On course we are in our most challenging period of the year. It has been an extremely dry start to summer.
I am happy with the general condition of the course but certainly have areas which I want to continue improving.
As is the same every summer the greatest challenge is maintaining our bentgrass greens. With bentgrass being a cool season grass we need to carefully manage the greens throughout the summer months. Typically, when air temperatures reach 32c we expect the root and leaf of bentgrass to decline. We have several strategies which minimise decline to ensure we have strong healthy putting surfaces throughout summer and into the cooler weather when they can be pushed a little harder again.
- Correct Irrigation, Handwatering and Syringing
We irrigate our greens overnight based on an evapotranspiration rate calculated by our on-site weather station. This ensures the greens receive adequate water to maintain consistency and avoid overwatering. We supplement this by probing the greens using our Pogo and handwatering only the areas on greens which require watering. Over a period of time, we use our data to predict how moisture loss will occur throughout a day so we can manage it better. Lastly, we use a technique called syringing. This is when a short burst of irrigation is applied either through hose or sprinklers which has a sole purpose of cooling the leaf of the plant during extremely hot days when the plant has a reduced ability to perform this function itself. Generally, this is something I do on very warm days just as the last golfers are coming off the course.
- Innovative Fertility and Chemical usage
Managing growth throughout summer is important as excessive growth puts the plant under additional drought stress, but not enough growth means there is no recovery from the expected wear and tear throughout summer. I have a program where throughout summer we apply extremely low rates of liquid fertiliser on a weekly basis. The products I use also correct deficiencies in the plants processes. During very warm weather the plants ability to produce energy (photosynthesis) decreases and use of energy (respiration) increases which creates a deficit and will cause the plant to fail. I use products proven to supply energy in the form of sugars to replicate the sugars produced through photosynthesis and also a product which slows down respiration. These products are absorbed through the leaf and generally is used within the week. The mix of high quality, low salt products is changed each week based on the performance of the turf which gives me total control over growth, colour & stress relief. I am also using a growth regulator which minimises vertical growth, encourages density, reduces drought stress, and improves rooting.
- Aeration
Aeration is critical to preserve the balance of air & water in the profile. We will continue to aerate throughout summer with solid tines and ninja tines.
- Reduce Mechanical Stress
Often mechanical stress is the one which pushes under pressure turf over the edge. We already mow most days using walk behind mowers which drastically reduces wear and tear around edges. We also manage our practices based on turf health so if a practice may cause turf injury it is postponed until more suitable conditions are found.
- Mower Setup
We have an excellent Turf Equipment Manager who ensures our mowers are sharp and set correctly each day. The tolerance on greens height of cut is extremely low and if set 0.05mm different it will be noticeable on the greens to me and my team. We also use a moderately aggressive set up throughout the hot months using both rollers and a moderate bedknife angle.
Using these techniques, we aim to produce high quality consistent greens while maintaining excellent turf health.
In my last communication I discussed our annual fairway renovations, and I am pleased to report that the process ran very well this year. Each time we undertake a project such as this I like to look at what could be improved. I felt the aggressiveness of the work was correct to address the level of thatch we produce but I wanted to get the course back in play quicker than previous years.
The majority of the renovation program stayed the same but this year we used some different scarifying machines and raised our final mowing height by 2mm. These two changes made a huge difference to recovery and within a month we have taken preferred lies off which is a great result. Throughout the year I will continue to assess the fairways to fully understand exactly how successful this year’s renovation was but at this stage I am happy with the level of thatch removed and also the recovery rate.
This year was also the most detailed renovation we have completed. In house we scarified, low mowed and aggressively hollow cored all our tees, surrounds and walkways. We then scarified and low mowed our tee surfaces right back. These areas have all recovered nicely and we will be maintaining the tees at a lower height of cut going forward to try and maintain a really tight and firm surface on our tees. We also scarified our step cut for the first time since its introduction a couple of years ago.
Fraser Brown – Course Superintendent.