A very teasing week with 18mm of rain falling that included a very nice fall of 12mm on Monday night.  It was really just annoying and adds to the humidity and the pressure on the West course bentgrass greens.  At this stage they are still holding well but there is still some heat and humidity to come so mowing heights will stay up to help them survive the rest of summer.

The River course greens were de-thatched and sanded this week.  The de-thatching helps remove thatch as the name implies and the units we use also remove a lot of dead leaf material from the surface as well.  They are effectively slicing blades spaced at 10mm and for this regular type of operation are set level with the surface and the weight of the unit makes it just contact the grass.  The machines go up and back on the same line to ensure consistency.  It is not a major surface disruption but is labour intensive to try and ensure we finish in front of play.  The greens were then sanded to assist in levelling the surface and they are putting quite nicely at the moment.

De thatching head

A calm week wind wise allowed a lot of weed control to take place.  Foreign couchgrass in most of the West greens has been sprayed and a green dye is used to help identify the areas sprayed.  Spraying has also taken place on greens surrounds on both courses and selected fairways and these areas will burn off to a brown color then green up gradually over the coming weeks.  Other fairways were spot sprayed using knapsacks.