West greens

The West greens renovation got off to a trial run today with the 16th West green having a strip done as a test.  This year we have a new aerating / coring machine in use and we needed to try it out on a green to make sure it did exactly what we require and not find out on Sunday afternoon that we need to make some adjustments.  The machine worked exceptionally well and will reduce our time coring which allows more time for the other required works.  The new machine signals an end to an era of coring on Coolie Tweed as we have employed a contractor to assist us for the last 25 years and have used an Australian developed machine known as a "Coremaster".  Brett Micklewright was the contractor and as a former CTH greenkeeper Brett was an outstanding person to have assisting us through the hectic time of renovation.  Brett has wound back his business and that was one of the reasons we purchased a new machine  Here's hoping the weather is nice and fine for us on Monday and Tuesday.

And just on another topic and on the other side of the world, I follow the blog of Gordon McKie, the Course Manager at The Old Course at St Andrews, with whom I toured around the USA a few years ago.  This week Gordon reported; "Over the last week we have seen pretty bad conditions here in St Andrews with excessive rainfall which has caused some major flooding on the course. We have had in excess of 60mm of rain since the weekend and as you will see from my picture the Swilcan Burn is nearing overflowing. High tides are predicted for this afternoon and the possibility of the burn bursting its banks is a worry, so we have started to sand bag the front of the 1st green to protect that area."   That's right just 60mm of rain to cause major flooding!  It just goes to show how different golf courses are in different parts of the world and that it is nigh on impossible to compare golf courses across the globe with any reliability.