All in all a very satisfying week with the weather co-operating and the courses playing very well for the Queensland championships. It was pretty hectic early in the week with four tee 6.30am starts but the crew did a great job with the preparation in the time available. One thing of notice with the elite players was the condition of the hole at the end of play. On Tuesday there were 160 players on the West course and the cup could have been used again the next day. Just shows the difference of not having players using their ball retrievers to get the ball out of the hole or yanking out the ball out with the flagstick and damaging the edge of the hole in the process as we normally experience, which means we are changing holes every day of the week.

Could go another round.

 

The fine weather also has the courses drying out which is kind of exciting and it has got to the stage that I have had to program some fairway irrigation which is the first for a long time I can assure you. Even the root pruning on the side of the fairways is already starting to take effect and you can see distinct lines coming up between the areas where the roots are still active and those that are non-active. Photo below is of 11R fairway and the difference is quite distinct. I took the soil moisture meter out to check the levels and to be honest was pretty amazed to find the difference between the two sides. The area where the roots are still active was at 7% and the area where the roots have been severed was at 21.3% which is a massive difference. The root pruner may just be one of the best machines I think I've ever purchased.

Amazing diffrerence already.

 

Readout from area on right.

Readout from area on left.

 

Another great week of weather and it certainly bought the golfers out again with hardly any room to work.  A couple of afternoon course closures gave us the chance to get a de-thatch in on both courses but the volume of play meant that the greens didn't get solid tined.  We did however get 2 and 12R greens tined as they are really struggling with the wear which is compounded by the amount of shade they receive.  The de-thatch did exactly what it is meant to do and that is removing a lot of dead and decaying plant matter in the top surface of the greens.

The non-shaded tees have also held up through the winter which is a bonus because when I heard we were hosting the Queensland Championships next week at the same time as the Club Championships, I was a little concerned but the tees have been well managed and still have some grass.  Disappointing when next weeks supposed ''elite'' players come to your club and play from wherever they like and chop the courses to pieces practising though.

We got the chance this week to get the root pruning machine out on to some fairways to help relieve some compaction and get some much needed air to the rootzone.  The machine is actually a large slicer and has the bonus of cutting roots while it aerates.  We concentrated on the fairways that were really wet and holding water over the past months. 

Congratulations to the crew for the work they have put in on the courses this week with lower than usual numbers thanks to some annual leave.  I think the courses will play very well for the 2 championships being conducted over the coming weeks.  Prepping the West course for tomorrow wasn't easy with 250 players out there today and a couple of those groups playing ambrose so lots of chopping up on the fairways.

Another huge week of play with the Vets week of golf and the other course full most days.  At the golf management meeting on Tuesday I mentioned how busy the courses have been and said to head Pro Jared that there must have been 500 players last Friday.  He answered with ''actually there were 550'', and I would suggest today would be the same.  The courses are just about worn out to be honest with very little growth happening which is obviously usual for this time of year so bring on some warm sun.

With the volume of play this week and a desire to stay out of the way of the Vets fields, there were a lot of small jobs picked up around the courses that have been nagging for a while.  We were also able to paint the couch runners that have encroached into the West greens which is a slow and tedious job but very necessary.

Literally painting the encroachment.

 

Next week we have a couple of afternoon course closures to allow us some maintenance time in the lead up to a crazily busy month of golf.  The goal is to get the greens on both courses solid tined and de-thatched early next week and hopefully get the tees solid tined as well but the weather will play a major factor in what gets done.  

And whilst not golf, below is a pretty good video of laying the turf on the playing surface at the new Allianz stadium in Sydney.  First game on the turf will be on September 2.

 

A couple of very nice days this week and some warmth in the sun, which was probably not enough to get the grass moving but very enjoyable for work and golf.  And by the look of the number of players on the courses on Friday lots of people agree it's good weather for golf!!

A busy work week on the courses with the West greens getting a solid tine aeration which was the second time in three weeks which only helps benefit the greens by getting air into the rootzone with virtually no surface disruption.  We are only penetrating about 100mm but that is just perfect for this time of year.

We were also able to get a de-thatching done on the River greens this week as well.  The video below shows the machine in operation and you can see virtually all the material being pulled out is brown and therefore dead which helps with the health of the green and assists the putting surface as well.  A mow straight after and you could barely tell anything had happened even though more than two cubic metres of material was removed.

The fairways also got a liquid fertilise this week which helps with a little bit of leaf growth at this time of year but certainly assists in the colour.

 

 

A busy time coming up with the Vets week of golf next week.  I'm not sure how many times they have run it but I am pretty sure there has only been one day rained out over the years and the weather is generally perfect so very much looking forward to it.  Also looking forward to the way the course is left thanks to the players and the volunteer spotters, rakers and rangers.

And with all the shenanigans in golf going on I saw these stats this week which are quite extraordinary.  Tiger Woods was the #1 golfer for 683 weeks and it took Federer (310) + Djokovic (373) to match that number in tennis.  Out of interest Norman was 331 weeks and only DJ and Rory have spent more than 100 weeks at the top.