warm weather. So, there will still be some GUR around the new greens so please take care when playing the new greens and enjoy them.

The greens are settling in well.  We have ninja tined (small 4mm core removed) and solid spiked them all three times already to help smooth them out as well as plenty of fertilizer and dusting of sand. These greens will still take another month or so to settle and start to play like the old greens. We also need them to get used to member play and that will help the process hence the importance of opening them up for play. We have lifted the heights of the greens so that we minimise having too great a difference between the pace of the old and the new greens.  We are trying to keep them as consistent as possible but to achieve this they will be a little slower than normal.

Greens – coring

The coring of our greens went well with a couple of nice days however, we still need the warmer weather to help aide the recovery as it has been slow and annoying for us all. We have given the greens several light applications of both soil and leaf to speed up the recovery. Fungicide application has also been applied. Over the next couple of weeks, we will give them a light verti-cut to remove some excess bent grass leaf to help with the ball roll and speed.

Turf Growth Fairways & Tees

We are slowly seeing some new growth on the worn areas of out tees; these areas have been fertilised with both liquid and granular to help kick start them but unfortunately, we really need some warmer weather. Whilst the rain is good it is the warmer soil temperature we are after along with longer sunlight exposure, so fingers crossed, we start to get some nice days.

The fairways have had both soil and leaf fertilizer applications to help kick them along. We have also sprayed pre-emergent for winter grass control.

You may see some flagged areas and paint lines over the next month as Brian Slawnik (Renaissance Golf) is looking to change some grass lines around the 12^th tees, to help with the wear, as well as fairway extensions on the left hand side of the 14^th fairway.

Vegetation

The works on 13^th and 16^th carry ways are coming along. We will be aiming to rotary-hoe the area and apply fumigant in the next couple of weeks. Once fumigated we must wait 4 weeks before we can seed the area. The new paths have been designed by Brian Slawnik and will be softened when we put some minor shaping through the area. The path will be topped up with our dusting mix so what you can see now is just the base coat. The Vegetation Guidelines and Principals is awaiting Board approval. Once approved we will be able to communicate more details with all members.

We planted out along the South Oakleigh Club with some great help from a local bunch of young kids called the Bee Warriors. They have taken it upon themselves to set some goals and help out the environment and Bees. It was a great afternoon for them and help for us. They helped plant around 100 trees and shrubs, and we have since added another 200 to the area.

Bunker rakes

Unfortunately, we are still waiting on the arrival of the rest of our new plastic bunker rakes.  Once they arrive, we will change over the fairway bunkers, as all the greenside bunkers should have the new ones in them.

Buggies across greens

The rule allowing buggies to be walked across greens has been extended until the end of October. The newly laid greens will benefit from having golfers walk their buggies across them and we encourage you to do so.

Fountain

Over the next couple of weeks, the fountain pond will soon be pumped out and re lined. We are looking at a new filtration system to add more oxygen into the water to help stop the Algae build up and a new plant selection that is still in process.

Good Golfing,

Clint Raven | Course Superintendent

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