The Course has received over 220mm of rain and as such has left the course waterlogged. The Kedron Brook broke its banks on more than one occasion on Monday and Tuesday leaving the course inaccessible until Wednesday morning, with all bridges, except the 18th going under.
On Wednesday, my team cleared debris from the greens to enable the mowers access, with all greens, tees and many green surrounds being mowed. As the greens had been flushed of nutrients following the significant rain event, we were able to apply liquid fertilizer to the greens to help replace nutrients that had been leached away. There was also significant time invested over Wednesday and today (Thursday) clearing fairways in preparation for mowing the course once machinery access to fairways is possible. This afternoon should see some access to a couple of the more elevated fairways. There has also been some hand dusting to those greens most affected by scalping over recent weeks.
Tomorrow (Friday) will see an extended workday with mowers operating on as many fairways as practical, with the rough being cut where possible. Unfortunately, one day is simply not enough to present the course in desired condition for the weekend and there will be areas of the course that we will simply not get too or will remain too wet for machinery to operate. Weather permitting the plan is to have holes 19-27 open for play by noon tomorrow (Friday).
With a short week leading into the Easter Long Weekend, next week we plan to reschedule the green dusting that was not possible this week to Monday of this coming week, with holes 1-9 being dusted early in the day and holes 10-18 being completed after the competition field has gone through. Tuesday is the first Lady’s Open Day for the year, with an 18-hole shotgun start over the Old Course. Work will be focused on holes 19-27 on this day with some tree removal associated with the maintenance shed replacement also scheduled to take place on Tuesday. The remaining two days will be focused on catching-up on as much mowing as possible.
No more rain please!
Keith Johnson
Course Superintendent
Filed under: Course Updates