What a beautiful week of weather to come back to after recuperating at home for two weeks following some surgery on my hand.  Some really good temperatures and the days are getting longer so light intensity is improving which all combines to help the turf.  It even felt a bit stormy this afternoon so hopefully the warmth will keep up.

A couple of weeks ago the edges of the West greens were sprayed to control some broadleaf weeds and some Poa annua that had germinated in the perimeter cut line.  We got a great result on the broadleaf and a poor result on the Poa so it is obviously one of the resistant strains.  We also got a leaf tip burn on the Tif that should grow out without any long term problem.  Speaking of resistant Poa annua we have finally had a great result with the Poa literally melting out on River greens 3, 7 and 10.  Not as good a result in the longer surrounds but great in the greens.

Tip burn at 5W green edge.

Along with the warmer temperatures we are also starting to dry out with normal low winter rainfall figures occurring that will hopefully continue given the deluges of the past two years.  The general drying out will really start to show the benefits of the root pruning that was done along side the fairways in June.  You can already see some of the lines starting to show as per the one below which is on LHS 2R fairway.  Unfortunately due to irrigation / drainage and other services we are unable to do a lot of the pruning close to greens and tees which is a shame.

 

Cut line evident on 2R.

I don't think bunkers have ever been a non-topic at any golf club anywhere in the world.  Since the Covid playing restrictions have been lifted and the rakes returned to the bunkers we have been raking more often.  Staff numbers dictate just how often we can rake and it certainly isn't every day.  Raking bunkers is something that players can do to assist in the maintenance of the course every time they play a shot and the old saying of leaving the bunker as you would like to find it is just so true.  The photo below is of LHS 4R green yesterday morning.  I guess after you have played ten shots and nearly stepped on the rake you would be too tired to pick it up and use it !

Really?

And an amazing story from the last couple of weeks of golf, in particular women's golf.  It was interesting to see the stark contrast between the men's and women's games at the Olympics.  The men tore the place up with wedges in hand for most second shots whereas the ladies were playing some much longer clubs in and it almost looked a different golf course, and to my eye was more entertaining to watch.  And last weekend's US ladies amateur was played at one of the first courses I ever visited and played in the US @ Westchester CC.  So I tuned in and the course was as expected - immaculate.  An interesting story about the winner, Jensen Castle who was injured prior to the tournament and only played because she had an exemption.  She fired 79 in the first round of qualifying and then somehow got into a playoff to qualify for the matchplay with twelve other players for two spots.  In her semi final she came from dormy 2 down to win on the 19th with a twelve foot birdie putt.  The other amazing thing is that Castle used the same ball over the final five rounds and slept on the floor of a friends house because she had only booked three nights in a hotel expecting an early exit!!