Farewell to Spyker Germishuis
Spyker has been appointed head greenkeeper at Worcester Golf Club. Spyker was with us for 2years and contributed greatly to our club, particularly on the construction aspects of the 5 year plan. We wish him and his family well in the Boland.
Maintenance Issues
Drainage 9th
Club members and greens staff are becoming frustrated at the state of the first half of the 9th fairway. Various remedies are being considered and a decision to remedy the problem will be taken at the end of August. It is likely that the hole will be played as a par 4 until either effective drains have been installed or the fairway raised slightly. We will keep you informed in this regard.
Tree removal
We have been tackling the removal of untidy, dead and alien trees. Large dead gums and pine trees pose a danger to course users and before we replace trees we are ensuring that these are removed.
There are a number of dead and/or scruffy willows along the 9th hole which also hinder access to the drainage ditch. These will be removed or trimmed.
Water on course
Supplies of drinking water have been interrupted and we will take steps to ensure that there is water available at the 14th. A non-potable water tap has been installed to the ladies 1st tee and one will be installed at the 10th.
Until we have a reliable supply of drinking water players are urged to carry adequate water for the round.
Green aprons
During the period since construction the aprons have become raised due to top dressing and silt being washed off the greens. Lowering of green aprons to green level to remove bumps is long outstanding. An experiment using hollow tines and a Bomag roller has been carried out on hole 15 with satisfactory results. This is to be extended to the entire course as it facilitates water runoff and eliminates odd bounces as the ball hits the edge of the green. We intend to complete this by end October.
Sand boxes/bins
The sand boxes around the 1st and 10th tees are messy. We will buy two combination bins for these two tees. The remaining bins on the course serve the purpose.
Please do not use the sand bins for the disposal of cigarette ends, bottle tops and other rubbish. There are rubbish bins for this purpose on every hole.
Master Plan
Progress
In order not to disrupt play during the high season major work on the Master Plan is confined to the 4 months from May to end August. The drought affected our ability to build more ladies tees and to modernize our tee complexes. We have previously mentioned that we have very limited water resources but if the current rainfall trend continues we should be able to programme this in the next off season.
Good progress has been made on the bunker rebuilding programme with bunkers on holes 2,3,8,12,15 and 17 complete. The right hand bunker on 15 is in progress and the bunker on 16 will be redesigned and brought into play by mid September.
By keeping the work in house we have been able to operate well within our budget.
Hollow tining
Hollow tining is scheduled for Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 August, immediately after the Southern Cape Ladies Open. We apologise for any inconvenience but the work is essential to maintain our playing surfaces.
Bridges
While every effort is taken to ensure that our bridges are kept in good repair please be careful when walking across the wooden bridges. They are slippery when wet and it is important to walk carefully and in the middle of the bridge. We will continue to build new concrete bridges and will attempt to keep disruption to a minimum.
Comments
Constructive comments are always welcome and members wishing to draw any matters to the attention of the committee are kindly requested to do so in writing to ensure that they receive a proper response.
Please address any comments/complaints/suggestions to the Greens Committee by email to golf@knysnagolfclub.com or on paper to Chris Dixon who will pass them on.
