May Course Report
Published on 23rd May 2019 in Guests NewsSpring Valley Golf Club
Course Management Report
May 2019
We have enjoyed some good rainfall at the start of May with 31mm falling already, more than any month this year. The weather is continuing to cool down as we approach winter but no frosty mornings yet.
14thGreen resurfacing project
The 14thgreen is coming along well and as soon as the green was established enough to support a mower, we commenced mowing once a week with has been increased to twice a week now. The first cut was at 12mm and we have been lowering the height each cut since, whilst the mowing helps the grass to thicken up, the green benefits more from the roll of the cylinder mower at this early stage, helping to firm the surface. The green is down to 8mm now which we will continue to lower. The reduction in height will slow down the lower we go until we eventually reach our desired cutting height around 3mm. After the first mow when the green was strong enough to support a walk behind fertilizer spreader, we applied a slow release greens grade turf starter fertilizer as the green has virtually no organic material, therefore, the sand profile is prone to leaching non slow release fertilizers. In addition to this, we have been applying light rates of foliar fertilizer on a weekly basis to ensure the green is growing & establishing as we would like.
Work finishing off the surrounds has slowed in order to balance other course maintenance work but we will make sure this is finished well before the green is open for play.
Queries raised on surrounding grass – Not all of the existing grass was reusable as it contained an undesirable level of poa annua and other weeds. The majority of it was placed at the front of the greens but there are small areas left that will require additional turf. We are acquiring additional turf from Kingswood’s Santa Ana and will be turfed next week.
14th hole fairway
There have been a few discussions around improving the 14th hole fairway and at this stage, due to pressures on resources, we are holding off on any works or changes. Our priority right now is getting on top of our maintenance schedule and completing our first phase of the bunker works.
We are putting together our course strategic plan and in this plan, we will highlight our proposal for improvement to this area.
Greens
The greens have been slower to putt on than normal following last months coring. Now that we are back to our normal mowing height of 2.75mm, you will see the greens return to their normal speed. Through winter we will dust the greens on a monthly basis to help dilute thatch accumulation and maintain a smooth surface. As well as this we will needle tine the greens every 6-8 weeks to relieve compaction and assist surface infiltration. The greens have been relatively disease free of late but we are due to apply a fungicide to prevent winter fusarium.
Fairways
The fairways have received extra applications of fertilizer following the extremely dry conditions we experienced this summer. Before they go into dormancy in the next month, we will fertilize them one more time to help them regain density where this has been lost.
Last week we applied a follow-up application of pre-emergent herbicide (Spectacle) to prevent Poa annuagermination. Spectacle is a fairly new product which has a different mode of action to most other pre-emergent herbicides which is important for herbicide resistance management. Tank-mixed in with this application was an insecticide to control African Black Beetle as well as a low rate of wetting agent to assist these products to penetrate hydrophobic soils to ensure they reach their target areas in the soil/thatch.
Irrigation System
A small leak has formed in the main pipe in the 4thpump shed last week. We have had to shut the irrigation system off until this is fixed. Luckily this has happened after the irrigation season. The irrigation system is always pressurised however the only time we use the system through winter is if we need to wash in pesticides, fertilizers or if we are auditing sprinkler heads.
Bunkers
After finishing of work in the 9thfairway bunker, we walked the excavator into the chipping bunker to remove a hard section of the floor as well as recontour the faces to bring a lot of sand back into the floor that had been blown onto the face from wind. As this is our only practice bunker available with 19 being in play, I thought it was important to make sure the bunker is as good as it can be. We have done a little bit of work levelling floors in course bunkers but there is still plenty of bunker requiring attention which we will work through in the coming weeks and months.
Once we tick over into the new budget in July, we will start replacing sand in bunkers identified in the bunker audit. The holes we will be working on will be 8, 12, 13, 15, 16.
Bent grass nursery
This month we are working on re-establishing the bent grass nursery located within the southern nursery. This will be seeded with Pure distinction bentgrass.
Course Volunteers
I would like to thank the volunteers who have given up their time to come and help out on a Monday morning. Their assistance has been much appreciated by the staff and club.
Rainfall Total Average
January 8.9mm 43.2mm
February 15.5mm 46.9mm
March 16.1mm 44.9mm
April 18.2mm 63.2mm
May 31mm (as at 20th) 70.5mm
Total YTD 89.7mm
David Phillips
Course Superintendent
20 May 2019