Not the greatest way to start the week with an irrigation leak at the rear of 13R green.  Remarkably it was on a pipe that we didn't know existed which has been the case a number of times over the years on the courses.  One of the most famous is a 100mm mainline that runs up 18R fairway that we have tested and found to be live but we have no idea where it goes.  Fortunately this time a backhoe was on site for some other course works and was able to dig the rather deep large hole for us.  What is also remarkable is that the pipe was there throughout construction of the green and survived unscathed.

Not a great start!!

And speaking of greens, this year marks the 20th anniversary of the conversion of the back 9 River greens from Bentgrass to 328.  Wow how time flies!! 

We demonstrated an electric greens mower this week for the first time.  There have been a few hybid mowers mixing a combination of diesel and electrics but this is the first full electric I have tried.  It only got 12 greens done before losing charge and that was on the flat West greens so it would have more of a battle on the sloping River greens.  The quality of cut was quite good but losing charge so quickly is a concern.  Watch this space.

We finished up with nearly 60mm of rain this week and once again the majority was good soaking rain and the courses lapped it up.  A couple of irrigation repair holes were dug this week and it is still very dry under the surface.  We certainly fared better than Byron Bay who copped in excess of 120mm for the week.  It was amazing how coastal the rain was though with very little if any reaching out west where it is desperately needed.  And once again you couldn't knock the weather bureau who had tipped the rain for almost a week.