Grounds Report – June 2025

June Grounds Report

The course recorded 251mm rain over the month of May, with 207mm of that falling over a 7-day period. Due to this rain the course was closed for 8 days and carts restricted for an additional 7 days outside of the course closure. Year to date we have received a total of 800mm, with the average rainfall for the first 6months of the year being around 600mm.

Greens

• Due to the wet weather, we have only managed to dust greens twice this month. The latest dusting applied last week which will help to increase the firmness of the greens.
• Applications of Dolomite have and will be made over the coming weeks and months which will also assist with the firmness of the greens.
• As we come into the cooler months, we will start to see Poa evident in the greens. This year the team will be taking a different approach to control Poa, this year we will be treating each plant individually by dabbing the herbicide directly onto the Poa plant rather than spraying the entire green surface. The same herbicide “Poacure” will be used and applied with a weed wond. The areas that have been treated will be visible via blue dye which is mixed with the herbicide.

Zoysia areas

• Turf replacement has taken place in some areas around the greens, these areas are in some high traffic areas that have been roped off between greens and bunkers.
• Fungus has become evident in low lying Zoysia areas, these areas and the entire Zoysia surfaces will be treated with fungicide mixed with fertiliser and a small amount of colourant.
• Applications of an organic fertiliser was applied during the heavy rain to help control the worm castings that have been causing us problems. This has shown some excellent results with the amount of casting on the surface dramatically minimised.

Bunkers

• During the wet weather course closure, the team took some time to focus on some bunkers that we would consider high impact areas on bunker faces. A depth check was done in these areas, and excess sand was removed from the face and disturbed over the bunker base
• We are trialling some product to help control the algae on the reverted bunker edges.

Gardens/Native areas

• The team is currently working on the garden between the 5^th tees and 6^th All weds and Kikuyu will be cut down and herbicide applied. While the team is in this area the Bobab tree will be removed.
• A new garden will be constructed between the 15^th green and 10^th Zoysia grass will be removed and used to returf bare areas around the 18^th green. This area will be planted out with Banksia ericifolia and Wallaby grass.

Machinery

• All machinery is up to date with servicing.

WHS

• There have been no incidents in the past month
• Epar has come on board as our new Environmental and safety management system. We are just finalising some data, and this will be fully implemented into the grounds team
• We are also currently working on updating our SOPs for all tasks and machinery.

GS3 month reading.

Firmness range valve

• KGC average – 0.427
• USGA rating – likely suitable for most facilities

Smoothness range valve

• KGC average – 4.65
• USGA rating – high quality ball roll with minimal vertical deviation

Trueness

• KGC average – 1.35
• USGA rating – high quality ball roll with minimal horizontal deviation

Green speed

• KGC average – 10.3

Mark Ward (Superintendent)