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Course Update

Topic: Course News

Course Update 27 November 2018

Greeting from the course team!

We hope you have been enjoying the great spring we are having until recently. We have recorded almost 100mm of rain over the last week or so however.

The warmer spring weather has been wonderful for the grass and the golf course in general. We are pleased to say that the organic fertilizers have worked very nicely on the Fairways, Tees and Surrounds. This organic fertilizer is custom made to meet our needs (in terms of soil nutrient analysis), it only contains plant extracts (Tapioca) and is Bio Grow certified. The benefit with these types of products is that the nutrients in them do not easily leach into ground water, they contain and promote beneficial soil microbes which reduce disease outbreaks, aerate the soil and actively consume dead and decaying plant material such as ‘thatch’ which has obvious benefits. But the best thing we have observed from these products is that they give is slow, predicable, healthy(dense) growth of the grass which gives us the playing surfaces we like without too much mowing. The video link below is VERY interesting and well worth the watch if you would like to understand this process further:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cb4QnLgCdc

You will also notice a fair bit of tree and garden work happening around the course. With the warmer and firmer ground conditions we are able to do much more of this ‘Aesthetic’ work around the course as well as to make our trees safer in line with our Tree Management Plan. Together with Dad’s Army and other volunteers (who are awesome and do a fabulous job, thank you!) we have been working hard in the gardens and planting heaps of flowers etc. and tidying up. Along with this we are also placing as much mulch as we can around the base of trees and along fence lines in order to help the trees but also reduce the amount of weed spraying needed.

Last week was also an exciting week as we hosted the first ever Pest Trapping workshop in conjunction with the Department of Conservation which was designed to train golf courses on how to identify pests on golf courses and put out humane traps to eradicate these pests. This aligns with DOC’s plan to become Pest Free by 2050 (PF2050). Hopefully you have noticed the posters around the club that will tell you a little more. The pests that we will be working to control or eliminate are Rats, Possums, Stoats and Rabbits and are working together with the Waiatarua Reserve (Council and the Mens Shed) and other trapping groups in the area to achieve a wholistic goal of clearing the Eastern Bays of these pests. This is a really exciting project and we are looking forward to reaching our goal of becoming pest free. Should you be keen to know more of get involved please let me know at spencerc@remueragolfclub.com

As I mentioned, we are the first golf club in the country to do this and we are excited by the opportunity this presents for us to improve our course in terms of plant life and encouraging new and more bird life. This project will also be rolled out to all golf courses throughout New Zealand. This projects also aligns with Auckland Councils Pest Free 2050 goals, please visit this link:

https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/environment/what-we-do-to-help-environment/our-biodiversity-projects/Pages/pest-free-auckland-2050.aspx

We hope you have a great week and enjoy your golf!

Kind Regards

Spencer and your friendly ‘greenies’