Dear members
The first half of April saw some nice falls of rain and in total we had 92mm in the two week period from March 28 to April 12. With the soil conditions being very dry prior to that period the course was able to handle this large amount with no concerns and the aftermath of all that rain has seen some great Autumn playing conditions for all of us to enjoy. With such perfect conditions over the past two weeks the course is in terrific shape as we head into the back end of Autumn and here’s hoping this continues over the next few months.
GREENS
The greens recovery from coring has been superb and was assisted by the good mix of sun and rain providing perfect conditions to help the sand and nutrients wash into the soil. Four weeks on and we now have the greens almost back to their best with just a few of our older and poorer draining greens (4th,13th,16th) lagging a little in their recovery which is common for these surfaces.
As we have done the last few years we will once again be getting the air2g2 machine in on May 22nd prior to the onset of winter. This technology has already produced amazing results for our greens and in particular their ability to stay firmer and smoother through the wetter and cooler months. No other machinery on the market relieves compaction in the soil in a deeper and more widespread fashion than the Air2g2 machine and it does a wonderful job of breaking up the heavy clay soil that we possess at Drouin. By doing this it enables air, water and roots to be move around more freely creating a healthier plant, healthier roots, better drainage, firmer and smoother surface conditions and overall nicer greens to putt on.
FAIRWAYS,TEES AND SURROUNDS
Our santa ana fairways received their last cut just prior to easter on April 6th as they now go into winter dormancy. As is normally the case we will still find ourselves cutting these fairways occasionally through the winter months to eradicate any winter grass that comes through but the frequency of this comes down largely to how much rain we receive.
The playing conditions of these fairways continue to be superb and it really shows the beauty of santa ana as even though its no longer growing it still provides a wonderful surface to play from.
We did spray a post emergent herbicide for winter grass to areas in our couch tees, surrounds and fairways that tend to me more prone to winter grass and these areas are typically where it gets very wet. The impact of this is now becoming quite noticeable as the grass has begun yellowing in color over the past few days.
ROUGH
We sprayed the majority of rough for broadleaf weeds just last week which will be quite visible over the next week as they begin to shrivel and die. With the combination of lots of rain and some nice mild temperatures over the past few weeks the rough has begun growing very rapidly and many hours of our time has been spent on this over the past few weeks. We will continue to do our best to keep up with this while conditions are ideal for rapid grass growth.
SPOON DRAINS
Many would have noticed in the past week the spoon drains around the course which have been spun out by our volunteers in preparation for winter. This is naturally done to assist in not only collecting water through the winter months but also allowing it to run through these drains more freely and into our dams which does assist in less back up of water when we do get lots of rain.
Heading into May we typically start to see a considerable drop in temperatures but with the course still in excellent shape I fully expect the ideal golf conditions to continue through May and hopefully beyond.
Ryan Hammond
DG&CC Course Superintendent
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