The men’s Australian Open makes a highly anticipated return to Royal Melbourne Golf Club this December, with the iconic Composite Course hosting the tournament after a 34-year hiatus. Starting in the 17 October edition of The Cut, Royal Melbourne links crew members Michael Clavin (West Course assistant) and Mat Isbester (East Course assistant) kicked off a series of regular updates that will provide an insight into course preparations as the tournament nears.  

Read on below for the latest update...

 
It has been a short week with the Melbourne Cup public holiday on Tuesday, but definitely no shortage of work needing to be completed as we are now four weeks out from the 2025 Men's Australian Open. The Royal Melbourne links team have been going strong, continuing to work through a long jobs list, with afternoon overtime starting this week. 
Works this past week have included: 
•    Continuing tree-work, widening paths and raising branches along all Composite Course fairways.
•    Plugging greens surrounds, including all small blemishes.
•    Bunker trim – hand sheers are used to trim the bentgrass and fescue bunker edges, creating a more natural look, rather than a sharp clean cut from a brush cutter.
•    Selected Composite Course tees have been topdressed with sand to fill winter divots. Marker positioning will now be done to protect tournament locations.
•    Our Neighbourhood Playing Group (NPG) have been coming in weekly to help fill fairway divots. The NPG are a 70-strong group with restricted playing privileges that own properties adjacent to the courses. Their help has been much appreciated as they have completed a first run over every fairway. 

 We recorded another 52mm of rain over Monday and Tuesday and the course has taken it extremely well. There was no disruption to golf as the greens and fairways soaked up the water eagerly after what has been a dry period in Melbourne. Mowing frequency has increased to all surfaces after the stimulation from recent warmth and rain. 

All tournament greens and surrounds received an application of kelp and humate to assist with root health. Fungicide was also applied to one of the practice putting greens to help with yellow tuft suppression. A granular calcium product was applied to selected areas of fairways including sections where fairway width has been restored in recent years. 

Tournament hospitality structures have started construction on the 18th hole where the majority of the corporate marquees will be located. The start of building the facilities coincided with the heavy rain which softened the ground. That meant monitoring forklift and heavy vehicle movements was a high priority to minimise the potential for any turf damage. 

- Mat Isbester (Assistant - East Course)

CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW TO READ EARLIER RMGC COURSE UPDATES

Week 3 (31 OCTOBER): Club champs conclude as Open preps ramp up READ...
Week 2 (24 OCTOBER): Welcome rain freshens up Composite Course READ...
Week 1 (17 OCTOBER): Exciting (and busy) times ahead for RMGC crew READ...