Match Committee Report

From the Course Committee

February 2012

Spraying for Crab Grass:

Following favourable weather conditions we have been able to treat all the required turf surfaces for Summer grass, this included all greens, roughs, fairways and some tees.

The herbicide used requires the turf not to be mown for 4 days prior to application and not watered for a minimum of 2 days post application.

The phytotoxic effect on the turf (leaf burning, yellowing) is partially due to the herbicide and partially due to the water being turned off.

As you can see two to three weeks later the turf has returned to its original condition. The down side is that the death of the leaf does add to thatch accumulation and Kikuyu turf does not react as favourably to the herbicide as the Winter Green couch variety. Cool season varieties such as Perennial Rye, Winter grass and Bent grass suffer to the point of death in most cases!

Due to spraying in warmer than desirable conditions we suffered a leaf burn on the 5th, 6th, 7th and 14th greens. This has almost recovered except for the 6th which suffered the worst, we used a different chemical on the greens to the fairways in case you were wondering.

In the future new technology (herbicide) which was released last year will be used on the course for weed control. We did not use it this year as we were waiting for some other WA Guinea Pigs to do this (for turf safety reasons) This herbicide does not have the same phytotoxic effects as the last herbicide used.

Mowing:

The grass on our golf course has been growing as per usual for this time of the year, really fast!!! The greens are cut twice almost every day other than Sundays (day of rest). Fairways now require at least two cuts per week and some fairways three times to keep them under control. Tees twice per week, same as the collars. We are endeavouring to cut the rough at least once per week but sometimes other tasks get in the way. A demo greens roller should be here very soon.

Ball Washers:

Two new plunger style ball washers have been put out on the course. We will be budgeting to have a new ball washer on every third tee ASAP, with another two to be purchased at the end of the budget year.

Bunkers:

A huge thankyou to our group of volunteers (you know who you are) who made a massive effort to come out and help to tidy up the bunkers, I'm sure you'll all agree they look fantastic. If you get the opportunity please come along there is still plenty to do around the course to enhance everyone's enjoyment of the game and course. Please be in touch with either Rod Wearn or Mal Rigoll if you would like to donate some time and labour to some projects on the course or around and club.

Tournament Prep: LGC

As the Geographe Classic is almost upon us once again, we are full swing into making sure the 1% are done or are on track to being done. Spraying around all the trees, signs and edges on the course and around the clubhouse just to tidy up the look of the place. Gardens will be trimmed and mulched, All the new tees edged and cleaned up. Mowing regime will be increased, heights of cut lowered or raised to improve surfaces, car park curbing and edges removed of debris, All bush will be raked and piled up ready for the upcoming fire season. Plus a million other small jobs to ensure the tournament runs smoothly. Volunteers are welcome.

Irrigation Repairs:

As our irrigation system ages some areas of hardware begin to fail. Valves, Solenoids, Decoders, Sprinklers etc have a life span with the water we use of about 5-7 years. Some will last longer some won't. We have recently had some valves fail for various reasons, we have been trying to fix them mechanically however the valve on 18 had to be replaced. It is this reason it has been kept excavated for so long, we apologise for this, it shouldn't have taken so long.