Golf Victoria | Leongatha Golf Club

Thank a Superintendent Day – 23rd September 2020

AdminSeptember 23, 2020Comments OffLatest News

Wednesday the 23rd September is Thank a Superintendent Day, an event promoted by the peak Turf management bodies including the Australian Sports Turf Managers Association.

Unfortunately, Covid 19 restrictions limited the numbers of members at the Club today who could join in directly and attend such a celebration this year for Dylan, Dennis, new apprentice Ethan and right hand volunteer, Peter. A BBQ was cooked #1 and the Ladies organised a couple of Loris Clarke’s sponge cakes (apparently their favourite indulgence ) #2 for the boys, which were devoured during their lunch break at the Club House today. Many thanks Loris, they were sensational sponges.

It’s been a big year at our club in terms of what has been achieved, inspite of Covid-19. The Course continues to come out of its winter dormancy and the fairways are coming back nicely. The greens are playing fast but not too fast. Improvements to the course this year began with replacement of irrigation supply lines along the 12th fairway, the removal of cooch from 8 of the back nine greens, which included fescue collars to better protect the greens in the future. The most recent green completed was the 15th green, and this was undertaken after receiving 100 square metres of bent grass turf from Metropolitan Golf Club (big thanks to them) during renovation works at their course #3. Other improvements included rebuilding the 9th green, which will likely open for play in October, and I for one can’t wait to play it #4, and a lot of recovery work on bare patches along a number of fairways, to improve the look and playability of the light rough. #5

Dylan and the team are now preparing for the re-development of the 16th tee.

We are also fortunate to have such a good groundsman in Denis, who continued to picked up the mantle after staff changes, and carried the load after Tom, and whilst Dylan recovered from shoulder surgery.

I am sure you will all join me in thanking Dylan, Denis, Peter and new apprentice Ethan for their continuing efforts in presenting a first class course. Vern Morcom would be particularly pleased to see the course he designed, presented in such a high standard and as true to his vision as it remains.

Vale Kevin Castwood

Peter WatersJune 7, 2020Comments OffLatest News

The Board of the Leongatha Golf Club has been deeply saddened by the passing yesterday of a popular member, Kevin Castwood. Kevin was aged 72.

In the little over a decade Kev has been a member of the club (he joined in May 2009) he has made a great contribution to it. He was a former Men’s Vice Captain and Captain, former Green’s Committee member, a current member of the Men’s Golf committee and was also a Board Member for the last six years. Kevin’s working career was in the human resources field and this experience, combined with his golfing experiences, made him a valuable member of the Board. He was of great help to me personally, and to the club in this role.

Kev was also a regular attendee at club working bees and social functions. He took an obvious pride in seeing the course in great condition and the successes of the club.

Kev was a competent golfer in his own right and features on the honour boards in the clubhouse. He was deceptively long off the tee, and possessed one of the best short games in the club.

We extend our condolences to Rosie and family at this time of loss.

Peter Waters

President

LGC Course Update – Friday 24/04/2020

AdminApril 24, 2020Comments OffLatest News

Yesterday, Dylan and Denis were busy finishing off the secondary work which was generated out of the Greens Couch Reduction Program. Whilst excavating the collar around each green to a depth of 100 mm, an enormous amount of soil rich in turf root, was removed and re-cycled by placing it around the light rough on a number of fairways, with the intention of rehabilitating those areas devoid of soil after years of heavy traffic, erosion or degradation.

During that period, Peter Seth had started the process of breaking this soil up with the rotary hoe, and yesterday work finished levelling the piles of soil, then rotary hoeing the soil into the rough, raking it level and seeding it with a Dura Turf brand seed mixture appropriately called ” In the Rough”. This mixture is a 50/50 blend of Merlot Creeping Fescue and Survivor Chewing Fescue…. sounds like a great place to graze on a Friday afternoon. The area was finished off by compacting it using the Workmen vehicles.

The recovery will take some time as we are now entering the colder months when growth will be minimal, but we are hopeful that there is sufficient heat in the soil for the re-seeding to start germinating.

The areas being rehabilitated should ultimately please everyone, as not only will it improve the aesthetics of the Course, but the likely playing surfaces for a number of us.

3rd

Click on the next links to view other recent rehabilitation work.

15th Fairway RHS light rough

15th Fairway 150 m mark corner

18th Fairway LHS

18th Fairway corner rough

LGC Course Update – Wed 22/4/2020 – Seeding

Andrew BassettApril 22, 2020Comments OffLatest News

The seeding of the 9th green and the turf nursery was undertaken today to cap off a busy 8 days for the Team. I asked you last update to think about how many kilograms of seeds would be needed to adequately cover the 9th green to produce a top class finish. A few responders guessed between 30 to 100 kilo’s but I am pleased to say the figure was actually closer to just 3 kilograms; with about 9,600,000 seeds per kilo, you can now better understand why we need just a few kilo’s of seed.

Dylan was also able to secure the same A4 strain of bentgrass mix as we have on the putting green, which eventually will give us a beautiful precinct with both surfaces complementing each other.

With 9.6 M seeds per kilo, the mixture is super fine and you could be excused for thinking it would be an excise in futility to sow the green on a day like today, with a blustery sou’wester blowing. Bring in the Hydroseeding specialist, Michael Riodon of Turf Renovations Australia, who has a solution too good to pass up.

Hydroseeding involves the preparation of a solution of measured water with recycled paper pulp, dye additive, A4 Bentgrass seed, starter fertilizer, fungicide, then stirred not shaken, then agitated, finally a paper mache like product was ready to apply by spraying onto the green, leaving a crusty surface of paper pulp which locks in the seed helping to protect it from the elements, whilst providing a nutritious base in which the seed can germinate and root.

The 9th green seeding was finished in a short time and now has a blue/grey tinge to the surface. Due to the tight fiscal situation and the Covid 19 impact, Dylan has needed to park this program for the foreseeable future. As a result, we still have a small supply of bentgrass turf in reserve, which was stripped off the 9th green, and laid out on the nursery. With a future need for bentgrass turf when we next continue our program to rid all greens of encroaching couch, it became imperative that some of the turf nursery be seeded with bentgrass, whilst the majority would be sown with fine fescue.

Today using a portable spreader, Denis spread granulated fertilizer across the whole of the nursery then marked off about 25% of the nursery for bentgrass seeding. Once that was done, Dylan seeded the 75% of the nursery with fescue seed using the portable spreader, applying about 40 litres of seed overall. This was then rolled with a bunker machine so that the knobby tyres would leave nice indents in the surface which the fescue mache product could adhere into.

The Contractor then sprayed 25% of the nursery with the bentgrass mache, before spraying the remaining 75% of the nursery with a further coating of fine fecue mache. It is hoped that the coming week will bring ideal conditions for both grasses to germinate.

Denis was telling me that he had cut just over 3 kilometres of fine fescue off the turf nursery in recent weeks for use in the couch eradication project. Today’s re-seeding of the turf nursery will ensure that a plentiful supply of fine fescue and bentgrass turf, will be available for the next phase of this project.

On another note which is of interest to all members, is the preparations being made by LGC, in anticipation for the restart of golf. As yet the course remains closed, and the Andrews Government prohibits the playing of golf, but we anticipate this situation will likely be reviewed, probably in line with the Premier’s next statement on the emergency lockdown conditions, expected about the 11th May,

The Greens Committee is working with the Match Committee on preparing for a likely restart, and in doing so are installing a poly- styrene collar on each pin which will allow the ball to enter and stop within the cup, but which will allow for retrieval of the ball by hand without a need to touch the flag stick. The styrene collar will be about 10 mm below the cup lip, giving a more realistic feel to the game and allowing you to finish off by putting out the hole.

Dylan and Denis have also started cutting a temporary green on the 9th fairway, in front of the new 9th green which has been roped off. Both these steps will enable the Club to open the time sheet contemporaneously with any forthcoming Government announcement.

In the meantime, isolate and stay safe. See you when next the Course is open.

Andy Bassett

Chair of the Greens Committee

LGC Course Update – Work On 9th Green Nears Completion

AdminApril 20, 2020Comments OffLatest News

With favourable weather conditions last week Dylan, Denis and their regular band of volunteers, have put in some long hours to push ahead with the 9th green project after the good work the previous week with the removal of the surface and then the base shaping, as previously reported on. The week started with final shaping of the green, surrounds and the slope away from the green at the back. High spots on the surface were shaved and low spots filled as they had become more evident after good rains that had been received at the Club. The surface needed to be broken up, raked with a bunker machine, smoothed and re-compacted using the two Workmen vehicles.

The next phase was to set the sprinkler heads to the correct height above the new base surface level and taking in a further allowance for the fescue turf collar which had to be laid. Some sprinkler cabling and pipework also had to be set deeper under the new surface level so as they wouldn’t be damaged during coring and normal maintenance on the future green.

The couch turf at the back of the green had been peeled off so that reshaping continued with fill to make a softer slope running off the back of the green. The couch surround was then re-laid and shaped. I think most members will be pleased with this new shape and will not dread playing too long into the 9th in the future, as the shot back onto the green from the back, will not be as daunting.

The green was marked out with paint to allow a 2.1m distance in from the old couch surrounds in which the fine fescue collar would sit, and once marked, a covering of 20-30 mils of sand, previously removed from the old green, was recycled and spread over the new surface inside the collar. The sand was applied in part by using the Clubs spreader, as well as the front end loader, then raked and levelled by hand, with the outer edge formed along the collar markings. 74 metres of fine fescue, was then cut from the turf nursery and re-laid on the 9th, as the innermost ring of the collar which in turn defined the green, and to which the greens sand could be levelled against.

The greens sand was then levelled against the fescue collar, raked and compacted using the bunker rake and then workmen vehicles.

A good team of volunteers laid the other 6 rings of fine fescue on the 9th. the following day. That sounds simple but in reality, it was a lot of grass that had to be cut from the nursery, rolled and sacked on pallets, then tractored to the 9th and the process reversed. The new surrounds really shaped the green and we could begin to visualise the green: it was good day of hard yakka. The seeding of the green will likely be done early next week, depending on the weather. Until then, you may start thing about how many kilograms of seed you think will be needed to cover such a large area as the new 9th green. That’s another story for next week.

The green surrounds were finished off the next day with some extra couch, smoothing out, and sanding gaps in the surround. The turf nursery was also reformed into a quadrant, the edges sanded and the whole smoothed and levelled ready for seeding in the coming week. Over the course of this project Dylan received some encouragement and advice from not only Denis and every volunteer that helped including those on the Green Committee, but it was nice to see Steve Earle, our past Course Superintendent and Dylan’s mentor in his early years, come out to the club and share some of his knowledge on similar projects. I am sure Dylan’s vision of the 9th green has come to reality and I will be surprised if the 9th does not become another signature hole.

Many thanks to all the volunteers that have helped get this project to where it is.

I could have described this project in a sentence or two, but with the COVID-19 isolation, I’m sure you had time to read this yarn.

Just a reminder to all members, particularly the odd couple who think differently, the Course is Closed. Play on the Course is not permitted. The President will advise you when play can resume.

Watch Video 1

Leongatha Golf Club Chips In For Tough Win.

Andrew BassettApril 9, 2020Comments OffLatest News

Break-In News.

As our members know, over the past 4 months Leongatha Golf Club, along with most South Gippsland Golf Clubs and some small businesses, have been at the mercy of an artful miscreant who had repeatedly broken into our clubs at night. The three burglaries on our Clubhouse caused lots of distress and unnecessary costs in repairing the extensive damage, usually to points of entry and our storeroom, where an old large safe sat as a temptation this offender could not pass up.

After the second break-in, the Board approved expenditure for a new security system to replace the existing Arlo brand wireless video system which the burglar had no trouble circumventing. The Club committed to a local company to instal an improved security system once their stock was available.

On Thursday the 26th March, the offender again broke into the Clubrooms for the third time. This was the week the Board closed the Course in order to be on the front foot against COVID-19. The Board was concentrating on the likely financial ramification to the Club, our likely future and the staff welfare, so the last thing we needed was another break-in. Despite our best efforts, the new security system had not been installed as materials had not arrived. Again the burglar/s efforts were focussed on getting into the main safe, again they failed. If only the offender/s knew we had nothing of value in the safe. To add insult to injury this time, the burglar/s stole our Arlo video security system, including two portable wifi cameras.

Each of these break-ins were reported to our local Police and duly processed by the Scenes of Crime officer, who seemed meticulous in her search for evidence. The offender/s were a headache for everyone in South Gippsland and we understood the Region Crime Squads within Gippsland, were working tirelessly within their limited resources, to put an end to the crime spree.

In golfing vernacular, if this was a matchplay event, the burglars were three holes up- so it was a stroke of good fortune, that our Club was able to chip in and help bring the crime spree to an end. How you may ask. It was indeed, a shot to remember.

On Friday the 3rd of April the Club received an email from the stolen Arlo Security system which read: “It looks like your Arlo 4XH5777___776 is running low on battery. You still have 15% of battery power left, but in order to maintain uninterrupted peace of mind, we recommend charging the device as soon as possible Thanks, The Arlo Team”. We checked the date to ensure it wasn’t the 1st of April. How could this email be generated? – the only answer was the offender, or a receiver of the stolen Arlo system, had actually set up the stolen Arlo system and turned it on. A stroke of exceptional good luck for us, perhaps.

Curiosity got the better of us at the Club and we logged into the Arlo App and to our surprise, found that there were a number of video files stored in the Arlo library, the most recent video having been taken on Friday the 3rd of April at 9.15am. That was only half an hour before we logged into the App. When we opened the video what do you think we saw? Click here to find out what we saw.

That’s correct, we were watching Victoria Police officers searching an address. We don’t know who they were or where they were but we knew someone who could find out, so Thommo (one a scratch golfer and the other a local acting Sergeant) soon alerted the Regional Crime Squad officers who were searching an address in Welshpool, of our video find. The officers returned to the room, and with some guidance from our Club, soon located the stolen Arlo cameras and video system, along with some other stolen items from LGC. A man from Welshpool was later charged at Wonthaggi Police station with various offences, and remanded in custody.

Well done to all of those Police Officers, including the Regional Crime Squads and Scene of Crimes Unit for their diligence in pursuit of these offenders.

That much maligned Arlo video security system came shining through for us in the end, and as the great Sgt Dudley Do-Right would utter, “All’s well that ends well”. As they say in pennant, no matter how many holes you are down, never give up. In this instance, we can say game over, the score LGC 1 up.

If you are reading this on our Facebook page, or Twitter, please share or retweet, as we want everyone to know – there’s nothing in the safe worth stealing.

Keep safe, and see you when Leongatha Golf Club is again open for play.

Australian Sports Turf Managers Association monthly magazine, TurfGrass

Andrew BassettApril 6, 2020Comments OffLatest News

TurfGrass – March Issue 2020

Leongatha Golf Club featured prominently in the Australian Sports Turf Managers Association monthly magazine in March 2020. The magazine known as TurfGrass, features a Regional Golf Course in each issue with LGC Superintendent, Dylan McMeekin answersing a number of questions put to him for the March edition.By reading this article, which I recommend you do so, you get a wonderful insight into Dylan the person, his team and his course management philosophies in managing our course through environmentally sustainable practices.

I felt very uplifted in reading this article and it has given me a better appreciation of the complexity of issues that impacts the course that we have, and it made me even more proud to be a member of Leongatha Golf Club.

I would like to acknowledge and thank ASTMA for allowing us to publish this article on our website.

Regional Profile 22.1 pg70-75

Keep well, isolate, and see you when the Course re-opens

Andy Bassett
Chair – Greens Committee.

Continue reading “Australian Sports Turf Managers Association monthly magazine, TurfGrass” »

Leongatha Golf Club -Course Update – April 2020

Andrew BassettApril 6, 2020Comments OffLatest News

Although our Leongatha Golf Course has been closed to members and visitors for playing golf, work that was commenced some time ago by Dylan and his team, on the removal of encroaching couch grass from the greens, has been steadily progressing with the assistance of a number of volunteers, led by Peter Seth.Although our Leongatha Golf Course has been closed to members and visitors for playing golf, work that was commenced some time ago by Dylan and his team, on the removal of encroaching couch grass from the greens, has been steadily progressing with the assistance of a number of volunteers, led by Peter Seth.

To date, the works included removing a grass verge collar 2.1 metres wide from around the green and cutting out areas of couch that had encroached into each of the greens. This was done to a depth of 100 mls, then filled with a blended sand mixture before being compacted.

Turf from the new fescue nursery was cut and rolled then palleted to each green, and laid around the green to form a fescue collar (7) seven rolls or 2.1m wide.

Bentgrass turf was also needed to replace the greens turf which had been removed from each. Planning at our Greens Committee meeting in November 2019, had committed us to reduce the slope on the 9^th green at this time, so the process of finishing off each green with turf from the 9^th green was started and was well underway before the COVID-19 situation exploded, and the Course shut. As a consequence, this work left us with the 9^th green devoid of turf. The surface area of the 9^th green had provided only just enough turf to repair all of the other greens. Work on the 10^th, 11^th, 12^th, 13^th, 14^th and 18^th greens has now been completed.

The fescue and bentgrasses are knitting in well and time will see these greens come back better than ever. Some greens are slightly larger, which gives Denis even more tricky pin placements to test us with.

As COVID-19 ramped up, a decision was made to complete renovations on the 9^th green, in house. After Dylan and the boys had cleared the green and surround of all remnant turf on Wednesday, yesterday local contractor Darren Harris became available at short notice.

Darren is well regarded in golf course circles, for his skill with his Terex, and in particular his skills when shaping greens. He also has had a long association with LGC dating back around 2008. Darren has completed many projects over that time, including work on the practice putting green and a number of tees, just to mention just a few.

The topsoil and thatch were removed off the 9^thgreen and under Dylan’s guidance, Darren reshaped the green so it has a 3 degree fall from back to front.

The green is far from completed but from this position, Dylan and Denis are well placed to be able to finish the project with minimal cost. All things being equal Dylan is aiming to have the final shaping of the green, irrigation work and seeding completed in the next couple of weeks, providing we have some good weather and subject to COVID-19 impacts.

Mother nature will then hopefully do the rest. It will certainly give playing the course an extra boost. I can’t wait.

COURSE CLOSURE

Peter WatersMarch 25, 2020Comments OffLatest News

The Board of Leongatha Golf Club have decided that in light of the continued rapid spread of the COVID-19 virus throughout Victoria, we can no longer keep the club open for either our members or the public. As a result, THE COURSE, CLUBHOUSE AND PRACTICE FACILITIES WILL BE CLOSED FROM 25^TH MARCH FOR ALL GOLFERS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.

We thank you for your understanding in making this decision, we have your health and safety, and the health and safety of our staff at the forefront of our minds. We look forward to the day when we can announce the recommencement of golf at our beautiful course. Stay safe, and please abide by the directions the Government is giving regarding isolation etc. This is serious, and we want to all of you to return.

Sunday 23 Feb – LGC “Day on the Green”

AdminFebruary 24, 2020Comments OffLatest News

Sunday 23rd Feb was Leongatha Golf Club’s inaugural “Day on the Green”. Our General Manager Sharon Marsh was the driving force behind the day, to open up the course and showcase the Club as a venue which can cater for your special event. The LGC members enjoy a social time as well as their golf, so it was great to see a good crowd of around 200 locals and visitors making themselves comfortable under the large sugar gums at the 10th tee, to enjoy our selection of local wines and beers, together with tasty Tapas, Pizza and finger food. The entertainment was provided by local groups, Black Pepper and Souly Us who both played a selection of their own compositions and cover music to delight the crowd. The music was complemented by perfect weather with a light breeze keeping the revellers cool in the shade on the natural bush setting. See you at the next one. Well done to all of the staff and volunteers on the day.

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