The West greens renovation went off really well this week with nice dry sunny weather which resulted in the perfect renovation conditions.  The greens actually kicked along a bit last weekend with the warmer temperatures but I still didn't consider them healthy enough to work them really hard.  They received a double de-thatching which compares to a quadruple scarify and double de-thatch last year so surface disruption was at a minimum. They were then hollow tine aerated which means a core is removed and then the cores were rubbed back in to the surface.  The remaining dry thatchy remnants were then blown off before amended sand was applied to fill the holes.  The sand is amended with gypsum and organic humate.  A 12:10:11 (NPK) granular fertiliser with additional magnesium was then applied to all greens.  On Tuesday afternoon about all you could see was sand but already today the turf leaves are pushing back through.

Some of the ''chaff'' extracted from the West greens.

 

I mentioned last week about the sudden dry snap and it being severe enough for drainage lines to start showing.  Well that continued this week with many more showing up including two that I have never seen before.  A herringbone drainage system has ''appeared'' on 16W fairway and the rising sewer main from the clubhouse has shown up on 9W fairway together with a drainage line from the front of the maintenance shed.  I don't think the drainage lines on 16W work as that was our wettest section of fairway this year!!

 

Herringbone drainage @ 16W.

Sewer main at the top and drainage line below.

If the weather co-operates next week we will be lifting some turf on the edge of River greens 3 and 12 where the collar has built up and is now preventing water from running off the green causing water to pool and injure the turf.  They are only quite minor adjustments but very necessary.  I say ''if the weather co-operates'' as there is a fair bit of rain in the forecast and to be honest we could do with a good drop!! 

And just like that we are back to full nearly full irrigation across both courses.  It seems like two years since we have had irrigation going out at this level and it seems weird to see the dry patch areas around the courses.  Even the drain lines are showing up in some areas which is also weird to see.  It's certainly a bit different from trying to keep them clear and draining that's for sure.

Drain line evident on 18R.

 

The difference in the River greens recovery from renovation with the warmth of the past week is most welcome with some good solid growth helping them fill in quite nicely and the benefit of the various amendments that were applied to them now most evident.  We were able to get another sanding on to them on Thursday this week which helps level the surface out as we lower the mowing height.

 

Rubbing the sand in on 11R.

The West greens renovation is planned to go ahead next Monday and for the first time in a very long time there is no rain in the forecast.  It will still be a less agreesive renovation with the greens still weakened from the lack of sunlight this year.  We had planned a couple of fertiliser applications for them this week but they couldn't happen due to the windy conditions.  We were able to get the greens collars scarified which is a great head start and we also got the tees on both courses aerated.  

It was good to get away for a break but the weather in WA was appalling with rain every day and a couple of single digit temperature days.  At least it improved a little here but still nowhere near November temperatures yet.

Those low temperatures still have the River greens recovering very slowly from their renovation.  I have spoken to several clubs around SE Queensland and they are all in the same boat after such a tough time with the weather since the floods and near record playing numbers causing plenty of wear and therefore stress on the plant.  We were able to get another sanding out on Tuesday and are planning to repeat the dose again next Tuesday which will help level the surface up while the mowing height is coming back down.  

The West greens renovation is scheduled for next Monday week and like the River greens it will be a much lighter than normal reno.  TifEagle doesn't really like heavy thatch removal so in their current state of health once again we will concentrate on aeration via core removal.  The soil tests for the West greens are much better than the River but there will still be some amendments added and they will be incorporated in the sand that is applied as a top dressing. 

Finally got to clean most of the courses up today with a break in the wind that has been relentless with leaf debris strewn across the courses making mowing and raking difficult.  And we had probably the most difficult irrigation repair we have encountered this week with a pipe splitting in two places at the same time.  What made it so bad was that it was almost wrapped around the Norfolk Pine at the back of 13R green.  Hand digging was not an option although the irrigation team tried for a while.  Fortunately our backhoe operator Pete McConnell came to the rescue and helped us out.  Then the fun came with the first section of pipe being what is known as ''rural poly'' and the next section a low density type of poly pipe that we have never encountered before and that fittings were not available.  A bit of ''engineering'' to make up some fittings and hopefully we have got it right.  The pipe doesn't appear on any of the rather scratchy plans we have and would probably date from more than fifty years ago.

The ''trench'' at 13R green!!  And digging it below!!