Grounds:
Very Successful Spring 2010 Coring
The coring at
the golf course was completed mid afternoon - the team worked extremely well
together to make this one of the best coring days for some years. The soil
was dry, the greens well prepared, the weather was very kind and the welcome
rain at the end of the day will set the greens up well for a speedy
recovery.
Thanks to all
the members who provided equipment, machinery and time to help make the day
go so well. A special thanks to Geoff Clarke for his wonderful meals
provided for the workers.
Small
Plantation behind Hole 12 Felled.
The Grounds committee have been looking at various ways the practice area
could be enlarged and lengthened so after consultation and discussion it was
decided to remove the pine trees from the area behind No 12. The trees had
not been pruned well and were not going to become a huge financial gain thus
it was better to remove now. Thanks to Cable Logging for their help, the job
was over in a couple of days - only a few logs left to cut up for firewood
now. Once the area has been cleared of all stumps and all the rubbish burnt
the committees will revisit the area and evaluate the possibilities. Watch
this space!
Perfect Conditions for Autumn
2010
Coring
Conditions could not have been better when a dozen or so volunteers joined
Greenkeeper Simon Wright to complete the Autumn coring on Monday March 1.
Brilliant sunshine, a high temperature and a steady breeze combined to
ensure the task was completed without a hitch.
As
usual the actual coring and core removal was undertaken by the firm Turf
Services Ltd. Their modern machinery makes short work of what can be a
backbreaking job. As in the past the Club is fortunate to receive assistance
by way of tractors, trucks and quad bikes from members and others. This
means the whole job is virtually totally mechanised.
One
exception to mechanisation however is the task of feeding the workers. This
time Shona Bensemann provided the morning tea and Geoff Clarke cooked the
lunch.
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Dave Shefford
in his tractor loads out soil from the soil storage shed onto a
truck driven by
Max Oldfield. The soil is spread on and rubbed into the greens
after coring.
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Club
Greenkeeper Simon Wright spreads soil onto a newly cored green.
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Jeremy
O’Connor of Turf Services makes short work of picking up cores with
this specialised machine.
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Dusty work.
President Max Bensemann (right), and Ground Convenor Barry Hill
brush new soil into a cored green. |
Perfect Weather for Spring 2009 Coring
Bright sun shine and a light breeze provided ideal
conditions for the spring coring of the greens carried out on Tuesday 21
October.
A team of nine
volunteers led by Grounds Convenor Barry Hill joined Greenkeeper Simon
Wright in the task which was completed in the one day.
The actual coring
was undertaken by contractors but the greater task of removing the cores
from the greens and spreading and brushing in soil to complete the job was
the responsibility of the volunteers.
Again, the loan of
tractors and other machinery by Club members was a big help in the
successful completion of the project.
The inner needs of
the workers were provided for by Denise Kenny who made scones for morning
tea and Barbara Clarke and Jo Gallichan who prepared lunch.
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Fine
screened soil is transferred from a truck to the spreader prior to
being applied to the cored greens. In the picture, are: Simon Wright
on the tractor, Alistair South, Dennis Goodwin driving the loader and
Barry Hill on the truck.
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Hard work.
Max Oldfield and Barry Hill shovel screened soil into the loader
bucket for transfer to the soil spreader.
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Brushing in
soil on the 10th green are Max Bensemann (left) and Jim
Worner |
Wood
Splitting Completed.
In a solid day’s effort on Thursday 11 September 2008 a willing band of workers
completed the splitting of firewood for the current season. The wood was all
from the last gum trees felled during the winter and handling the heavy
dense wood provided a challenge.
Two wood splitting machines were
used and although they make short work of the task, getting the solid blocks
to them makes demands on the “labour” force most of whom are well past the
first flush of youth!
Deliveries of ordered firewood will
be made over the next few weeks.
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Two wood
splitting machines
made short work of the task. |
Max Oldfield
(left) and Max Bensemann
at work on one of the wood splitters. |
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Alister South
(left) and Grounds Convenor
Barry Hill concentrate on the job at hand. |
TREE PRUNING AND OR REMOVAL:
The
following Tree Pruning and or removal plan was presented to the Management
committee on 21 May 2008 and was approved on the motion of S Silcock / B
Clarke.
No 1 Fairway Gum – r/h side – prune back
No 2 Prune side limbs on pine trees both side of mens tee and
high limbs on pines both sides of the gap.
No 3 Prune Gum r/h side – top and lower branches
No 4 Prune back Pines l/h side of tee – first group back to trunk
on both sides and the rest light trim on fairway side only
No 5 Trim back side limbs on pines r/h side forward of Women’s tee
and remove 1st clump of small trees on l/h side opposite pines.
No 6 Remove 3 pine trees r/h side of fairway and trim back others
as required
No 7 Remove 3 limbs on 2nd gum tree r/h side before
bank
No 8 Remove 2 lower limbs of gum l/h side of fairway – this has
been done
No 11 Remove snow damaged pine l/h corner at fenceline
No 12 Prune back gum – r/h side in front of tee
No 14 Old willow tree l/h side green – remove low overhanging limbs
back to trunk
No 16 Remove 2nd left and 2nd right gums each
side of fairway
No 18 Trim side limbs on pine trees r/h side of fairway in front of
women’s tee.
CORING
COMPLETED - March 2008
A team of 10 volunteers under the guidance of Greenkeeper Simon Wright,
completed the coring of the greens on Wednesday (12 March). In addition
further work to recover the ground where tree stumps had been removed was
carried out.
The mechanical coring was carried out by contractors and our ,members were
left the task of spreading soil onto, and brushing it into, the cored
greens.
Once again we are very grateful to those who lent machinery to assist with
the task.
Morning tea and lunch for the volunteers was prepared by Jenny Lawson and
Barbara Clarke.
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Jenny
Lawson (right) and Barbara Clarke serve lunch to some of the
volunteers. They are: Barry Hill, Richard Lawson (obscured), Ron
Clements, George Leslie, Max Oldfield and Earl Booth.
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Greenkeeper Simon Wright spreads soil on the third green while Earl
Booth tidies up the surrounds. |
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Richard Lawson spreads soil over damaged ground from which a tree
root has been removed.
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Ron
Clements (left) and George Leslie brush soil into a newly cored
green. |
