WEST WYALONG SERVICES AND CITIZENS SPORTS CLUB COMPLETED BY RIVTURF
West Wyalong Services and Citizens’ Sports Club includes an 18-hole grass greens course. The 100 plus year-old course is just a few minutes’ drive from West Wyalong in NSW, just off the Newell Highway.
It is a fully licensed Sports Club with bowling greens, tennis courts and a swimming pool that complement the pleasant par 72 golf course.
This phase of course reconstruction saw 18 new greens and tees as well as the practice green installed by turf supplier Rivturf using TifTuf Hybrid Bermuda in two stages. Since installation the greens and tees have been maintained by the clubs greenkeeping staff.
Turf Variety Selection
As a mature club all the greens were originally installed as Bent grass and the tees were a couch variety.
Following damage to some of the greens and tees, the small western New South Wales golf club was looking for an upgrade which would be easy to maintain and considered the region’s lack of water to irrigate thanks to Australia’s recent drought. The new grass also needed to incur lower costs for fertilisers and chemicals that had been required to keep the Bent grass at required playability.
The staff at Rivturf were contacted and they introduced the managers and greenkeeping staff to TifTuf Hybrid Bermuda, which having recently received certification as the first and only turfgrass to ever receive the Smart Approved WaterMark in Australia and across the world – was a perfect fit.
The plan was split into 3 construction stages to minimise the interruption to play on the course. The greens on the 10th through to the 18th were completed first and then 12 months later the front nine greens and all tees were completed.
Rivturf’s father and son team of Andrew and Cameron Longmore from Rivturf Pty Ltd project managed the supply of turf. Rivturf is a turf grower and turf installation specialist based in North Wagga Wagga.
Jamie McIntyre from Outdoor Inspirations Irrigation and Landscaping assisted with the preparation of the first stage of greens and the laying of TifTuf. Josh Cunningham and his crew at All Outside Landscaping & Land Management attended to the second and third stages of replacing the remaining greens and tees and have attended to the maintenance of the course since then.
Preparation
Each green was slightly different, depending on certain pre-existing issues like drainage, but the following general process for the Bent grass greens and couch grass tees was followed.
- Glyphosate 600 applied and allowed a 4-week kill. Some of the couch tees required a second application.
- 100mm of the thatch and turf was removed with a tracked loader and bobcat.
- Due to budget constraints loam was saved and reused on the greens.
- The areas were tilled with a tractor and roto tiller, then rolled and hand worked to get some of the playing shape or contours back into the greens.
- An 80/20 sand and compost underlay were mixed specifically for the job and was laid at 100mm depth, before levelling using drag mats and levelling bars.
- Prior to laying the TifTuf a starter fertiliser with water saving crystals was applied to the greens.
Installation
TifTuf was freshly cut each day during the installation process and trucked to West Wyalong from Wagga Wagga where RivTurf is based. The first stage was completed in March 2020 with the balance of the greens and tees being completed in April 2021.
Once laid, the TifTuf was rolled and watered 3 times a day for 4 days before being tapered off. The greens were top dressed 2 to 3 times over the grow in period, depending on the individual green’s requirements and at 3 months after being laid were dethatched.
All Outside Landscaping commented that “It was incredible how quickly it stitched together, laid down strong roots and how evenly it grew. Within months it was a playable surface.”
Mowing commenced 2 and a half weeks after laying at 15mm and then gradually the mower was lowered during the month to 5mm. The tees are maintained at 15mm.
Maintenance
All Outside Landscaping conduct the ongoing maintenance at the course and have a roster of 2 to 3 mows a week on the greens in summer and 2 mows a week in winter. An application with Primo PGR is also applied monthly during the growing season.
A Toro Greensmaster 3150Q reel mower is used and it is currently cutting at 3.5mm on the greens. In winter that will be raised to 4.5mm. Josh indicates that the 3.5mm height has provided the best response from the green as at lower cuts the greens health starts to deteriorate slightly, but the TifTuf can certainly handle being cut a little lower.
All Outside Landscaping work in conjunction with Living Turf who assist with Matchplay products. Josh indicates they are using Bio stimulants, fertilisers like MP Roots, MP Enhance, MP Foundation, KelPlus, Liquid Nitrogen and a granular Spectrum 20-2-5 after renovation. They have also used Tricure as a wetting agent and Terrafirm as a penetrant.
The water supply is mixed, catchment and treated sewerage. Because of this samples are regularly taken to ensure the products used are appropriate. Any fungal issues have been addressed proactively with Dedicate, Instrata or Bumper.
As the fairways are kikuyu, the Club uses Spearhead Herbicide and Monument to control kikuyu encroachment on the greens.
Greens are lightly sanded regularly and then broomed. Any major renovation work is conducted in the September/ October period when the greens are cored and sand used to top dress. All Outside anticipate doing another renovation during the summer months in future to combat compaction due to traffic.
Josh indicates that the main difference between the care and maintenance required on the TifTuf greens and tees compared with the kikuyu fairways is water use. West Wyalong is a drought prone area and the Club has had irrigation issues in the past
as well as some other construction works which has meant areas of the course have gone without water. Josh says “The ability of the TifTuf to hold colour and density without water is far superior to the kikuyu fairways. Obviously it also tolerates being regularly cut lower than kikuyu as well.”
