Probably the busiest Christmas / New Year period we have had for quite a few years on the courses with huge numbers of players out there.  Unfortunately with it comes some less than desirable course etiquette with the bunker boys saying that "they didn't just walk up the faces - they stomped up them"!  It is always hard for us to strike the balance between maintenance and play especially with the early groups playing very quickly.  As a general rule we like to stay in front of the play especially for things like mowing greens and hole changing which are all done on a daily basis.  That isn't always possible with 6am starts and time restrictions on machinery operation.  After the initial set up we then need to go back and work in amongst play to get the job done which often causes angst for players.  Please bear with the crew as they go about their business while you play.

Given the fact that the seagulls have virtually taken up residence on 4 / 9 West dam certainly disproved my thought that it meant rain was on the way!!  And yes we did finish 2019 as the third driest year on record for Tweed Heads.

The West greens are very slow to recover from renovation which is the same as last year.  The greens were solid tine aerated against hollow tine when a core is removed to lessen the surface damage but they have still been set back.  They have also had an outbreak of insects and the high salt levels in the soil and water don't make it easy for them to recover.  It's a bit like human beings, when you are feeling a little down physically just a minor ailment is made worse.  I am very cautious in the amount I feed the greens as they can easily be overfed which can cause excessive thatch build up which only causes significant other problems.  

Rainfall and plenty of it is our friend which is true across the country at the moment.