Our bush regeneration project between the 10th
and 4th has got off to a good start. We have begun getting our
sandstone tipped and we have plenty more to come.
The end result will be a smoother bank down from the 4th
instead of the steep drop off that currently exists. We have been sourcing our
crushed sandstone from local building projects, so most the fill is local. Once
we tip and level enough sandstone, we will mulch it and plant it out with
native plants from the area. This will encourage native animals to populate the
area and (due to the openness) make the area feel larger and less crowded.
The thick layer of sandstone will also make it impossible
for the seed-bank produced by weeds and non native plants over many years to
get to the surface and become a problem again.
Coupled with our bush management plan, this area will stay
as a successful native regeneration site.
As well as the bush regeneration plan, we have also started
a big push on getting the tee gardens in prime condition. This is an ongoing
and time consuming task, but the end result makes it well and truly worth it.
In preparation of today’s heavy rain, we aerated, fertilized
and applied wetting agent to some of our worn areas, including most notably,
the slope in front of the 9th tee and the turf between the 18th
path and fairway. The extra water from the rain, coupled with the maintenance
practices we applied, will assist these areas recovering from play based wear.
The rain will also do a good job at topping up the dam,
which we rely on for all our irrigation. Having the dam at a good level allows
us to keep our fairways well watered, meaning we do not suffer from fairway dry
spots or yellowing as a lot of courses with smaller dams or catchments do.
