Greens Renovations

We have completed the first stage of our greens renovations today thanks to some fine and dry weather. We verti-cut the greens twice which removed excess organic matter, applied the Profile, then topdressed. Tomorrow we will start aerifying and rolling. We anticipate that we should be completed by late Wednesday or Thursday dependent on weather. Fast recovery is expected.

Greens Renovations

We will be renovating the greens starting next Monday the 28th. The process should see a quick recovery this year given the strength and condition of the greens following the wet season. We will be verti-cutting and topdressing. Following the topdressing we will aerate and roll. Recovery should be well within 10 days with favourable weather conditions.

Greens Renovations

The greens are recovering well following the work on Monday. We have been cutting them the past 2 days at 3.5mm and will continue to do so through the weekend. Once the remainder of the sand is incorporated into the surface, we will lower the height to 3mm again which should be by next weekend. It might not sound like much, but after 20 years in the industry I'm still amazed at what a difference 1mm in cutting height makes.

Greens Renovations

Greens renovations: two words which golfers don't enjoy too much. Our growth levels mean we need to remove excess organic matter from the greens which renovations provide. The end result are better greens, for your enjoyment. We don't go out in the heat and humidity and work hard on the greens for us, we do it for you.

So today, we commence our greens renovations. The poor weather of late last week resulted in a change of procedures for today as we did not know what the weather had in store for us. So the procedure today will be as follows:

- Verticut the greens: We will be using verti-cutting heads in the greens mowers instead of the walk behind unit and verti-cutting the greens to a depth of around -5mm. Verti-cutting means vertical mowing, straight down. After one pass we will assess the results and determine whether we make a second pass. By using the heads on the greens mowers, it will mean we will get across the greens fast.

- Clean up cut: Once we finish verti-cutting, we mow the green to standard height which currently is 3mm.

- Aerate: Very important. Aeration provides a number of benefits for a golf green such as increasing the oxygen levels in the soil; encouraging deeper root systems; reducing compaction; improving water infiltration through the profile; and so on. This is where our major change is. We were initially going to use a hollow tyne and remove plugs from the green. To clean them up they need to be dry. But due to the rain last week we were concerned that if we remove plugs and could not get them dry then we would have made alot of mess on the putting surfaces which takes longer to get back to good condition. Therefore, we have switched coring tynes to solid tynes, which still provide the above benefits, but also don't leave any mess as we are not pulling material out.

- Topdress: The greens will receive a light topdress to promote surface smoothness.

As we are using our ride on mowers for the verti-cutting we will get over the greens faster. Therefore, we probably will not stop after 9 holes today (front) as originally expected. We do not know what the weather will bring so we will no doubt press on as the day progresses. Please check with the pro-shop to our current status if you are intending on playing.

Greens Renovations

A reminder to all members that greens renovations are scheduled for next Monday (front 9) and Tuesday (back 9), October 25 & 26. We will be verti-cutting again followed by aerifying and topdressing. We expect the greens to be back in good condition in around 2 weeks.

Greens Verti-cutting

It has now been 2 weeks since we verti-cut the greens by hand. The extended rainfall into April this year meant we were not able to carry out our typical greens renovations as we had limited time between the wet season finishing and school holidays/Carnivale time which is why we only aerified. As such, we had excess organic matter under the surface which we needed to remove before the rain starts again. Excess organic matter can contribute to a number of problems for a golf green, such as increased insect and disease pressure (ie. more 'food'), soft and uneven putting surfaces, slower greens, reduced root structure, and so on. It is imperative in our climate that we maintain a minimal level of organic matter so that our greens can drain quickly and remain in the healthiest state possible.

The greens are recovering well with the darker lines you see in the greens being new shoots. The greens are now firmer underfoot and the roll is smoothing out well. As the appropriate saying goes, 'Short term pain, long term gain'.