The course is holding up pretty well as we reach the middle of Winter and with the last week being relatively dry compared to the preceding weeks and the wind blowing, the surface has dried out a bit. With preferred lies in place we are happy to leave the fairway mower in the shed, plenty of grass to sit the ball up on, and we will take the opportunity to cut the fairways though in this drier spell of weather as they haven’t been cut for 6 weeks and probably won’t get cut for another 6 weeks after but we will set the heights up 6mm higher than we would normally cut at.

Good to see the arrival of new tee and approach mowers with the old machines traded in, these were well past their best and the new machines will ensure an excellent quality of cut on these vital areas of the course and also less down time for repairs. Thanks to the club Board and management for understanding how important it is for us to have good equipment available and working through our machinery replacement schedule when possible. Through the use of our Toro Procore we have been working over the last few months relieving compaction by solid tyning the tees and surrounds and working to get more grass growing in these areas which we will see the benefits of in the Spring when the warmer weather kick starts the growing season.

Work has started clearing around the pump shed and exposing the associated pipe work with some major works planned for our pumps and pump shed, access to the shed will also need significant work as the old concrete bridge has virtually collapsed into the drain which is part of the spill way for the dam system.

Some other works in progress or completed are:

  • Repairs to our back up diesel pump at the 4th hole on the Hills
  • Burning of the fire piles behind the 1st green
  • New steps installed at the 6th tee combining both sets of steps allowing removal of a very ordinary garden bed. Sand and rubbish bins relocated also.
  • Tidy up of Footgolf holes and tees as well as fences that are used to stop errant kicks.
  • Large tree behind 15th green cleared up and stump removed.
  • Clearing of the right hand side of the 16th green with removal of blackberries and bracken fern and small shrubs with grass to be sown.
  • Repairs to the Back Hoe bucket and also the greens roller receiving new bearings and drive chain.
  • We will soon be cutting a trench down the right side of the 1st fairway and installing a product called root barrier, which is self-explanatory to see if this helps turf quality in this area over summer.
  • Tree lopping of troublesome branches was booked for last week but had to be cancelled due to the high winds on the day.

Again a big thanks goes out to all of the volunteers for the help they give to the club, it’s easy to not notice what they do if you’re not at the club all the time but when your sitting in the clubhouse and the fire is roaring just consider that somebody had to cut up those logs, stack them to dry out and then when ready take them up to the wood shed and then be stacked next to the fire ready to burn. All of this takes time and is mostly done by volunteers along with many other jobs.

Derek Wills

Course Super