It's been a very busy time on the golf course since my last post. We have had a very warm, dry summer and it was a great test to see how the irrigation system would perform after the control system and wiring were recently repaired. Well I can say it worked a treat with no issues at all other than a pipe repair on the 3rd fairway which was probably a remnant of the damage from the earthquakes.
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| Damage to an 80mm fitting after some recent shakes |
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The repaired pipe
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With the warm weather came very strong turf growth over the whole course. During this time I had a lot of trouble keeping the greens at a good speed even with the use of growth regulators and very little nitrogen applied. The tees, fairways and rough were also needing quite frequent mowing which took up a lot of our time. Leading up to our renovations on the greens I only applied foliar nitrogen at 10kg/Ha a week prior to vertidraining with 18mm solid tynes and we got amazing recovery. We were nearly back to normal mowing height 2 weeks after renovation with no extra fertiliser.
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| The 9th green 2 weeks after 18mm solid tynes and topdressing. |
Recently we got news that funding had been approved for the purchase of a topdressing machine and we chose to buy a Dakota 410 towed topdresser. This machine can put out topdressing at a heavy rate or very lightly to dust. It can also be used to spread fertiliser. This purchase will allow us to dust our greens on a regular basis through the growing season and help dilute thatch, firm the surfaces even more and help with better smoothness and ball roll. This will be a major improvement on how we have been able to manage our greens previously.
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| An example of the Dakota 410 applying a very light dusting. |
Our most recent project on the course was completed today and that was the overseeding of all the fairways with a fine fescue/browntop mix. Over the last 3 years we have been gradually removing the ryegrass from the fairways and encouraging the browntop and fescue to take over. This process has been fairly successful and we were now at the point where we could introduce more browntop and fescue without it having to compete with other grasses. We will have about 8 weeks for the seed to establish before we hit the colder months of winter when the grass growth will slow down. Next spring and summer should enable us to thicken up the turf and have a much better fairway surface with a more dense stand of turf.
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| Seed drill in action |
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| The slits where the seed is placed |
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| Close up of the seed sitting in the slit |
