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 9th green at this time, so the process of finishing off each green with turf from the 9th 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 9th green devoid of turf.  The surface area of the 9th green had provided only just enough turf to repair all of the other greens. Work on the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 18th 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 9th 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 9th green 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.