The great weather continues and I don't think I have seen the fairways growing like this at this time of year before.  The weather last Saturday in particular was extraordinary with the weather station in the maintenance compound recording 32 degrees.  Compare that to the weather that southern Australia experienced and you are very glad you live up here.  Football matches were called off due to players suffering from hypothermia and golf almost impossible to play with sleet and snow falling.  The photo below is from The National GC south of Melbourne.

Too cold for golf??

I had a couple of comments this week about why the West greens are being done when they are so good  with which I agree right at the moment but when you cast your mind back to the problems they experience in summer the changeover is well overdue.  I was also asked about how good they were last Saturday in the heat and that they didn't seem to suffer which is easily explained by the soil temperatures.  With the colder overnight temperatures the soil doesn't get the chance to heat up which happens in summer when the roots are literally cooked.  The works will only be quite short term pain for long term gain for the Club.

And it was nice to see another club post a photo of unrepaired pitch marks on a green which I did a few years ago to prove that we are not alone with the problem.  The photo below is from Glenelg GC in Adelaide and there are 700 balls on the green sitting on poorly repaired pitch marks.  They actually didn't get all the marks covered in time before play started coming through!!

700 pitch marks!!

Back to work and was greeted by some lovely winter weather and the courses in great condition thanks to the efforts of my Assistant Simon and crew.  About the closest I came to a golf course over the past three weeks was a putt putt course in Lithuania!!

The temporary greens on the back 9 West will be oversown on next Monday weather permitting.  This has always been the plan but had to be delayed until the effect of a pre- emergent herbicide has hopefully dissipated enough to allow the seed to germinate.  The areas will be roped off so as to keep cart and foot traffic off them to allow for the seed to strike.

A very busy couple of months of golf ahead so it will be nice if the weather continues, particularly the lack of wind which keeps the courses clean and allows staff hours to be deployed elsewhere.  We will be doing some root pruning next Thursday with a machine that was used a few years back that causes little or no damage to the surface but slices through the roots.  A couple of courses in Melbourne have done their entire course with great results. 

And a couple of photos below that need no explanation but makes you wonder why signs are put out on golf courses.  I do know one course that covered their bunkers with wire to protect them and several courses do the same thing to protect the back tee areas from unauthorised play.

Putt putt in Lithuania!!