Over the next few weeks, renovations will start taking place. From 2 to 6 September we will be scarifying the fairways and coring the green surrounds, with at least 9 holes always in play, maybe more, depending on how the renovations are progressing.
At a glance
- Fairways – scarify/grooming/scalping down
- Green surrounds – hollow tyned
- Tees – combination of hollow tyne and scarify
- Greens – light dusting, no more than a usual Monday dust during the growing season.
We’ve scheduled the renovation to span a full week to minimise the impact of weather. Rain can cause significant delays or even bring work to a halt.
Before the fairway renovations, we will be cutting the fairways shorter and scroll-cutting them in tight circles. This will help remove some of the leaf material and tidy up the fairways before grooming. The renovation process will involve running our Terra Rake or Scarifier over the fairways, followed by scroll-cutting, blowing and removing chaff, applying insecticide, and finally fertilising.
The green surrounds will be hollow tyned with a 17mm (inside diameter) tyne. Once the cores have dried, they will be rubbed to separate organic matter from the sand, with the organic material blown off and additional sand applied to fill in the holes. In some areas, thicker green surrounds may also be scarified.
Tees will be scarified around this time as well. Since our main focus will be on the green surrounds and fairways, we may start tee renovations the week prior and continue into the following week. This work won’t affect the playability of the course, as we’ll coordinate around golfers and ensure alternate tees are available.
As in previous years, we won’t be renovating the greens, but they will receive a sand dusting—the first of the season—along with fertilisation and deep aeration. The greens’ surfaces will remain consistent with the previous week.
Renovations are a challenging task, and our staff will strive to complete the process with minimal disruption to members. We appreciate your patience during this time.
Nathan Bennett
Course Superintendent
