News FROM THE SHED – AUGUST 2018

Most of August has been dry allowing activities, including golf, to be completed without interruption from rain. 

Activities Completed

• Painting of shed and installation of new gates and fencing near shed. This was done by Bob Read and Rex Williams working with Greens Staff.  Rex and Bob repainted the shed using similar colours to those previously, and Rex installed the new gates. 
  
• Gardens have been established outside the fence in the vicinity of the shed and it is intended to continue these gardens along the fence line to improve appearance from the road.

• Coring of greens using solid tynes was completed resulting in improved aeration and water penetration, through reduced compaction. This will be ongoing as the club has a new coring machine.
• A new variable speed drive has been installed on the main water pump, resulting in more even water pressure and coverage of greens and surrounds. This has coincided with, and been assisted by, updating jet sizes around the greens.
• Carpet grass is being selectively sprayed to improve the quality of grass on surrounds of greens.
• More sand has been added to bunkers around the 4^th and 16^th greens in response to some concerns from members.
• Greens staff applied gypsum, lime and other nutrients to 17^th.  We are now able to move water around the course easier than before.
• Donated sand from Noosa Council (through a member contact namely Mark Woolway) was spread over bare patches in front of tees on the 18^th (picture).  Ryegrass was seeded and water moved and applied regularly to ensure germination.  This rye grass will die off in warmer weather. The intention then is to spread stolons of green couch to be obtained from other golf courses on the Coast (one being Noosa Springs).  Todd and Paul, through their contacts with other Course Superintendents, have arranged this at no cost to the club.  Volunteers will be needed to collect stolons.

Working Bees

Working Bees carried out in recent weeks have produced some excellent results:

• Tuesday 17^th July – Job No J15 – Raising tree canopy. Started LHS of 16^th before green to creek, then back RHS of 4^th green, including removal of some trees that will, in time, shade the green.Thanks to volunteers – Paul O’Hare, Jim Turnbull, Ian Mulhall, Don Clelland, Jim Henderson, Doug Pearce, Ron Blount, Greg Michael, Rex Williams and Dave Lyons.
• Working Bee 13/8/18. Trees with orange mark were removed (as identified by Greens Committee) on LHS and RHS of 2^nd  This included trees that were shading the 16^th green early to mid morning.  Big thanks to Graeme Caffyn Job Co-ordinator – a very successful morning topped off with morning tea and lunch provided by the women. 
  Thanks to women volunteers – Maria Taurer; Carmel Clarke; Rosemary Caffyn; Judy Kitcher; Fay Wiggins; Anne Kenzler; Wendy Morse; Lavinia Hill; Chris Michael; Bronwyn Woolbank.  Several of these ladies assisted with refreshments along with Terri Cairns, Leith Barr, Desley Walker, Margie Lucas and Weang Brown who assisted from the Clubhouse.
  Thanks to male volunteers – Paul O’Hare; Peter Buchbach; Greg Michael; Jo Daniels; Don Clelland; Rex Williams; Michael Hill; Graeme Caffyn; Alan Kenzler; Peter Piggott; Jim Henderson; Ron Blount; John Cairns; Wayne McKinnon; Derek Wood, John Clark and Dave Lyons.

Three photos show volunteers removing debris on LHS of 16^th fairway, many hands making light work on the 13^th August, and one happy volunteer operating backhoe that day removing firewood to be sold at a later time. 

We will be aiming to run the bigger working bees on Mondays in future to allow women to be involved.

Proposed activities at little or no cost to The Club

• Glyphosate has been applied to an area in front of the tee RHS of 4^th which will become a green couch nursery.  The area will be aerated, top dressed with sand, then stolons spread and watered, as discussed earlier (cf 18^th fairway).  This can be done at little cost to the club  This hopefully will be the start of a shift to introducing better grass to landing areas and bare patches on fairways.  It will take time and a lot of effort from our Greens staff and volunteers over several years. For the bare patches we will need to modify the physical and chemical properties of the soil, by rotary hoeing when soil moisture is sufficient to assist, followed by incorporating sand and soil amendments (gypsum to break up the clay and lime to improve pH which is mostly strongly acidic) and then a lot of TLC.  We can make it happen.
• Glyphosate too has been applied to the natural drain to the creek, nearby on the 4^th. The intention here is to build a rockery with materials and plants hopefully donated or at bargain prices.  Stay tuned.

Proposed Activities requiring funding approval from Cooroy Golf Club Management Committee

• Quotes for trimming trees on 5 holes of the course are being sought. We are looking at trees that unfairly impact on shots; advice was sought from the women and gents golf directors.  This work will involve an elevated work platform and a tree climber.  An initial quote was considered high but could be realistic.  It involved a mulching machine behind the 15^th green for a couple of hours, with volunteers bringing trimmed material to that machine.  Two other quotes will be arranged.
• The 12^th green has been agreed to be the first to be upgraded with Tifdwarf Bermuda grass from our greens nursery (LHS of 14^th fairway).  Our Greens staff have the nursery looking great and we could easily get enough stolons for two greens if needed.  Access to the 12^th green for heavy machinery is proposed, with one small tree already removed and a pathway to be made overlaying a drain, similar to that done on the 4^th cart path recently.  A budget is being prepared by Green staff but we can expect the estimate to be around $15K max hopefully.  A temporary “12^th green” can be constructed over an existing cleared area near Marty’s Hut. The 8^th tee could become a shared tee ground.
• We would like to get Dave Thomas to move hopefully more sand (e.g. from Council) or the fill currently behind the 15^th green to make three mounds RHS of 1^st fairway to cover the extensive bare patches there. This will need to be co-ordinated with other work involving green couch stolons as mentioned above.