I mentioned last week that one of the more unusual aspects of the flood was the appearance of the two cows and this week we had another strange result from the floods.  We have lost at least 75 bunker rakes that have obviously floated away in the flood waters which has never happened on this scale before.  Bunker rakes are in short supply in Australia at the moment, we have had some on order since December, so we will be a bit short on the number of rakes in the bunkers.

All the West course bunkers were raked on Thursday and although there are still some washouts the bunkers are certainly fully playable and will be deemed ''in play'' from Friday March 18.  The two greenside bunkers on 1R will remain GUR for the near future as they require some significant work to restore them. 

There are still some very wet areas including the short range and the bunker adjacent to the green.  The bunker raking machine nearly got bogged and I don't recall the ground staying so boggy for this long and the target green in the middle of the range is also sodden.  It is probably a lot to do with the high water table. 

The West greens got a de-thtatching on Tuesday afternoon in the dry which as mentioned previously is a big advantage and they were due to be sanded after the Vets shotgun start on Thursday but unfortunately the spreader broke down just prior to starting so hopefully the part arrives and we get them sanded next Tuesday as part of the course preparation for the NSW Ladies Open that is five and a bit weeks away.