A very warm week and a great test for the new irrigation system which it has passed with flying colours.  We are restricted in the volume of water that we can pump down from the treatment plant but the new system makes sure that virtually every drop hits the ground where needed. 

The "heart" of the new system is the pump station which was also totally renewed as part of the project.  Our old station utilised Grundfos brand pumps and we had such a great run with them that we went for them again.  They have now been fully adjusted to suit our requirements and are delivering a perfect flow of water.

Inside the new pump shed adjacent 17R tee.

The greens on both courses are recovering well from the renovation with the West greens a little slower which is normal for TifEagle.  The number of totally untouched pitchmarks is almost to the stage of being alarming.  Every morning virtually every green is peppered with untouched pitchmarks.  Please help us to present a good surface and keep the greens healthy by repairing your pitchmaks. 

There are 8 untouched in this photo of 8R.

5 untouched on 8W plus plenty more elsewhere on the green. 

 

A wild week of weather and although we received 55mm of rain we certainly dodged a massive bullet with courses from here to the Sunshine Coast decimated in Monday afternoons storm that felled trees across multiple courses.  Some reports are that over half the courses from Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast were closed to play on Tuesday with many still closed on Wednesday.  It was a weird storm with the track heading almost directly south to north and building as it moved up the coast.  Seeing some of the photos of trees on the ground I was pretty relieved that we were spared.....this time.

The high temperatures and moisture in the ground has the grass growing as though it's February and we are struggling to keep up with the mowing across both courses.  Even the growth regulators that have been applied are having a battle controlling the growth.  It's quite rare for us to get any clippings left after mowing fairways but we are certainly seeing that at the moment in the morning dew.

The greens on both sides are back down to normal mowing height following renovation and again are experiencing a huge amount of growth.  The greens are obviously fertilised during the renovation to assist in a fast recovery but they are now lapping up the available fertiliser. 

A huge month of golf ahead with an event on every week till Christmas and then the holiday makers arrive.  On Monday week we will be hosting the WPGA Australasia Tour School.  We have hosted this a few times now and the quality of play is pretty impressive and with nearly $5 million on offer in prize money this coming season for the Pro's, there may well be some extra talent heading to Tour School.  It's always nice to get a change from the normal course set up and it's great for the crew to be able to really showcase the course.  Play is on the River course with a 1 tee start from 7am Monday December 8.    

At last a dry greens renovation week and what a difference it made with the volume of thatch we were able to remove from the West greens.  It was the first time in 3 years that we were able to hollow tine (remove a core) the greens and although only a 7mm diameter core was used the amount of material was huge.  A good definition of thatch is - The intermingled layer of living and dead grass stems, roots and other organic matter that is found between the soil surface and the leaf blades. The biggest benefit of the coring as well as removing thatch, is getting oxygen to the root zone.

We also verti cut the greens at -5mm meaning that the blades cut 5mm deep into the surface.  This was done 3 times up and back then followed by another pass at -2.5mm and a final clean up pass at -1mm.  The video below shows a -5mm pass in action.

 

The greens were sanded on Thursday with a sand containing various amendments and fertilised with a slow release granular product on Friday.  We are aiming for a first mowing on Thursday next week.

The fairway fertiliser that was applied a few weeks ago is showing obvious results and the renovation and follow up fertiliser on the tees is having a similar effect.  I have mentioned many times over the years of the issues we have with shade, not only on greens but also tees.  Both 18 tees have always been badly shaded with a thin cover but thanks to TC Alfred a number of the trees causing the issue blew down.  I can't recall ever seeing both the 18's this healthy at this time of year.

18 R tee.

18W tee.

Although the AGM was postponed due to a lack of a quorum it was nice to hear several members I spoke to comment that the courses are in the best condition they have seen them in.  An absolute credit to the hard working Coolie Tweed course crew.  

A bit of a wild week weather wise with some gusty winds, cold temperatures and the southern lights to top it off.  Weeks like this are always a bit frustrating when the wind swings 180 degrees almost daily so the mess from the leaf litter is magnified.

The River greens have recovered well from the renovation although that is in part due to the weather we experienced which meant we couldn't do as much to the greens as we would have liked.  The West greens renovation is scheduled for next week and the forecast has seemed to shift in our favour a little with not too much rain predicted early next week. 

Players in Wednesday's comp would have seen the helicopter flying relatively low for around an hour in the middle of the day.  They were doing an aerial survey of the course which will result in the Club receiving a topographical plan of the entire property that has a very small tolerance which will enable any future course works to be planned knowing the ground levels.  While they were up there they took some panoramic shots as per below and the clarity of the photo's is nothing short of amazing

60kmh wind gusts = no worries!!

The flight path!!

 

Great view!!

 

In the high res version you can see the balls on the green.

The photos don't come up as clearly when reduced to a size suitable for the Blog but the originals are clear enough to get the number of the Members cart that isn't on the path adjacent to the green on 15R!!

 

Please use the cart paths!!

 

 

A great week of weather with a few welcome showers earlier in the week although the ladies run of outs continued with some rain about during their shotgun on Tuesday.

The maintenance closure on the River course on Tuesday allowed us to get the fairways fertilised and then the slow follow up play after the ladies shotgun meant we got all but 2W fertilised on the West course.  In days gone by many members would wonder how I knew it was going to rain and time my application accordingly but with the new irrigation system that skill is now defunct.  As soon as the fairway is fertilised we are able to immediately run a cycle to wash the product in.  This achieves two main things, it gets the fertiliser prill off the surface and into the turf canopy and thus preventing damage from golf carts and it also means less burn on the leaf as there is less on the surface.  The photo below shows the type of wheel marking we would get previously from an application and what we got this week.

12W wheel burn a couple of years ago.

4W wheel burn this week.

As mentioned the new irrigation system showed it's worth with a precise application following the fertiliser to get it off the surface and then a follow up the night following to start the release.  We expect to get a response although the fairways are under growth regulation so there shouldn't be a surge.  The Kikuyu based fairways weren't fertilised as they are growing well enough and a change of formulation of the growth regulator has us struggling to get a rate that will control them.  5.6 tonne of fertiliser was put out at a rate of 200kg per hectare.  It is a custom blend that is produced to my specification which hasn't changed in 20 years and it works so well for us.  There is some upfront release and then we get up to 3 months of continual release to keep the fairways ticking over.

 

The sprinklers in action.

The white dots in the photo aren't golf balls but are foam drops that indicate driving runs to help with accurate application. 

The West greens renovation is due to happen on Monday November 17 and wouldn't you know it, a rain event has been predicted.  The long term forecaster I have mentioned before has nominated November 18 as the start of a prolonged wet season and he made that call months ago.  All the amateur sites are now almost unanimous with something brewing from November 17 so we will wait and see. 

I am pretty sure this year marks the fourth year in a row where our greens renovation was hampered by rain which is frustrating to say the least.  As with previous years the forecast from the weather bureau was pretty much spot on for Tuesday this week although not sure if they predicted 135mm!!  The courses needed some rain after a very prolonged dry spell but 24 hours later would have been perfect.  We had to adjust the renovation process which meant that not as much as was needed was done due to virtually losing a day.  We were able to get a hollow tine done which means pulling a core which is a great way to remove the thatch in the top surface.  The back 9 River greens are now 26 years old and the front 9 range from 25 to 45 years old so with those ages there is some serious thatch build up.  We still sanded the greens on Tuesday in amongst the rain and topped them up on Thursday then followed with some fertiliser which took till Friday to get it all out.  We are hopeful of a first mow on Tuesday and if all goes to plan the greens should be back down to normal mowing height by COB Tuesday.

Monday was certainly an uncomfortable day with the shed compound recording 37 degrees with not much breeze and it was a credit to the crew to punch out a 12 and a half hour day in those conditions.

The bunkers copped another hiding with the volume of rainfall on Tuesday and the wind blowing debris everywhere.  Once again a great effort by the crew to restore them to a playable condition this week which seems to have been a continual theme for some time now. 

We did have a similar run of weather with a very dry September / October in 2023 and then it started raining and has barely stopped since.  A number of weather websites are predicting rain to start ramping up in November and continuing on into next year.  Let's hope they are wrong.

We took delivery of some new machinery today with a new fairway mower and two tees / collars mowers being delivered.  Getting machinery just prior to, and post Covid, was a difficult task but fortunately things have returned to normal again.  We do run quite a modern fleet which is expertly maintained by our mechanic Mitch who is not often seen on course but makes sure everything is in tip top operating condition in the shed.  Thanks to the Club's Board for their support in ensuring we have such a good reliable fleet too.

 

New fairway mower.

One of the new tees mowers.

 

Four weeks away and only a couple of millimetres of rain.  Maybe I should have gone away earlier when it wouldn't stop raining!!  It's amazing just how fast the courses dried out and the roughs have all but burnt off.  The trees are shedding leaves in the dry conditions and the almost months worth of constant north winds has a lot of debris on the ground.  We have been constantly clearing the main play areas which does leave a lot of leaf debris in the roughs.

The strong southerly wind change on Thursday certainly blew some material down and the bunkers did what they do so well and acted as leaf collectors which means a huge amount of work to get the leaves out.  With the final round of the championships on Saturday the River course was prioritised on Friday and they should be completely clear come the start of play.

6 inches deep in 15R greenside!!

The constant wind and dry conditions has given the new irrigation system a baptism of fire and it has performed very well.  The coverage on the greens is outstanding and likewise the fairways.  There are some areas on the fairways that look dry and they are and that is caused by the soil / sand profile that is completely water repellent.  We have always had these types of areas and then there are fairways like 13R that are just sand mounds and no amount of irrigation water will keep them moist.  It has been a steep learning curve for our Assistant Course Super Simon who has been heavily involved in the complete system installation process as it has been for me upon my return this week.  We don't have an unlimited supply of water so allocating what is available to get the best return is critical in conditions such as these. 

Water repellent dry patches 7W fairway.

 

One of the components of the new pump station is two dosing pumps which means that we can inject a range of products into the water as it leaves the pump shed for distribution across the courses.  The most common material that is injected thru irrigation systems is wetting agents which help enhance water penetration into the soil profile, overcome water repellent soils and help with re-wetting the profile.  We already apply such products to the greens but the new system will allow us to treat all the irrigation water applied to benefit the turf.  Obviously cost will be a determining factor of just how much we treat but anecdotally all other clubs who dose have found major benefits.  Watch this space.

The River greens renovation starts next Monday and for the first time in three years we have a good forecast with only a chance of some rain via a storm on Monday which would be most welcome at around 7pm!!  It's a huge two days for the crew with 2 x 12 hour days on the cards so it's not something we do to deliberately interfere with your golf but a vital operation for the ongoing health of the greens.  With the volume of play we receive the greens really do need a break and a rejuvenation.