Course Update – 25th January

A course update from James Stewart, the Course Superintendent
25th January – 2weeks since the floods

In this article, I am going to give an update on where we have come from, and the tasks still required post-flood.   

Firstly, a little bit about the flood itself.  
On the night of Monday, January 8th, the Yarra River came over the top of our levy banks, reaching a peak height of 4.2 meters, 2.5 meters lower than in October 2022. It took six days for the last holes to clear, with those being 3, 4, 5, and 15.  This was a great outcome, as the previous floods in these areas took nearly five weeks for the same outcome.   

Secondly, the process and breakdown of the efforts since the floods.  
Our priority was the removal of silt from the greens, and a full irrigation system this time around made the task a lot easier to complete effectively and efficiently. However, 3,4,11 and especially14 were the worst hit. These greens are now showing reasonable signs of recovery; however, the 14th green may possibly need some turf replacement in the coming week if improvement is not seen. Irrigation cycles may be seen during the day at times to try and aid the turf from burning with traces of silt still in the canopy of the turf. An enormous effort has gone into this, with 140 hours dedicated to removing silt from the affected greens.

Our attention then turned to the fairways, with 15 fairways having water on them; thankfully, half of that was gone within three days. Although the flood level was lower this time around, we had water in nearly the exact same spots. Our focus was getting the smaller pockets of water away with our pumping equipment so we had every chance to salvage the turf from scalding with forecasted warmer temperatures coming. We purchased a dethatching unit, which aided in flicking heavy areas of silt accumulation, preventing the turf from heating up too much – giving it every opportunity to breathe. The 5th carry way stayed wet for almost ten days, and we had no other option but to wash the silt away from this area as time was getting away from us to have a positive result of reviving the turf. Nic and Adrian did a fantastic job, putting approximately 30 hours into this task alone to get it to what you see today.  

We were cutting fairways by Thursday of that week. It was a very dusty task as most of the turf that was touched by water was covered in silt, but the result from only one cut was a fantastic result, with the place starting to look like a golf course again. Following this, we had our dethatching comb out to keep breaking up plates of silt as areas started to dry out more and more, and by week two, we could cut the course as normal. We then applied 6 tonnes of gypsum to all fairways and tees and 1 tonne of gypsum to greens to try and help aggregate the silt and improve the chances of the turf surviving. 5 tonne of fertilizer followed this with a higher percentage of phosphorus to aid in new root formation on vulnerable turf.    

The bunkers are an ongoing task with silt removal. Fortunately, the bunkers didn’t have as much damage from the turbulence this time, with only a handful suffering effects on the drainage outlets. Sand will be moved around where needed with minimal fresh sand required, and this task should be fully completed by the middle of next week. We are very thankful for the 40 volunteers who dedicated their time on Saturday the 13th and Thursday the 18th. It gave the crew a massive boost to come in and see what had been achieved; it’s what makes a great golf club, and once again, thank you to you all for your efforts.    

The transformation of the golf course in 2 weeks has been remarkable, and I thank my dedicated team for delivering what you see today. Long hours and extended weekends were put in to give you the best conditions possible, and they have gone above and beyond what we ever thought we could achieve.   

We will continue our efforts over the next month to get the course back to where it needs to be to provide all members and their guests with the best possible playing experience.

Happy Golfing,
James Stewart – Course Superintendent