Carnivale Time

Carnivale time again which we are all looking forward to. The course has come up well thanks to the efforts of all the guys on the maintenance team. The greens stimped at 12.5 feet Monday afternoon, but a half inch of rain yesterday has slowed them a little. They should be a little over 12 feet for our Bulls Masters golf day tomorrow. Good luck to all participants.

Augusta

As noted earlier, Masters time. If you didn't believe the 100 staff and $6 million budget and still think your course should look like Augusta no matter what, take a look at how they cut fairways:

Cutting the 1st fairway

These are Toro mowers painted green and grey.

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.

Profile

Starting next week we will be introducing a product called Profile to the greens. Profile is a porous ceramic which has a number of benefits including increasing root mass, reducing nutrient leaching and increasing oxygen levels within the root zone to name several. Following verti-cutting next week, we will add the Profile to the greens and sweep it into the green before topdressing. Our topdressing sand will also have Profile blended into it, so whenever we dust the greens we are adding a little more each time - which will improve the greens long term.

There are many products around the market such as Profile which you may not have heard of, or realised that Superintendents are using in their maintenance programmes. If you are interested in reading more about it, click on the following link:

Profile Porous Ceramic

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.

Augusta National Changes

Masters time in a couple of weeks. I was fortunate enough to attend the Masters in 1996 as a guest of Mr Hall Thompson, the late owner of Shoal Creek GC in Alabama, and member of Augusta. Mr Thompson used to fly his employees over to Augusta for the tournament each year which was a great thrill. Golf Digest have put together a link showing the changes to the golf course over the years and what to expect this year.

Golf Digest Article

Unfortunately it is also the time of year where some Clubs go through the 'Augusta Syndrome' and expect their courses to look like what is on TV which places alot of pressure on their Superintendent. However it is possible to get that Augusta look. All you need is 100 staff and a $6 million budget. Simple!

Wet Weather

Well someone, somewhere, must have a voodoo doll of us and is sticking pins into it gathering by the rain which does not want to seem to stop. Over the past 20 days we have received over 750mm of rain with more continuing. The course is holding on well, but the wet conditions severely limit our regular maintenance programme. We are still able to cut rough as the mounds don't hold water and yesterday we were able to cut all but 5 fairways as they are still waterlogged in places. Fingers crossed for some sunshine soon.