The week got off to a great start when we were able to get West greens mini renovation completed on Monday afternoon and Tuesday. The Greens received a deeper than normal de-thatch followed by 100mm deep solid tine aeration, and then a sanding.  It was just what they needed to allow for some good air exchange and levelling with the River greens receiving the same treatment next week.  The video below shows the perfect ball roll immediately after the sand was rubbed in and the rain late in the week just topped them off.

The River fairways had four tonne of fertiliser applied to them on Thursday morning in front of the rain so at least the rain was good for something.  Unfortunately the Vets were playing an ambrose event and we couldn't get them all done in front of play so 2, 13 and 18 will have to wait which is a shame as it would be nice for them to all be on the same timeframe.

And speaking of rain we picked up 68mm for the week which was very much needed and apart from Friday didn't really ineterfere wit golf to any degree. 

One of the very necessary jobs that we do that players don't get to see is the machinery maintenance that goes on in the shed.  Craig Plowman is our mechanic and does an extraordinary job almost single handedly keeping our fleet operational.  We are lucky to have a fairly modern fleet but the range of servicing and repair work is quite extensive and ranges from hydraulics, auto electrics, diesel and petrol engines, not to mention cylinder mowers that need to be set to mow greens at 3mm.  To assist in the greens mower set up we have a grinder that helps sharpen the cylinders after new bedknives (baseplates) are fitted as they were this week to the West mowers.  That takes Craig and an assistant a total of 16 man hours to remove and replace the bedknives and grind them.

 

Our reel grinder and a greensmower head.