Hi to all members,

We are now out of the dry season and you’ll all notice we are already starting to get a little soft around the edges, with consistent rainfall happening all playing surfaces are getting softer and I ask that extra care is taken with divot replacing, pitch mark repairing and the use of the clubs carts.

Greens Disease

Autumn brings a lot of challenges to the health of all turf surfaces, with heavier dews in the morning and regular rainfall the moisture content added with lower daylight hours can be a breeding ground for all turf diseases. It will be visual to all out there that we have some greens battling worse than others, at the moment you’ll see our soil greens

(1^st,2^nd,3^rd,6^th,16^th and the 18^th) struggling with Anthracnose (foliar Blight) a disease that attacks the plant leaving scar like patches. There are a few reasons why this happens and one of the contributing factors is low nitrogen intake to the plant. This has been monitored through the last couple of months to help the new creeping bent seed compete with the existing surfaces we have out there. As the amount of scarring isn’t ideal, it is definitely helping for the new seed to regenerate and contribute to our conversion plan.

Where to from here?

A little more nitrogen added to our spray programs and more regular sand top-dressing will help to grow out these areas. Sacrificing a bit of green speed for more greens health.

Greens Drainage

We all know the bad greens that perform poorly through the wetter months and a plan is in place to try help move water away from these problem areas this winter. All going to plan with the weather, I have a contractor coming in mid-May to drain the problem greens. We will be starting with the 18^th green and moving on to 2^nd, 3^rd and 7^th (including the approach).

The process will consist of turf cutting the turf off, digging common field drains and reinstating 100mm pipes with metal and sand with the existing turf laid back on. This will be a small disruption to play and more info closer to the time will be communicated about closures and holes walked. The drop hole will be in play for this period and will also include that months business house!

PITCH MARKS!!!!!!

I communicate with a lot of members here at Redwood Park and I keep getting the question asked about the state of our greens and the way they are left from members and visitors

About PITCH MARKS?!?! I personally believe that the main offenders are the higher handicappers that have the lower ball flight which skids through the green and where they pitch gets quickly forgotten about.

I witnessed a group of 4 all hit shots into the 5^th last week and not one of them had a repairer in their pockets, I politely asked for them to be fixed and the confused look on their face tells me that they never make an effort to do so?!?!

I know for a fact that there were a lot of pitch mark repairers donated to the club by Chris Morris so there is no excuse not for golfers to have one, it really does seem crazy that I either keep hearing about the problem or continue seeing it each morning when it really isn’t that hard to fix, don’t be offended if you are asked to take one from the front office and then asked to USE it!!

Congrats to our West Coast pennant team for winning their division, awesome work lads!!

Regards

Daniel Godek

Course Superintendent

Redwood Park Golf Club Inc

13 Knox Rd, Swanson,Auckland

P O Box 95 142, Swanson,Auckland 0653

Phone: 027 410 8844

www.redwoodparkgolf.co.nz