COURSE UPDATE : 19 SEPTEMBER 2025
It’s been another busy and productive week on the course, helped along by some great spring weather and excellent soil moisture. The Kikuyu is waking up nicely, and we’ve made significant progress with turfing This week, we laid 1,400 metres of Kikuyu over the irrigation mainlines, with another 700 metres arriving on Monday. That should allow us to cover most of the remaining areas. There’s still a considerable amount of trench work to complete, including rolling, topdressing, and leveling sprinkler heads, which will remain an ongoing task over the coming weeks
Irrigation & Technology Upgrades
The Nanno Bubblessystem is now operational and treating the greens tank each night. I’m really looking forward to seeing the results over the coming months and will report back as we monitor progress.
We also installed irrigation around the 18a green and added a dosing injection pump to the greens irrigation system. This allows us to apply wetting agents and soil amendments directly through the irrigation system, a big step forward in terms of efficiency and future labour savings. Technology-wise, we’ve made great strides in recent months.
Photo: Nanno Bubbles components
COURSE UPDATE : 19 SEPTEMBER 2025
Our new submersible pumps in the 16th dam were installed this week, along with a safety walkway for easier maintenance access. With this upgrade, the new irrigation system is now fully operational. We’ll be giving it a light run tonight to water all the newly turfed areas.
Photo: Old pumps and pipes
Photo: Crane helping with the works
Photo: New pumps
COURSE UPDATE : 19 SEPTEMBER 2025
On the Course
The fairways have responded well to recent fertiliser applications and were mown three times this week at 9mm. We also managed to mow all the rough, significantly improving the presentation of the course. Weed control efforts continued, with all gardens and surrounding areas sprayed
Looking Ahead
Next week, we’ll be spraying all fairways for flat weeds, and Couch areas will be treated for both Poa and flat weeds. The large hedge behind the 15th tee is scheduled for a major trim, further tidying up the course presentation.
Team Update
The first of six new staff from the UK arrives next week, with three more joining us through October Having additional team members will allow us to shift focus toward fine-tuning our maintenance practices and start delivering a polished product, something we’re excited about after five years of construction and disruption.
David Stone, Course Superintendent