While the Brisbane Lock Down was a disruption to all associated with the Club, it did allow my team to focus on bunker maintenance (65 man-hours in total) & getting the entire course mowed before the Easter long weekend. With several clubhouse employees redeployed to my team, we were able to have the course in good shape for Friday (Good Friday). Frustratingly, only those who could play on Friday and Saturday would have seen the bunkers in their desired condition. In the four days leading into Easter, we were also able to groom and dust the greens on holes 1-18.
Disappointingly, the condition of the green’s on holes 1-18 are below expectation & rectifying the related problems remains my priority. A review of maintenance practices has commenced with changes to several cultural practices having already been adopted. The weather conditions over the past month have added further challenges, but this does not alter the importance & urgency of this rectification task. Next week a liquid fertiliser application will be applied, inclusive of hand dusting of the surfaces.
The 22nd hole project has suffered a further setback this week, with cart path works and irrigation contractors unable to go ahead with their programmed works due to the 90mm of rain falling on the course since Saturday. We have now had more than 420mm of rain over the past five weeks. The scheduled tree removal associated with the maintenance shed project will also have to be reprogrammed.
The local Cockatoo population are causing us grief, with the 9th, 18th & 27th greens being regularly dug up. Unfortunately, their seasonal attacks on the greens seem to be lasting longer this year. The regulatory protections that exist make it a challenging issue to manage.
The course remains exceptionally wet, with most areas beyond the immediate fairways having not been mown. Encouragingly, the weather forecast for the next 14 days is mostly fine, which will enable several overdue maintenance tasks to be completed.
Superintendent
Keith Johnson
Filed under: Course Updates