And still it rains

Well so much for the boys efforts restoring the bunkers!!  Another 35mm until 4 pm today and we are not quite back to where we started with the bunker damage but once again it re-enforces how good the re-constructed River bunkers are again when it rains heavily.  Given the week end forecast of a “few” showers the River bunkers will again be fully playable whereas the West bunkers will be a mess.  Still it could be worse with Colonial GC expecting to go under water completely today and Royal Pines trying to renovate their greens this week. 

Hopefully the weather pattern will settle for a couple of weeks for the following works planned on CTH;

• Plugging out the foreign Couch areas in the River greens has started and will continue next week.  A couple of the larger areas on the practice and 7^th green will be turfed out next Tuesday.
• Preparations for the River greens renovation will start next week with the greens collars being scarified on the most suitable day.  This is a time consuming operation and one that we don’t have time to do on Monday the 18^th when the course is closed.  It also requires dry conditions.   Greens scarifying and hollow tyning will start on Sunday week and will continue through Monday with the bulk of the greens sanding taking place on the Tuesday.  Soil amendments based on recent soil tests will also be added.  Greens renovations are not a pleasant time for the grounds staff with the long hard hours required nor golfers with the disruption but please bear with us over these necessary works.
• The 3^rd and 15^th River men’s tees will have some trees removed at the back of them and the teeing ground extended.  This extension is not to gain any length but to level out the back teeing area which is almost non existent on either tee and to improve overall turf quality.
• The front bunker on the 17^th River green is to have a grass face installed as a trial to overcome balls plugging in the sand face and to observe playability.  Over the years we have trialed every option known to prevent the ball plugging with little or no success and this is a last resort.  It’s not just as easy as throwing some turf on the sand with the bunker being re shaped by an excavator to achieve a shape that is conducive to mowing and playability.  Obviously balls will no longer plug in the sand as there won’t be any but some other courses have found the grass to be harder to play out of and maintain.  Time will tell.
• The fan at the 17^th West should also be installed in about 2 weeks.  The installation of the power will take the longest time with 315 metres of trenching required.  The first 50 metres will be done by hand as the feed comes from the pump shed and there is a litany of underground services in that area that we can’t afford to damage.
• The oversown shaded tees will also be re-turfed following the greens renovation as well as a few other worn out areas.
• Ohh, and all the above takes place whilst the staff will be restoring rain damaged bunkers and preparing the courses for the Junior Classic, Inter district teams event, Ladies Medal events and the regular 220 golfers we have turn up every other day on each course!!  Not to mention the roughs growing wild with the moisture and warmth!!  Let’s hope for some drier weather conditions so the works proceed to plan and some golf can be played.