The temperature finally dived below 20 this morning for the first time since mid December which was a welcome relief.  The day time temperature has also fallen below 30 which is the first time probably this year.  Soil temperatures have also dropped which are critical in 2 ways the first being that the bentgrass roots can start growing again and the couchgrass roots start going to sleep.

85 mm of rain also fell this week with the big one on Tuesday morning that dumped 50mm in an hour just before the ladies were due to hit off.  Unfortunately most of this water ran off the courses but a couple of follow up overnight fall have been very welcome.  We were able to take advantage of no play on Tuesday and got the West greens solid tined which allows for some much needed air exchange after such a long hot summer.  Unfortunately a machinery malfunction caused some tearing on 2 and 11 but the benefits to the greens far outweigh this negative.

The 2016 Masters has been and gone and despite all the commentary about Jordan Spieth's woes I couldn't help but admire his conduct in the face of such an adverse situation.  Truly remarkable for a 22 year old to have such a demeanor  A couple of things that I did notice was the amount of sponsorship on the players clothing. Perhaps it was against the backdrop of the one dimensional green colour of the course which is something that Russ Davis commented on upon returning that the whole course was the same colour green, apart from the parched greens that is.  It would be interesting to see the players devoid of the logos like the old days.

The olde no logo cardigan look!!

And below is a photo of the fairway mowers doing their thing.  The fairways are all mown in the one direction from the green back to the tee and I can count 13 in the photo which was the number of staff I had in today to maintain the full 36 holes @ Cool Tweed!!!
 

 

And this is some of the volunteers at work!!