Another week of glorious weather on the courses including 2 lots of rainfall with 18mm in each.  The storm on Tuesday was the most impressive with the 18mm falling in about 10 minutes and fortunately we escaped any major damage to the courses, particularly the bunkers.  The grass is still really growing and 6 fairways were treated with growth regulator this week to slow them down which is amazing for this time of year.  The weather bureau issued a "special climate statement" this week relating to the recent warm weather with the key points being; 

• Numerous records approached or set for temperatures above thresholds. For example:
  • Melbourne—13 consecutive May days above
    20 °C (previous record 11)
  • Sydney—19 consecutive days above 22 °C (previous record 9)
  • Adelaide—16 days in a row above 20 °C (previous record 15)
• Warmest May on record for South Australia and third-warmest nationally 
• We have now recorded above-average national mean temperatures for 21 of the last 22 months
• Year-to-date (January to May) temperature anomaly for Australia is +0.84 °C. 

 The full statement can be viewed here

   http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/statements/scs49.pdf

There is not very much to report off the courses this week although once again damage to the greens by players was clearly evident.  The photo below shows the damage caused by an early morning player dragging their feet and scuffing the surface but thankfully they were playing the River course with the Couchgrass greens as the same action on the West course Bentgrass greens would have caused severe damage.

Scuff marks across 17R green

The West greens will be aerated with the "Verti Drain" machine next week which is a deep solid tine aeration where we should be able to get 150 - 200mm depth.  The greens are rolled immediately after and there should be little or no surface disruption.  The River greens will then be done with the smaller "Pro Core" machines to help allow some much needed air exchange.