All greens have received a light de -thatch twice. Fungicide has been applied for Dollar Spot and Fusarium whilst a preventative fungicide has been applied to prevent against Pythium. Insecticide has also been applied for Argentine Stem Weevil and Wetting agent added to improve moisture retention. Greens watering is being reduced to improve green firmness and ball roll. Fairways have been sprayed for Billbug, Black Beetle and Argentine Scarab. They have also been fertilised. Going forward they need to be renovated and the Aero - Vator will be used to do this. This will result is some surface disruption but will recover quite quickly. Tees are in the process of being reshaped and have been fertilised. They will be hollow tyned when time allows to aerate and relieve compaction.
All tees need to be rebuilt over a period of time and laser levelled as currently the tee tops have depressions, mounding and sloping off to the sides. In the interim we will topdress the depressions to improve them to a certain degree. Collars have had the first application of Herbicide to eradicate the Kikuyu, Couch and Summer grass that have invaded them. A follow up will be carried out mid - December. This will also need to be done again toward the end of March with two applications. Once the un – desirable species have been eradicated the greens will be enlarged to take them out to their original size. The collars will then be Kikuyu only. This process will take some time so please be patient until we get the result that we expect.
Course trees are an area of concern with several dead trees that require removal and stumps that require to be stump ground. An option could be that the club purchases a large quality chipping machine and stump grinder and remove alot of them in house and stump grind in house. When we are done the club can then sell off the equipment. I would anticipate that this would be a much cheaper option and would be done in the cooler months. Additionally several trees are needed to be planted along our boundaries to protect neighbouring properties from damage unfortunately this as a slow process and will take years to establish.
Shaun Probert Superintendent