Course Renovations.

This year we are closing the course for 4 days to get the required amount of work completed to renovate as much of the golf course as possible. We will be working not only on the greens but also on the 20 hectares of couch surfaces. We haven’t renovated our couch surfaces for a couple of years now and we need to for a few reasons. We are still trying to:

• get the Santa Ana couch to cover over the common couch areas,
• reduce some of the thatch accumulation to help stop disease and insect pressure,
• give a good aeration to some of our tees and high traffic areas to help them recover from all the wear and tear over the winter.
• Most importantly, we want our surfaces to be the best we can make them for our members hence why we need to do these types of turf renovations.

Greens: Our golf greens will be cored and top-dressed with amendments added to help correct some of the deficiencies that in turn help’s create better turf surfaces. We will also be running the Air2G2 over the greens to get the most benefit out of the coring. Coring golf greens is a vital practice for maintaining optimal turf health. This process enables better air, water, and nutrient circulation to grassroots by alleviating soil compaction. Coring promotes root growth and overall turf resilience. It enhances drainage, reduces waterlogging and disease risks. Moreover, coring mitigates thatch buildup, ensuring a smoother putting surface. This practice, though disruptive temporarily, rejuvenates the green, fostering vigorous grass growth and maintaining playability. Coring golf greens is a proactive measure, preserving the long-term vitality and quality of the course for golfers to enjoy.

Tees: Our tees will be cored, and Verti cut, and amendments added, the Air2G2 will be used in the high traffic areas either on our tees or in the standing areas that are severely compacted and are struggling to grow a suitable surface.

Fairways: This year we will be Verti cutting (light scarifying) our front 9 fairways and coring our back 9 fairways. Every year we will rotate this from front 9 to back 9. This will help us to continue to try and create the best surfaces to play off. Because of the amount of couch surfaces it will take the 4 days to complete providing the weather is on our side. If we have bad weather, we will have to change our program to suit. I have decided to do it this way because of the amount of material we will remove with a full scarify It will fill up our practice fairway with debris and we are struggling to find places to hide it at the moment, so I believe we will achieve the same result but over a two-year period by rotating the fairways each year.

The best growing conditions will determine how quickly the course will recover. This relies on the weather mostly, but we can fertilize the turf as much as we can to help speed the recovery, but the sunlight and soil temperatures are what really helps. We will be doing everything physically we can do to make this happen. 

Bores: We currently have 3 working bores that need to be cleaned every year to help keep our bores healthy. To do this in a safe manner we will also be doing this with our bore contractor over the 4 days as we need to lift them out of the ground and chemically treat and either brush the screens that allow the water to seep into the bore shaft or airlift to keep them healthy. We will also be airlifting the 4^th bore that we found to see its capacity and if it is a future asset we can use. If we have time, we may also look at the old 9^th bore.

Vegetation: We have booked in our tree contractor to remove some of the poor structured trees around the course that are deemed to be either unsafe or at high risk of falling into a neighbor’s house or affecting the powerlines.

Irrigation: Finally, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel for the completion of the stage 1 irrigation works. It has been a massive project that has really opened my eyes to how big of a project it is. My expectation was that we would be completed by the 29^{th of} August. However, we have hit a few hurdles with the poor soil along the 12^th and down the 8^th, as well as waiting on parts for a machinery breakdown, pump set, and pump shed delays.  We are still waiting on the power company to do an upgrade outside our property with discussions with them starting around 12 months ago. The weather has been kind and favorable to allow us to get what we have achieved thus far which has been pleasing but we need to complete it and make sure we do it correctly. We are aiming for a completion date around the 12^{th of} September. We have estimated to have saved around $350K by doing the work in the way we have by utilizing our staff as much as possible and pre purchasing of products.  So, it has been a huge win for our club. I can’t thank our staff enough! They have been putting in the hours and have been loving the experience as most course staff never see an irrigation installation.

We won’t be coring the 9^th and the 16^th greens because late September or early October Brian Slawnik is returning to complete our greens restoration as these two greens are our last on the golf course to complete which will be fantastic for our members.

I thank you all for your patience as we do the necessary work to set up our course for the short- and long-term benefit of all.

Clint Raven

Course Superintendent.

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