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Tournament Closing In


Peter Braun

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There is less than two months till the NZ Open comes to The Hills. We are putting in the final renovation work to the course that needs time to heal. Greens have been under going some cultural practices such as verticutting every week or two, topdressing, lots of rolling, sand/seed weak areas, and fertilizer and fungicide recently. With some attention the greens will get to championship quality, but the weather is something that cannot be controlled or predicted. For example this morning there was a light frost over some areas. This can cause set backs for grass growth. 

 

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Vertidrain

 

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Due to heavy cart traffic from members and some outside play the course is showing the wear and tear. Signs can only do so much. At a certain point the cart user needs to respect the signs and understand that a little longer walk will help the course stay at top shape. Also it brings in more fitness to the round. The Hills has many bottleneck areas that cannot reroute the golfers so those areas are going to have the expected problems, but other areas can be avoided. Brendan has conveyed this message to the members. Time will tell if this is helping.

 

Going back to the wacky weather here, herbicide sprays are tricky. Since we rarely get several weeks of solid warm weather the grass could have some side effects to the weed spray. So Brendan has us hand spray weeks in the fairways and surrounds. This is more labour intensive, but Brendan figures the cost of the additional man hours by walking the course is better than the chance to lose grass for a major tournament. Sam, Rob, and I did the majority of the sprays.

 

 On Tuesday I had the second day off following a seven-day week and the weather was decent so I decided to take a hike to Coronet Peak. In the Queenstown area there are two major ski areas Coronet Peak and The Remarkables, both offering world class skiing. I took Bush Creek trail to Coronet Peak. This trail is quite nice with some uphill through forest winding behind the mountains crossing the creek multiple times. Finally you emerge into an open field in the valley of two mountains. After a while you come to the end of the valley wiht wonderful views of the Queenstown basin. Lake Wakatipu looks majestic from here. The fun is just about to start though. To the right is the mountain climb to Coronet Peak. What a climb that is! Some areas are very steep, narrow, on top of the ridge, but so fulfilling to reach the ski area. From there you can climb to the top of the mountain, which stands at 1649m (5410ft). I got almost to the top, but decided to turn around since I had been hiking for almost three hours. Another day I will go all the way up. Bush Creek is a great trail for mountain biking and lots of people ride from Coronet Peak to Arrowtown. I don't know how they go down the steep areas, but I've been told it is best just to let yourself go. A six hour hike from Arrowtown to Coronet Peak was one of the best hikes I've been on here.   

 

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