Superintendents Report – March 2018
During the month of March, we received 38.5mm of rainfall and recorded rainfall on 8 days, with 13mm the highest recorded for a single day early in the month.
Irrigation and the delivery of recycled water is still our main concern and highlighted by a dry month with consistently warm temperatures.
We have reduced our irrigation on fairways and we have been using set sprinklers on the greens to help conserve water, this has resulted in several localized dry areas that would have been irrigated under normal practices, most notably the sides of bunkers and green surrounds.
With expected water supply recommencing in mid-May we still have several weeks in this current situation.
The Corella population seemed to realise that the “Kiama Open” was coming up so they decided to start their own greens renovations by causing damage on several greens on a daily basis, most of the damage occurring in the later afternoon times. Stuart and I took turns to come back to work every afternoon for the 5 days prior to the Open Saturday to continually scare the birds away. (with success).
Funny enough below is what I had written last month,
-The installation of the Eagle Eye bird deterrent & mirror balls.
-Reduced pest activity in the grass.
-Constant harassment from greenstaff in work vehicles.
-Maybe they just moved away.
Despite the water situation, difficult weather conditions, bird life, machinery breakdown, staffing, and the hosting of two majors (Kiama Open, Trainee Pros) we are still having fun.
Greens
We have managed our watering program with the set sprinklers and hand hosing of greens to maintain their health, this has been a very time-consuming job with at least 20 hours a week spent on this task. Despite this the greens are going well and playing ok and were presented well for the recent Kiama Open.
Stem Weevil (turf pest) damage has been minimal over the past 4 weeks and constant monitoring continues.
We have had a slight incidence of the disease “Dollar spot”. This is the most common disease for our climate, the disease has been treated and the response has been good.
Tees We have reduced the irrigation frequency for the tee areas again for water conservation. Some tees are dry and are being watered once a week. The tees are in good condition with great recovery from divots and general traffic. We are currently cutting the tees twice a week.Fairways
The fairways were treated in mid-March during the rainfall with a chemical Pre-emergent herbicide, this product requires washing in to the soil profile to work well. Once the rainfall stopped and due to the lack of irrigation we will hold off on the remainder of the application until weather conditions are favorable.
Despite the dry weather and irrigation problems I am still receiving a lot of positive comments from our members about the quality of the turf surface.
Kikuyu is a very resilient turf grass and the dry areas will recover quickly with favorable conditions, it is just our job to maintain them the best we can for the time being.
Machinery
We have had a leaking hydraulic ram on the Toro surrounds mower, this mower has been out of action for a month due to the parts being ordered from the US.
This mower should be back on the grass by mid-April, in the mean time we have been using the Toro rough mower to maintain the tee and greens surrounds.
We have been investigating stump grinder option for the course as we currently have approximately 100 stumps to be removed, the options include heavy duty models that can be attached to our skid steer machine.
The option to purchase our own stump grinder has to be weighed up against using a contractor to carry out the work with almost 100 stumps on the course the job is a considerable investment over a long period of time.
Bunkers
We are trimming the bunkers on at least a 3-week basis to keep up the aesthetics of the course. Raking and trimming are all we can offer at this time of the year as higher maintenance areas such as greens are our main priority.
Compaction in the bunkers has decreased due to the lack of rainfall and irrigation
Trees and Gardens
Through natural selection we have removed a Melaleuca tree from the right-hand side of the 7th fairway just short of the green.
I currently have a tree maintenance request with Kiama Council for the maintenance / removal of the trees on the 5th and 14th greens, their horticulturalist will inspect the tree for risk management in a high play area.
Unfortunately, trees and gardens have not been high on our priority list although we have had some great help from our member including the garden party in watering key plants on the course and clubhouse areas, I would also like to thank Chris Thompson for offering his expertise in garden maintenance by helping to maintain several hedges around the first tee and practice green, your efforts are greatly appreciated.
Pathways
We are currently seeking quotes for concrete pathways from several suppliers.
Vandalism
Two flagsticks were removed from the 10th green over consecutive weekends. and a resident scooter rider has decided to use our already stressed 10th green as a skate park resulting in ruts 25mm wide and about 4-6 meters long both of these have occurred on a Friday night/ early Saturday morning.
Thank You Mark Yates
Course Superintendent