Well the rain just continues and it is really starting to affect not just our programs but actual turf health.  We have now recorded rainfall on 59 out of 102 days since December 1 and that means lots of cloudy days and very much reduced sunshine.  We haven't been as humid as locations like Cairns or SE Asia but they have similar light reduction due to their tropical climate and rainy growing season and is one of the reasons you won't find much 328 or even TifEagle on their greens, as those grasses need sunshine and plenty of it to be at their best.  We are still getting good leaf growth but most of the grass we have is starting to thin especially the shorter mown areas and particularly the shaded greens such as 2, 3, 5, 12 and 17R.  Below is a rain chart for our summer just gone and it's a staggering amount of rain.  Yes last year was worse but there were a couple of massive downpours / floods last year that boosted the total.  This year has just been relentless.

 

So 1168mm of rain since December 1 which is nearly 47 inches in the old scale which is pretty mind blowing and from the forecast there is more to come next week.  March so far with 230mm in the first twelve days has the courses, particularly the West, as wet as they could be without being flooded.  The lack of breeze and sunlight has really slowed down the drying process as well.

Thursday was so wet that even we were restricted in where we could drive and areas we could access so we took the opportunity to have ''carts on paths'' and edged the paths.  So they are all nicely trimmed and now we just need to get the carts back out on them.
 

Edged and waiting on 6R.

As I mentioned at the start the lack of sunlight and constant leaf wetness is not helping the fairways either as can be seen in the photos below.  The leaf and profile wetness has quite a bit of disease going rampant but the fairways are too wet to spray although given their size budget dictates that spraying is out of the question.  We have had this type of disease before and it will grow out and recover but it's not helpful when you are getting ready for winter and trying to take the turf in as healthy as possible.  We have a long low / no growth period in winter and lots and lots of golf planned so the turf needs to be ready for it.

Disease in the fairway at 2W.

And it doesn't help when you are as wet as we are and looking for growth that you get players doing this to the fairways, this time on 11R.  

Disappointing.