Probably the toughest greens renovation I have done here thanks to the weather.  Constant showers throughout Monday then a dump of 36mm Monday night and more rain through Tuesday really hampered the operation.  We had a similar storm after day one last year that caused significant ''wash'' on the greens as well, that has to be rubbed off before any other works which further delayed us.  I have said many times before that the drier the conditions the better.  What made it more frustrating was the rain during the day seemed to be localised on us and you could see blue skies and clear conditions to the west throughout the day.  The wet conditions also made picking up the cores more laborious with almost every core having to be hand shovelled off the greens.  We did get a break on Tuesday afternoon when things dried a little but it was a hard slog.

It was too wet to get any of the hand applied amendments out on Tuesday so that was reserved for Thursday when lo and behold it rained again.  We persevered though and kudos to the three staff who battled through some pretty disgusting weather to get the job done.  The weather was so bad that only six veterans turned up to play and the ladies completely cancelled which at least gave us the course to ourselves. 

The topdressing sand was also an issue as it needs to be dry to rub in properly and that was an almost impossibility given the weeks weather.  The sand we use is amended with a number of products that are blended at the sand suppliers yard.  One of the products is humate and it and the sand it is being mixed with need to be relatively dry to obtain a satisfactory blend.  Unfortunately with all the rain we have been getting that hasn't been possible so there are some small ''balls'' on the greens which are just compacted humate and will get broken up by the mowers when we get to them.

The greens will look a little different from each other as some were only hollow tyne aerated while other were both de-thatched and hollow tyned.  It was probably the softest renovation the greens have had due to the weakness of the turf after a very poor turf growing winter. 

Seemed to be fine out west most of the week.

 

Balls of humate.

We were probably lucky that the idiot four wheel driver who decided a golf course was a good place to do some burnouts only damaged the end of the long range and not nearby greens, tees or fairways.

End of the long range.

 

And very pleasing to see that Royal Melbourne GC Superintendent Richard Forsyth was inducted in to the Victorian golf industry hall of fame last night.  It's not often that Supers are included in such illustrious company but when you are one of the best in the world then it's fitting that the golf industry recognises you as we are a vital cog in the game.  I spoke to Richard today and he quipped ''Illustrious company indeed and I have the distinction of being the worst golfer in the group''.  Congratulations to a very good old friend.