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VERDATH'S VIEWS Preparing for the rainy season The beast that we refer to as the river is a difficult one to tame. It costs our club a lot just to keep it in check and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Over the years the volume of water traveling through the river has increased considerably This due to the loss of forested water catchment areas by the activrties of man (construction & agriculture). What once were gentle swales is n a raging watercourse, threatening to wash away everything in its path. But persevere we must to protect our course and so after the rude awakening that we got in December and January last, the following steps have been taken.

Course Superintendent Vedath Singh

Gabion Basket Repairs

Major repair work on the river banks of the 8th fairway were started this year. Work on the eastern side has been completed and we are now tackling the western side. Progress has been slow due to the hazards of the area being a popular landing spot for errant golf balls and the sometimes unbearable stench of the water The aim of the exercise was not only protection of the banks but also the recovery of fairway. When all the baskets have been installed, the area will be landscaped once again as fairway. We hope to complete the job by June, weather permitting.

. After the onslaught of December-January rains a few critical gabions collapsed behind the 11th green. Subsequently new baskets have been erected, protecting the 11th green. A crosswall has also been installed to break the velocity of the water

. Three crosswalls have been placed in the river in front of the 10th green. The original gabions on the river bank here were poorly constructed and with the increase in the volume of water flowing through the river, their bases have been eroded causing them to slip. This can be catastrophic due to the proximity of the 10th green. The purpose of these crosswalls are to act as dams that trap silt and protect the base of the baskets from slipping and hopefully buying us some time. I intend to do the same thing along the quebrada on the 14th and 16th fairways. More crosswalls are also needed on the 16th fairway and the 8th fairway which I intend to install.

. One of the exercises we did this dry season was to walk the river basin from start to finish and identify and repair any holes in existing gabion baskets. When a gabion basket fails or is ruptured, it causes a domino effect on the other baskets around it The strength of these baskets lie in the fact that they are laced together forming a sort of brick wall. However, if you remove one brick all the others fall.

Other Works

. The backhoe has also been busy clearing and widening the river basin. Impediments such as large rocks, tree stumps and bamboo have been removed. The entire river from the 9th fairway stretching to the 12th green has been cleared.

. A huge sump is being dug behind the 14th green which will act as a settling pond, accumulating all the silt and rocks that would normally find their way on the 14th and 16th fairway. This pond will also slow down the rate at which the water travels down the hill, thus reducing its capacity to erode the fairways. This will also protect the 14th green from being covered in silt again. If these settling ponds work as well as we think they will, water flowing through the 14th and 16th fairways will be accommodated by a grassed swale. Almost overnight the course has been transformed with the first rains from a dead brown to a lush green. The rains are welcome, but hopefully with less damaging side effects. There remain a lot of other critical areas that need to be addressed, including the 10th tee (white), the tiger tee, the 9th fairway and the 16th fairway; they have not been forgotten.This is a good opportunity to remind you that our semi annual aerifing of the greens is carded for June 13th.

WHY AERIFY?

Its a perfect sunny morning and you've just reached the first green in regulation. You feel great and you know you're within birdie range. Then, you see them, those little holes in the green. Arrrgh! They ye just aerified the course, and it's going to ruin your round, right?

Well, maybe not. Consider the fact that PGA Tour legend Tom Watson shot a sizzling record 58 at his then-home course, Kansas City Country Club, just days after the greens had been aerified. Consider also that aerification is merely a short-term disruption that has long-term benefits for the course. When you see them, remember that without those little holes, the greens would eventually die.

Like so many things, the quality of a good putting green is more than skin deep. In fact, the condition of a green has a lot to do with what goes on below the surface. In order to keep grass growing at 3/16-inch you have to have deep, healthy roots. Good roots demand oxygen. In good soil, they get the oxygen from tiny pockets of air trapped between soil and sand particles.

Over time, the traffic from golfers' feet (as well as heavy mowing equipment) tends to compact the soil under the putting green - particularly when the soil contains a lot of clay. When soil becomes compacted, the air pockets on which the roots depend are crushed, and the roots are essentially left gasping for air. Without oxygen, the grass plants will wither and die.

Aerification is a mechanical process that creates more air space in the soil and promotes deeper rooting, thus helping the grass plants stay healthy. In most cases, it's done by removing 1/2-inch cores (those plugs you sometimes see near a green or in fairways). The spaces are then filled with sand "topdressing" that helps the soil retain air space and makes it easier for roots to grow downward.

Other aerification techniques use machines with "tines" or knives that simply poke holes through the soil profile, A newer technique even uses ultra high-pressure water that's injected through the soil profile to create small holes that relieve some compaction but heal quickly. The bottom line is that aerification is a necessary practice. But before you curse the superintendent for ruining your day just think of Tom Watson.

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SIR GARY SOBERS FESTIVAL GOLF TOURNAMENT By Louis Ottley In only its second year, the Sir Gary Sobers Festival Golf Tournament has become one of the most popular golf tournaments on the eastern Caribbean golf-calendar. This year it took place between April 28 and May 1, attracting over 244 golfers. The Legends Team tournament took place on Thursday May 28 at Durants with the team of Ray Chee a Tow, Richard Lara, Lennox Yearwood and Peter Whitehead running away to win at 22 under. The 54-hole stroke play tournament was then played on three courses, Barbados Golf Club, Royal Westmorland and Sandy Lane, with the four divisions alternating between the courses each day. The 60 plus Trini golfing contingent was well represented both on and off the course. The most successful golfer from Trinidad was Richard Lara (251). He was not only on the winning team in the Legends tournament but won his flight and was the Men's Overall Handicap Champion. Pauline Figuera-Raynor (250) came second in the Ladies Championship Flight to winner Jamie Hole (232). In the Ladies first flight Sigrunn Lillelokken (228) came third to Amy Guilfoyle (219) and D. Greran (225). The Ladies Overall Handicap Champion was Amy Guilfoyle. Trevor Levine (206) led the Men's Championship Flight and was also the Men's Scratch Champion. Find out the dates of this event for 2006 as soon as they become available. You will want to be there.	Republic Bank's Sharon Francois presents sponsorship cheque to Debbie Costelloe
	2005 REPUBLIC BANK NATIONAL JUNIOR GOLF TEAM Boys 18 and Under Boys 15 & Under Boys 12 & Under Shane Costelloe Simon Merry Robert Llanos Reserve Jonathan Low Ben Martin Kyle Knaggs Glen Charlett Reserve Jake Maingot Timothy Martin Joshua Galt Reserve Blaine Winford Girls 18 & Under Girls 15 & Under Girls 12 & Under Diana Torry Tracey Clarke Reserve Victoria Seenath Martine de Gannes Kelsey Lou-Hing Reserve Catherine Clarke Monifa Sealey Anneke Ward Reserve Natalya Rahamatula
MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIPS This is a request to members to get some feedback on whether you all want to be involved in more Match Play tournaments. This is not to be confused with the Club Match play games now under way! I find that so many of us talk about match play and the feeling I get is that we like it bad and would like to play more. The Captains committee has been toying with this for some time and has a proposal that we would like to put up to the membership. This is for full playing gentlemen members and is scheduled to start at the end of August (after holidays) and finish by the end November. There would be Four Flights and the games would be played Gross. The handicap breakdowns would be: 0-4   5-9   10-14   15-19. All would enter and a draw would be done in the Flights. All would play a basic elimination round on a Saturday in early Sep. The winners will again be drawn and the play-offs will begin. All will have one week to play nine holes minimum (18 if you like) so it can be done in the afternoon of a weekday if you prefer. The next week the winners go through, until we have the champions in each Flight. So we have 4 winners, these then play off with each other using 3/4 handicap difference until we have the finals. The finals must be 18 holes to produce the overall Champion. Alternatively, we could play it in pairs as a better ball contest through to the same results. The TWO things here are: I) We need your feedback as to if you would be interested in this type of game. (Drop Rosemarie an e-mail at rosemarie@golftrinidad.com confirming yes of no!) 2) We NEED a sponsor for this game. It could be very worthwhile for the correct sponsor as the game played over a period of time will create strong interest and the promotion at the beginning and the end for the finals prize giving should be strong. We could even get the press involved. If interested in sponsoring, contact the Captain.	One of the fruits of Stephen Ames success on the PGA tour is that he announced last year that he was establishing a foundation in his name whose objective is the growth and development of junior golf both in Trinidad and Tobago and Canada. The very first project of the Foundation is a Ryder Cup style contest between T and T and Canada which will be hosted in Canada by the CJGA(Canadian Junior Golf Association) from July 28-30. The team to represent Trinidad and Tobago was announced following the National Junior Trials and is as follows: Boys 17-19 Shane Costelloe, Simon Merry Boys 14-16 Ben Martin, Kyle Knaggs Boys 11-13 Timothy Martin, Sirron Melville Girls 19 and under Diana Torry, Martine de Gannes Team Manager: Sandra Montano; Team Chaperone: Debbie Costelloe Through Stephen's relationship with the CJGA he has arranged that our team will also play in the PING Eastern Canadian Junior Championships the week before the Inaugural Stephen Ames Cup. They will also benefit from training sessions at Glen Abbey with the Canadian National Junior Coach. This is the beginning of an exciting new chapter in junior golf. Thank you Stephen Ames!

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