An unexpected but very welcome 28 mm of rain in the storm on Tuesday night that blew through.  There was a fair bit of wash so not all was of benefit as was the 13 mm the week before but still very handy at this time of year.  I am a big defender of the weather bureau, but it is pretty amazing that it wasn’t forecast in any way shape or form until it was literally on our doorstep. 

We will take it.

The fight against the Poa in the greens is continuing with the rain we have been receiving enough to keep it alive.  I have trialed a product on 10R green and the Tif PPG that I have not had good results with before, but it seems very promising thus far.  5W is still really badly infested and I am giving the product that we are trialing there one more application as it supposedly takes eight weeks and three applications for it to work which is where we are approaching. 

Two of the biggest problems in greens management in Australia over the past couple of years has been the Poa resistance and also a disease complex known as ERI, both of which we have experienced here at Cool Tweed. This years turf conference in Adelaide has dedicated workshops for both these problems and both are going to be interactive so should be great to get a lot of the successes and failures from clubs around Australia. ERI is a  particularly difficult disease to conquer and took us nearly 3 years  which included a change of fertiliser and other management practices but there are many clubs still fighting it. The Poa resistance doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon so this will be very interesting subject and it is a world wide problem. 

A big week on the courses with the WPGA Tour Q School 36 hole event on Monday and Tuesday and the turf being laid on the re-configured 4R fairway on Monday.  The tour school didn't hit off until 8am from one tee only which gave us ample time for course preps and despite the low number in the field we did as good a prep as possible.  It's amazing the difference five staff members with ample time properly preparing bunkers can make.  We generally have two maximum raking and they nearly have to run to get the bunkers raked in front of play so it was a bit of a luxury with all that time.  The course looked a treat and the greens rolled perfectly for the players who were from all reports very complimentary.

And just on the West greens please don't forget to repair your pitchmarks.  Incoming balls don't break the surface like the old bentgrass days but the greens still receive damage which not only injures the grass leaf but also affects the putting surface.

 

Two untouched pitchmarks 13W green.

A favourable forecast of rain allowed us to get five tonne of fertiliser out on to the West course on Thursday.  Unfortunately a tractor breakdown cost some time otherwise more would have gone out.  The River course tees were done on Friday morning so a few more showers would be nice.  It's normal to get leaf burn after the fertiliser goes out and this effect will grow out soon.  We didn't do the ''blue couch fairways'' as we call them as they are growing pretty well on their own with those fairways being 1, 13, 14, 16 and 18 on the West course. 

Buggy tracks evident after the fert on 12W.

It's interesting this season we have been really going hard after some weeds via spot spraying in these fairways which is the safest way due to the low herbicide tolerance of both the blue couch and kikuyu.  But we have had an unexpected recovery of ''green couch'' in the treated areas which is the predominant and preferred grass type elsewhere on the courses.  The boxed area below is the regenerating green couch after a successful spraying which has never happened before. 

Note the colour difference in the turf?

A week of irrigation issues that cost us 70 man hours doing the repairs which is a huge drain on already tight staffing numbers.  It started last Saturday morning with a blowout on 12R fairway and is actually still ongoing with issues at the short range still not fully resolved.  As part of the repair last Saturday we had to re-prime the system due to the volume of water lost which means blowing the air out of as many sprinkler locations as possible.  I was doing just that when I noticed one of the greenside bunkers on 12R and a player had made no attempt to repair his shot area.  That was within the first six groups of the Monthly Medal so you can't always blame the social players!!

 

Not the best way to start a Saturday.

Wasn't a social player.

 

A lot of work is also being put into keeping the bunkers playable.  Their natural form of being a depression means they are virtually leaf collectors and with the constant winds and the trees shedding bark they are particularly bad at this time of year.  For this mornings competition preps there were five staff members blowing, raking and then mulching the debris on the outside of the bunker.  So nearly 40% of available staff worked the bunkers for the first four hours this morning.

 

Leaves out of LHS 4R to allow raking.

Mulching the leaves before they blow back in.

LHS 5W the day after being completely overhauled and cleaned.

On top of the wind it doesn't help when anywhere up to 600 players are on the courses most days and lots of those have no idea about raking a bunker or indeed playing a shot, or in most cases - shots.  With that amount of play there is an incredible amount of sand moved in the bunkers every day which adds even further to the workload and to be frank we would need a staff of fifty to keep up with bunker maintenance to make them perfect.  But they are a hazard the same as a dam is where you lose a shot every time you go in one yet bunkers get all the press!!  The photo below is one I've used before but if even half that amount of sand is moved every time a shot gets played in a bunker its easy to see why the sand depths vary so much.

Sand wedge or shovel?

 

Another short week over and a great effort from the boys in getting the courses into the condition they are in.  After a second consecutive long weekend it is always a bit daunting come Tuesday morning and you wonder if we will ever catch up, particularly with the amount (and type) of play we are getting.  It is very hard to be productive in amongst 500+ players each day with a large number hitting it sideways but somehow the boys get it done.  With that many players it is impossible to keep up with everything, particularly bunkers, but looking at the courses this afternoon is pretty satisfying.  The weather also co-operated with 32mm of rain falling in the evening storms this week which was just what the doctor ordered.

We have been super busy but across the country at Wembley Golf in Perth which is a local council run 36 hole course, they had 850 golfers listed on the timesheet last Tuesday with more than 350 playing on the mini golf course as well.  Oh and in the 80 bay driving range, 76,000 balls were hit. 

Most Supers around the world when asked what their favorite product is answer '"Primo," which is the growth regulator that is most commonly used on turf.  We use it across all playing surfaces here at Tweed and it allows us to control the growth to such an extent that even in fairly favourable growth conditions we can get through a four day week-end with no excessive growth noticeable, on fairways in particular.  The timing of the applications has to be just right to have the effect at its greatest when needed and we hit the mark perfectly this year.  I really don't know what we did before the introduction of the product although I do remember when it first came out and the rep excitedly blurted out that it will stop your fairways from growing.  That was when I was in Melbourne without fairway irrigation and my reply was that the Couch in Melbourne really only grows for a few weeks and I want to enjoy watching it thanks very much!!

Next week we will be starting to reshape 4R fairway to allow for the water to move off the fairway to a collection area to the right of the fairway where it will be piped down to a drainage sump next to 6R tee.  The work is planned for next Thursday and Friday with the turf being laid the following Monday.  During the works and turf establishment the hole will be played as a par 3 for workers and turf safety.

Some amazing shots on social media of the wild weather battering the Monterey Peninsula and indeed the whole west coast of the USA.  Along 17 Mile Drive there is a famous ''Lone Pine'' that has been there seemingly forever and the top of the tree is 150 feet above sea level.

The lone Pine with waves smashing it.

In calmer times.

Next door at Monterey Peninsula CC a tidal surge inundated part of the lower lying area of the their two courses as pictured below.  Although not a common occurrence it has happened before and most certainly will again but dealing with that much salt water across cool season turf is not good to say the least.

 

And there I was thinking how we were going to come back from this bit of flood damage last year!!  March 1, 2021 won't be a day I will forget for a while.

1R green just 10 months ago.