{"id":11998,"date":"2019-04-17T10:08:33","date_gmt":"2019-04-17T00:08:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.springvalleygolf.com.au\/cms\/?p=11998"},"modified":"2023-06-20T17:48:39","modified_gmt":"2023-06-20T07:48:39","slug":"april-course-report-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.springvalleygolf.com.au\/cms\/april-course-report-3\/","title":{"rendered":"April Course Report."},"content":{"rendered":"

Spring Valley Golf Club
\nCourse Management Report
\nApril 2019<\/h3>\n

After a long dry summer, the weather has finally turned to produce some beautiful Melbourne Autumn weather with cool dewy mornings and warm sunny days. It wasn\u2019t until the last weekend in March that we finally got 12mm of much-needed rain to freshen up the course and top up the dams enough that we could follow up this rain with irrigation on the fairways.<\/p>\n

Following difficult conditions across the summer, a recent publication from the VGCSA addressed challenges faced by courses across Victoria- read here.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

14th Green resurfacing project<\/h3>\n

The 14th green was seeded with Pure Distinction bent grass on Thursday 4th April with germination less than a week later. While the seed coverage looks uneven at this early stage once we start mowing, fertilising & topdressing regularly this will even up well before the green is open. This project has been a great experience for all the staff to be involved in especially seeing every step was completed in-house with no external contractors being used. The other benefit is that it has helped keep the costs to a minimum with the whole project costing 16K. The main costs were irrigation at 9K, sand\/Soil at 6K, Seed & amendments 1K. The labour for the project is consumed in the operating budget. The flip side to this has been the course maintenance which has been short-changed during this time, but we will catch up on all the 1% shortly. The green opening is scheduled for August which I will have a better idea on an exact date during the establishment.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Greens<\/h3>\n

The greens have been in good health of late. A follow-up application of Fungicide (Velista) was made just before we cored the green to prevent Anthracnose which is prone to affect Poa greens at this time of year, this also controls fairy ring which has flared up in a few greens particularly 13. The greens were fertilised coming into renovation to encourage growth to speed up the recovery from the coring. The greens have also received an application of slow release fertilizer straight after the coring to maintain health and recovery coming out of the renovation.<\/p>\n

Fairways<\/h3>\n

\nAfter seeing the fairways, the driest I have seen for a long time it is amazing to see how quickly they bounce back with a bit of rain. Cooler conditions have helped them along with a foliar fertiliser the week after that initial rain on the last weekend in March. I plan to follow up with another application of foliar fertilizer in the coming weeks. We are also due to follow up with the second application of pre-emergent herbicide (Spectacle) to prevent Poa annua germination in the coming weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tees & Surrounds<\/h3>\n

\nMonthly applications of slow release fertiliser continue to be applied to all tees and selected surrounds to ensure divot recovery and turf health is maintained. This month we will to over-sow chosen tees and surrounds with chewing\u2019s and creeping red fescue then top-dress these areas.<\/p>\n

Irrigation System<\/h3>\n

\nLast month we had a blow out on the 16th fairways with one of the fittings at the base of a sprinkler giving way. This left a large area of turf bubbled up around the break needing to releveled and relayed.<\/p>\n

Water storage<\/h3>\n

\nWe were able to increase our water storage by 3ML during the rain at the end of March which has been enough to start watering fairways again on a regular basis to ensure the couch recovers before the onset of dormancy. With cooler weather and shorter days irrigation is reduced greatly at this time of year with no risk of running out of water anymore.<\/p>\n

Bunkers<\/h3>\n

\nAll the bunkers were whippersnipped recently and sprayed for weeds which are starting to die off. Levelling of floors in the high traffic bunkers has been minimal during the 14th green project with many bunkers requiring work. Once we get through all the short weeks around Easter and ANZAC day, I plan on working through the bunkers in priority of worst to best.<\/p>\n

Last week after we had broken the back of greens renovation, I walked our new little excavator into the 9th fairway bunker to do what I thought would be a quick 100mm scrape off the floor and replace with sand as this bunker has been raking up poorly lately especially with the bunker machine having virtually no sand in the base. After digging no more than an inch, I came across a 3m wide trench of clay and rock running through the bunker which is a large stormwater drain which I know was there I just wasn\u2019t expecting it to be backfilled with clay right to the surface. Consequently, we have had to dig the clay out to a decent depth which has turned what I thought would be straight forward job into a much bigger one.<\/p>\n

As mentioned earlier we recently purchased our own 1.7-tonne excavator back in February which will be perfect for getting into any size bunker large or small. This will give us the opportunity to get stuck into all the hard bunkers on course this winter replacing what you could hardly call sand in some bunkers with proper sand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rainfall\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Total\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Average<\/p>\n

January\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 8.9mm\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 43.2mm<\/p>\n

February\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 15.5mm\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 46.9mm<\/p>\n

March\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 16.1mm\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 44.9mm<\/p>\n

April\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 14 (as at 15th)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 63.2mm\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

David Phillips<\/strong><\/p>\n

Course Superintendent\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spring Valley Golf Club Course Management Report April 2019 After a long dry summer, the weather has finally turned to produce some beautiful Melbourne Autumn weather with cool dewy mornings and warm sunny days. It wasn\u2019t until the last weekend in March that we finally got 12mm of much-needed rain to freshen up the course… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guests-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.springvalleygolf.com.au\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.springvalleygolf.com.au\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.springvalleygolf.com.au\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.springvalleygolf.com.au\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.springvalleygolf.com.au\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11998"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.springvalleygolf.com.au\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11999,"href":"https:\/\/www.springvalleygolf.com.au\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11998\/revisions\/11999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.springvalleygolf.com.au\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.springvalleygolf.com.au\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.springvalleygolf.com.au\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}