“It’s been very interesting to take on new challenges and to learn new procedures and to do something different”
Nick Rennison, Head Grounds Manager, Kooyong Tennis Club
Nick is continuing the levelling and
resurfacing programme to create a consistency throughout all of the grass courts, while achieving the highest possible standards. When I asked Nick about renovations
at Kooyong he mentioned that, “there are no renovations as such but, at the end of the playing season in May, we assess the condition of the baselines, because that is what get the most amount of wear. We have to judge whether the baselines need to be replaced and, over 90% of the time, they do”. The process involves cutting out the worn baseline area with a sod cutter and removing the old turf, applying fresh Merri Creek clay to the area and placing fresh washed ‘Legend’ sod on top of the clay. The staff then water and roll in the area so the clay comes up through the sod. The freshly laid turf is then left for
the majority of the winter months until spring, when the sod becomes established and begins to grow. Since Nick has been at Kooyong he
hasn’t run into any major turf disease problems, with only the occasional small outbreak of Fusarium which is of no real concern. He sprays preventively for Spring Dead Spot and insects, which have also caused few problems. He will also apply granular fertiliser to the grass courts approximately 2-3 times during the playing season, depending on the condition of the playing surface, then to give the grass a colour boost liquid fertilisers are used approximately 3-4 times a year on an observational basis. The machinery used to curate the grass courts largely consist of various mowers, both walk behind and ride-on, and rollers. Before Nick arrived the only mowers were ride on Toro mowers, but
since then two Smooth Cut walk behind mowers have been purchased to give the grass courts a much better quality and more consistent cut between 3mm and 5mm in height.
Nick found that the ride-on mowers
were floating too much on the denser areas of couch, creating a spongy effect and an uneven playing surface. The Smooth Cut Mowers have overcome this issue, proving to be an excellent purchase and a great asset to the club. When asked if he scarified the grass courts Nick replied, “We haven’t got any decent scarification equipment as yet, but we do a lot of dethatching to
compensate, because it’s important to get rid of as much as possible. I’m currently looking into getting some decent equipment, so we can scarify heavily once a year prior to the playing season.” Before the start of the 08/09 grass
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