Course Update
All turf areas across the courses remain in their low growth and slow recovery phase. The warm season grass areas (green surrounds, tees and fairways) are now in a heavy dormant phase brought on by the severe frost events in the recent weeks. The impact of frost will see some natural turf injury, along with a heavy colour change across in the turf surface, and remain that way until the dormancy cycle ends in September/October or when the warmer weather reappears. 121mm (4.8 inches) of rainfall has been recorded in July causing damp conditions. Cart restrictions have unfortunately been required for course protection and safety on several days.
Nutritional input programs during the late summer/early autumn months to position the turf for the onset of these cooler months have been successfully undertaken and have had a positive impact of the turf presentation up until July. This has been supported by ongoing applications of turf colourants to enhance the aesthetic appearance of the turf as well as provide a protective barrier to cold stresses the turf will endure during winter.
Our normal winter program of a 4mm needle tyne renovation (solid & hollow tynes) remains in progress. This process alleviates water pooling on the green surface increasing infiltration, and most importantly improves the air, water and soil relations that collectively provide an environment for ultimate greens health. This program will continue until our main green renovation is undertaken in late August/early September. No disruption to play and very minimal impact on the green surface will result from this program.
Important course protection and management of delicate high traffic areas throughout winter will be once again managed by directional ropes and signage where required.
The newly seeded putting green continues to advance well albeit it slowly in the cooler weather. Our mowing heights are currently at 6mm, and being incrementally reduced when the turf vigour and health allows. We are working towards a 3mm mowing height with an increase in turf density and vigour so we can consider the best timing for it to be reintroduced to play in spring.
COURSE RENOVATION PROGRAM 2024
Members are reminded that our annual green and fairway renovations will be taking place in the coming months. These renovations are vitally important to enable the turf surfaces to be presented consistently at very high levels. See below details.
GREEN RENOVATIONS
North Course – Monday 26, Tuesday 27 and Wednesday 28 August
South Course – Monday 2, Tuesday 3 and Wednesday 4 September
FAIRWAY RENOVATIONS
South Course – (Verti-draining) Monday 2 and Tuesday 3 September (Whilst course is closed for green renovations)
North Course – (Scarifying) Monday 16, Tuesday 17 and Wednesday 18 December
Note: Course closure will be required and in place for the specific course whilst under renovation on the above dates. The non-renovated course will be open for play as normal.
Process and Recovery Times
The program of our green renovations will be similar to previous seasons. The process will consist of coring the greens (10mm hollow tine), apply amendments to correct any soil deficiencies or to benefit turf health, apply sand then a deeper verti draining of the greens profile (8mm solid tine) to complete the program. The full recovery time of the greens will be approximately 4-6 weeks. Please note this is a vital yearly task that must be undertaken to ensure our greens remain at a consistently high standard all year round.
MAINTENANCE FACILITY TOUR PROGRAM
A Maintenance Facility Tour has been initiated and being offered to members over the coming months. This is a behind the scenes tour of our large golf course maintenance operations. The tour will encompass a detailed tour of the facility and include presentations of the interesting operating systems. These include the following – Toro Watering System, Task Tracker Job Delivery System. EZLocator Pin Placement System. Nearmap Aerial Mapping System and more.
TOUR PROGRAM INFORMATION & DATES
- Max group 30 people.
- Bookings to be taken by reception.
- A member from the membership committee will attend to meet and greet and keep the tour running to a 45 minute time slot.
- The tours to be marketed in the fortnightly member updates with a supporting flyer.
- 10am Monday 19th August
- 10am Tuesday 17th September
- 11am Wednesday 9th October
- 10am Thursday 28th November
- 10am Friday 6th December
- 10am Saturday 7th December
Vegetation Planting Program 2024
Work has commenced on this years vegetation planting program. In excess of 20,000 native heathland plants, trees, shrubs and grasses will once again be installed throughout the courses. Transplanting using onsite material in selected areas is also in progress and forms a key part of our overall program. The transplant material will be sourced between Holes 1 and 3 North.
It is to be noted that several planting zone areas (11/18S, 6S RHS, 7N RHS) will be stripped of surface organic matter using an excavator prior to the native soil/plant transplanting and plant installations.
The Victorian State Government program Land For Wildlife (LFW) has been renewed and is highly beneficial for our club. The Land For Wildlife program supports Peninsula Kingswood Country Golf Club in enhancing biodiversity, demonstrating environmental responsibility, benefiting from ecosystem services, providing educational opportunities, engaging with the community, complying with regulations, and ensuring long-term sustainability.
Our annual course vegetation walk will again be offered for interested members in spring when the plants begin their flowering display phase. The date will be Tuesday October 8 at 1:00pm
WARM SEASON GRASS TREATMENT PROGRAMS
In conjunction with our present pre/post emergent treatment program to control Winter Grass – (Poa annua) across the warm season grass areas of green surrounds, tees and fairways, a non-selective herbicide treatment will once again be delicately and accurately used in July. This period is best suited to this treatment as it is when the couch grass is in its full dormancy with a low susceptibility risk to treatment injury. Selective spot spraying is well in progress across the delicate areas around green surrounds, tees and high traffic areas and also forms part of this overall program.
Bunker Renovations
The Course Team are working through the annual winter program of detailed bunker renovations. The same program we successfully performed last year and has been advertised in our recent member updates in our future programs. We perform this more detailed work in winter as more resources are available as the turf needs reduce and golf play level is lower allowing safe access and increased productivity.
This program is detailed and covers tasks that include, but not limited to, the following: wall and floor contouring, sand additions, face compaction and angle adjustments, lip restoration with our native black sand, erosion control, entry and exit point review and adjustment, tongue over-sowing, edge and walk-in trimming.
CURRENT & FUTURE COURSE MAINTENANCE PROGRAMS
- Mini-tyne verti-drain renovation on greens surface (June, July, August).
- Bunker Maintenance and Renovation program continuation (Winter & Spring).
- Vegetation maintenance programs that include slashing, burning, pruning, dead tree and woody weed removal in selected areas (In-progress).
- Planting program commencement – 20,000 native plants to be installed throughout winter once again (In progress from June – October).
- Wintergrass Control Program with-in warm season grass areas (In progress until October.)
- Course Renovations (August, September and December).
- Annual Drainage program continuation. Target areas 9N fairway, 2S teeing complex and other selected smaller areas (Timings to be confirmed).
Glenn Stuart
Director of Courses