Grounds & Greens Committee

Grounds & Greens Committee

July 2013Golf Course Audit & Report

Background

On the 11 June 2013 the Grounds and Greens Committee conducted areview of the golf course using Yowani’s Golf Course Maintenance Standards and is now in a position to present its findings.

To provide for audit consistency, a three level scale has been used during the observation phase of the audit. The scale is:

• (S) – maintained to Standards (in accordance with Yowani Golf Course and Bowls Maintenance Standards)
• (M) – requires maintenance (matters not fully meeting Yowani Golf Course and Bowls Maintenance Standards. Requires attention to conform)
• (W) – Project work (work that is deemed not to be a maintenance matter, or work requiring funding)

Assessment

The Grounds and Greens found that, given the prevailing weather conditions, varying staffing levels and availability of equipment, the course has continued to be maintained on average to a very reasonable level (albeit below the presentation standard set for the Yowani Championships, Yowani Open and the Yowani Pro-am) and was, generally in line with Yowani Golf Course and Bowls Maintenance Standards.

While there have been a large number of improvements made since July 2012, there remain a significant number of matters requiring further attention by the Course Superintendent during the next twelve months – particularly those areas identified for improved irrigation, bunker care and turf nursery. Moreover, there are a number matters that are outside day-to-day maintenance activities which do require attention by the Board and Grounds and Greens.

Besides the normal operational outcomes since the last audit, G&G has been very active and instrumental in achieving successful outcomes for many initiatives. Attachment 1details thework completed during 2012/13 and is illustrative of the positive and collaborative effort by the Course Superintendent and G&G.

Many of the improvements made in the past twelve months are directly attributable to the efforts of the Yowani volunteers. Without the contributions made under the voluntary programme, the number of positive outcomes could never have been achieved with the current staffing levels.

Volunteers regularly carried out some maintenance work; such as clearing course debris and the maintenance of ball washers, to allow groundstaff to pursue higher maintenance priorities. In this vein, G&G has furthered the volunteer program to include hazard maintenance encompassing the alignment and replacement of markers, trimming bank edges and maintenance of the bridges. G&G believe that, by using volunteers to attend to this component of maintenance, ground staff can spend additional time on improving the standard of Yowani’s bunkers.

The additional hours contributed by the volunteers reinforces the position that, for Yowani to bewell presented and maintained, the current Yowani staffing levels are below an appropriate staffing level. The course maintenance program is always under threat when the availability of staff is impacted on because of leave, sickness or training; or, the down-time of ageing equipment exceeds the availabletime for use.

Observations

Drainage at the 4th Fairway

The drainage at the 4th fairway remains an unresolvedproblem for Yowani. The recent removal of debris collected from the four drainage sumps connected to the drainage system appears to have been partially successful in reducing the amount of surface water.However, the 300mm pipe sump adjacent to the 150 metre marker remains filled with water suggesting that the 300mm pipe is at least partially blocked.

In the coming months it is planned to, whenever possible,trim or remove the rushes within the hazard in an effort to improve therate of water discharge, but jet rodding the drain to clear the roots appears necessary.

Lake Walls

The lake walls continue to deteriorate and are urgently in need of repair. Early in 2013 the volunteers took remedial action to shore up a seriously deteriorated lake wall section adjacent to the 11th fairway. This work is a stop gap solution.

In the 2011/12 audit report, G&G recommended to the Board that consideration be given to develope anoperational plan to replace the existing lake walls. It was considered that such a plan would consist of an identification of potential long term solutions (with estimated costs). The plan would provide the Board with the necessary information todevelop a considered implementation plan consistent with a forward budgetary strategy.

Recently the Course Superintendent provided G&G with his concept on how the lake walls might be replaced incrementally. This concept is currently with the Board.

The soil at the lake edges along the 11th fairway and in front of the 16th and 17th greens is subsiding into the lakes. Although some remedial work has been undertaken to fill the cavities along the wall in front of the greens, ithas failed to achieve a positive result. The interim measure taken some years back to repair the wall at the 16th green still only serves to delay the inevitable with the slope at front of the green(towards the lake) becoming increasingly noticeable.

The effect of unstable lake edging is now very visible at the 16th tee. In most places, along the length of the tee, less than half the width of the tee is reasonably level. The right hand side of the tee severely slopes towards the lake forcing most players to tee up on the tee left hand side.

Any retaining wall solution should include the requirement that the replacement walls will prevent ground subsidence.

Bridges

Over the past two years the suitability of the Sullivans Creek bridge surfacesin icy conditions has beenidentified as an OH&S matter. G&G understands that preliminary work has been completed to identify a suitable surface replacement. This item requires urgent attention to avoid the likelihood of member/visitor injury.

When the 7th fairway is wet, vehicle and player traffic moving around the lake towards the green turns the fairway into a boggy mush. It takes a good period of dry conditions for the fairway to recover to a condition that is suitable for play. Consideration needs to be given to reducing the vehicle and pedestrian traffic in this area by re-establishing appropriate load-bearing bridges to and from the island.

Invasive Grasses

Kikuyu, Paspalum and Parramatta grasses continue to invade the playing areas and will in time present a serious problem for Yowani. The 2011 audit recommended that a programme of eradication on an annual basis needs to be developed.

During 2012/13 ground staff and volunteers havecontinued to carry out selective yet ad-hoc spraying to remove some Paspalum andParramatta grass. G&G has determined that a structured programme will commence during the 2013/14 summer/autumn seasons. This programme will essentially be performed by volunteers with the assistance and guidance of the Course Superintendent.

The current eradication effort concentrates on the Paspalum and Parramatta grasses. A more extensive and managed approach need to be undertaken by the Course Superintendent to control and eventually eradicate the Kikuyu. Besides being highly visible and widespread on many parts of the course, Kikuyu is encroaching into the 9th and 17th greens. It should be noted that many golf courses in NSW have replaced, or are in the process of replacing, Kikuyu as the preferred grass. Kikuyu is invasive and an extremely difficult grass to eradicate once established.

Tee Signage

G&G hasfinalised the tee sign prototype and its format has been agreed to by the Board. It is now a matter of funding for this project to commence. The majority of the installation work will be carried-out by volunteers.

Root Barrier and Tree Roots

The root barrier programme has brought about significant improvement in fairway condition and needs to be continued until completed. This programme is assessed as having 2-3 years to completion.

The covering of tree roots adjacent to the fairways is necessary as the roots pose a safety risk to golfers and should be re-introduced as a regular annual programme. The amount of exposed roots on the RHS of the 14th fairway is particularly severe and needs to be addressed.

Bunkers

Bunkers continue to be a source of concern to the members. This audit found there were only a few bunkers that required further attention to remove noticeable grass and weeds. The bunkers generally were well presented apart from the occasional weeds.

However, of greater significance, is the fact that the bunkers do not contain sand aerated to a depth of 50mm as per the maintenance standards. The aerated sand depth on the bunkers sampled during the audit ranged between 5 mm and 15 mm. Members have frequently complained about the amount of sand in the 11thand 7th bunkers. The audit found that the forward left hand sides of the7th and11th bunkers have just a few millimetres of sand covering a clay base. Regardless of this, it was also noted at the 11th front bunker that there was a significant amount of sand at the face and towards the rear. It is believed that bunker playing conditions could be improved by adjusting maintenance practices to include:

alternating the raking direction when using equipment,

emphasis on moving the sand at the face and edges towards the centre of the bunker before machine raking, and

providing the bunker sand is greater than 50mm deep, conducting deeper machine aeration of the sand.

G&G believe that the main aeration tines currently installed on the bunker machine are inadequate as they do not extend to the required depth and therefore should be either adjusted, extended, or replaced with a longer tine arrangement.

Yowani uses two types of sand for its bunkers. The recently re-profiled bunkers contain the preferred Newcastle (like) sand while the older bunkers contain sand sourced from Canberra. G&G consider that the annual bunker re-profiling should continue and that any (interim) topping-up of sand should be on a like for like basis.

Practice Facilities

The current practice facilities provided at Yowani are limited and totally inadequate for our members. G&G believes the existing space, without significant adjustment, could provide Yowani with facilities commensurate with comparable golf clubs. The majority of the local clubs provide their membership with vastly better practice facilities than those offered by Yowani.

For Yowani to be a golf course of choice to prospective members, Yowani needs to develop its practice facilities to make the golf course a complete package. This means that in the first instance, Yowani needs toidentify current deficiencies and then determine the change path forward. This will not happen overnight but in future years it will allow Yowani to market to prospective members, practice facilities that are at least comparable to alternative golf clubs and provide better teaching facilities for the Club Professional.

Turf Nurseries

The recent difficulties cause by damage to our greens has highlighted the deficiency of available and appropriate turf to repair greens. At some stage in the past Yowani did have a turf nursery, but this infrastructure capability, for some unknown reason, was decommissioned or allowed to decline into disuse. Yowani’s Course superintendent should have turf available to make timely repairs to damaged greens, greens surrounds and tees. G&G suggests that the former greens turf nursery near the maintenance shed should be re-established, and also, a further turf nurseryestablished near the former 18th tee/17th green to support greens surrounds, tee and fairway repairs.

Maintenance and Projects

The Jade course tees are nearing completion and this course should be available for rating towards the 4th quarter of 2013.

During 2012/13, in addition to numerous support tasks carried out by the volunteers, the path areas near the 1st green, 2nd tee, 13th green and 14th tee have been completed.Tee and fairway project work identified in Attachment 2 will be prioritised by Grounds and Greens and will be presented to the Board for consideration in forthcoming budgets.

Those matters identified as green, irrigation and fairway maintenance in Attachment 2 shouldbe prioritised by the Course Superintendent and included in his work schedule.

Recommendations

It is recommended that the:

Board review the status and current priority to:

• a practice facilities review,
• the drainage problems at the 4th fairway,
• the replacement of the surface material at the two Sullivan’s Creek bridges, and
• the replacement options the lake walls;

Board note the status on:

• bunkers,
• course signage, and
• the women’s/sub-junior Jade course tees;

Board note the requirement for the Course Superintendent to:

• develop a regular programme to eradicate undesirable grasses – in particular Kikuyu,
• establish turf nurseries, and
• take action, within existing budgets, to address identified maintenance issues.

Attachments:

1. Work Completed or Cancelled in 2012/13.
2. Summary of Work or Maintenance Outstanding by Category

Attachment 1

WorkCompleted or Cancelled in 2012/13

Tees
Hole / Year Noted / Work / Status
1 / 2012 / Project work (W) to construct a Jade course tee / Completed
2 / 2013 / Require maintenance (M) to fill the edging between the Gold course teeing ground and the path. / Completed
2 / 2012 / Project work (W) to construct a Jade course tee / Completed
2 / 2013 / Project work (W) to remove the garden at the rear of the Red tee and extend the tee to conform to GA requirements. / Completed
5 / 2012 / Project work (W) to construct a Jade course tee. / Completed
7 / 2012 / Project work (W) to construct a Jade course tee. / Completed
8 / 2012 / Project work (W) to construct a Jade course tee / Completed
9 / 2012 / Project work (W) to construct a Jade course tee / Completed
10 / 2012 / Project work (W) to construct a Jade course tee / Completed
11 / 2012 / Project work (W) to construct a Jade course tee. / Completed
14 / 2011 / Maintenance (M) to repair the cracks in the tee retaining wall. / Completed
14 / 2011 / Project work (W) is required to edge the RHS of the tee and remove the invasive roots. / Completed
14 / 2013 / Project work (W) to construct a stone wall with steps along the RHS of the tee. / Completed
17 / 2013 / Requires maintenance (M) to remove soil pile adjacent to the tee / Completed
18 / 2013 / Requires maintenance (M) to remove soil pile LHS green / Competed
Fairways
1-9 / 2013 / Requires maintenance (M) to fill and repair divots. / Completed
10-19 / 2013 / Requires maintenance (M) to fill and repair divots / Completed
2 / 2011 / Project work (W) was identified to cover the exposed roots LHS at 208m (from green). / Completed
2 / 2011 / To facilitate a 5 metre fairway alignment, project work (W) is needed to improve the grass area adjacent to the fairway bunker. / Completed
4 / 2013 / Project work (W) was identified to repair the area damaged by water adjacent to the 150 metre marker. / Completed
4 / 2013 / Project work (W) to fill paspalum holes LHS fairway near 150 metre marker. / Completed
4 / 2011 / Project work at the RHS, as parts of the root barrier trench from the 100m marker to the green require filling. / Partial Progress
7 / 2011 / Maintenance (M) to fill the ground depression at 110m from the green. / Completed
7 / 2011 / Maintenance (M) to fill the large ground depression in the middle of the fairway 150m from the green. / Completed
7 / 2013 / Project (W) to repair unrecovered ground LHS fairway adjacent to the new root barrier. / Completed
10 / 2011 / Maintenance (M) is required to top-dress the LHS root barrier trench and parts of the root barrier trench from the 150m marker to the green requires filling. / Completed
11 / 2013 / Project work (W) to fill paspalum holes RHS fairway adjacent to the lake wall. / Cancelled
14 / 2013 / Project work (W) to repair the patchy grassed area LHS adjacent to the mounds. / Cancelled
17 / 2013 / Project work (W) to fill paspalum holes RHS fairway adjacent to lake edge. / Cancelled
17 / 2011 / Requires maintenance (M) to fill the large depression adjacent to the poplar at the RHS about 200m from the green. / Completed
Bunkers
2 / 2011 / In sections, the fairway bunker is poorly defined requiring maintenance (M). / Completed
2 / 2011 / There is an urgent need to manage machinery access away from the line of play. Maintenance procedures (P). / Completed
3 / 2011 / Improvement to the maintenance procedure (P) for the machinery entry/exit point at the LHS bunker as excessive sand is being spread from the bunker to the bunker surrounds. / Completed
11 / 2011 / Maintenance (M) required to the front bunker to reduce the grass overhang. / Completed
Greens
2 / 2011 / Improve the grass coverage between the green and the 3rd tee. Maintenance (M). / Completed
3 / 2012 / Maintenance (M) required to mow the area in front of the RHS bunker and the RHS of the green to intermediate fairway height. / Completed
4 / 2012 / Maintenance required (M) to repair the ground between the green and 5th tee. / Completed
5 / 2012 / Requires maintenance (M) to fill the root barrier trench on the LHS of the green. / Completed
5 / 2011 / Requires maintenance (M) to top-dress and seed the bare ground on the RHS of the bunker. / Completed
7 / 2011 / Maintenance (M) is required at the RHS of the green to grass the bare area adjacent to the service track. / Completed
6 / 2012 / Maintenance (M) is needed to grass bare areas between the green and 7th tee / Completed
6 / 2013 / Maintenance (M) needed to grass the bare areas at the green RH rear. / Completed
11 / 2012 / Requires maintenance (M) to top-dress and repair the ground on between the green and the path. / Completed
12 / 2011 / Maintenance (M) is needed to top dress and grass the bare, unsightly ground at the LHS of the green along the edge of the path. / Completed
14 / 2011 / Requires maintenance (M) to fill, top-dress and grass the bare ground on the LHS between the green and the bubbler. / Completed
14 / 2011 / Requires maintenance (M) to fill, top-dress and grass the bare ground between the green and the service track. / Completed
15 / 2011 / Project work (W) required to cover the exposed roots at the RHS and rightrear of the green and to top-dress the ground around the pine trees. / Completed
17 / 2012 / Requires maintenance (M) to fill, top-dress and grass the trench in the green surrounds commencing at the LHS of the LH bunker and continuing behind the green. / Completed
Putting / 2011 / Requires maintenance (M) to repair the damaged area at the right rear of the green. / Completed