A further 20mm of rain was just what we needed early in the week and with the fertiliser that was already out there and then some more during the week the playing surfaces are gearing up nicely with winter approaching. It might sound strange to be talking about winter when it’s still so warm but it is very important to make sure there is a full cover of healthy grass as a platform leading in to the cooler months.  The days are already shortening and shade is becoming an issue on the greens.  A couple of photos below show the effect of shade already on 13 and 15 River greens and it is only mid April.

The northern side of east / west aligned fairways like 2, 4, 5, 11 and 12 River along with 7 West all start to struggle with the lack of direct sunlight.  All these areas received some extra fertiliser 2 weeks ago to help them along but good light is what they really need. You may have read elsewhere on the club website where Club Captain Dave Morrison mentioned the trees at the rear of 15R green are to be removed.  This will help a huge amount of light to reach the playing surfaces and will have an immediate effect on the playing surfaces on greens 15W, 3R and even 2W as well as the three tees in the area.  A couple of years ago the Cadagi trees at the rear of 9W green were removed which saw an instant improvement to 9 green.

13 R green shade at 12 noon today

15 R green shade at 1.30 pm today

And I must sound like a broken record but it's most disheartening when the hard work is put in all week and the courses are in excellent condition that someone could come out and do this to 120 metres from the green on 16 West fairway late Friday afternoon.  It explains the 6 big juicy unrepaired pitchmarks I found on the green though!! 

And on a lighter note over the years I have been asked to help people in all sorts of situations on a golf course.  Clubs stuck up trees or on the bottom of a dam, players needing a toilet in a hurry, finding a players buggy and clubs after it "disappeared" (yes that happened), relaunching a houseboat that had run aground and even retrieving one of Club Pro Russ Davis' hire buggies from a creek.

Bad buggy driving!!

But I received a phone call on Wednesday this week from a rather frantic female who's RV was "stuck and I need some help".  Somehow she had gotten all the way to the end of the levee bank road adjacent to 8 River fairway and was unable to turn around.  The photo below shows where she got to about 150 metres past 2 River tee.  It's hard enough to get that far up on my motorbike let alone in a rig that big.  Somehow I got her out without a scratch!!

How did she get that far?