Probably the biggest irrigation blowout we have ever had happened last weekend.  A 100mm mainline running alongside the cart path at 12W blew out and unfortunately directed all the water under the path which totally undermined it.  The photo below doesn't do it justice as the hole is about a metre deep and four or five metres in length and that's why the entire area is roped off.  We will need a sizeable excavator and haven't been able to get one until next week when the area we fully rectified.

Most of the irrigation installation work that has been done here has been done in a similar fashion but this one was totally different, and the pipe was the deepest we have ever seen on the course and was actually down in the water table sand.  Fortunately the water table is down at the moment so we were able to work relatively dry and complete the repair.

 

Into the abyss.

The green waste pile adjacent to 6R fairway was mulched this week with nearly 1000 cubic metres of material being removed from the course with the large bulk of it going to the Condong power station.

It’s amazing how golf has changed over the years and the gadgets that are used to play the game.  When I first started there would be a sandbox alongside the tee that you would take a handful of sand out and use that for your tee to play off.  It's now progressed to some of these creations below that I can assure you a reel mower that is set to mow grass doesn't like coming in contact with.  Even the old wooden tees did enough damage but these are reel killers !!

There's not much give in these !!

 

And today we farewelled our mechanic Craig Plowman after 32 and a half years service to the club.  Enjoy your travels Plow.....you've earned it.

Well Tuesday nights storm was one of the weirdest ones I have ever seen both in ferocity and damage caused.  A few people have likened it to a tornado which may well have been right as it had a very distinctive path that it travelled.  13, 16 and 17W green areas seemed to bear the brunt of it with the most damage happening there as it cut its way across the courses.  I don't recall seeing the amount of leaf debris that was down on those greens from the trees on the western side but then at the northern end of the property on 4R green there wasn't a single leaf despite having all the trees on its western side as well.  The rain gauge is adjacent to the shed and we only recorded 1.2mm whereas there were reports of up to 25mm in parts of Banora Point.  A massive clean got under way at dawn on Wednesday and by lunchtime Friday we had all playing surfaces cleared of the debris.  And then the wind started gusting up to 40kmh again!!  A few shots below:

LHS 11R fairway rough after fairway blowing.

8W green before blowing.

 

8W green after.

13W green.

 

One of the more unusual things the following day was some hail over a drain at the rear of 17R green that hadn't thawed and this photo was taken at 8.30am Wednesday morning.  But we can count our blessings that the hail wasn't the size of the hail that pelted a course in the USA last week !!

That is an actual golf ball...not hail !!

It's a long way back from this much damage !!

With all the hype about the Matildas and the World Cup it has been a remarkable time for the various groundstaff at the multitude of stadiums used around the country, not only for the actual games but also at the Team Base Camps, where the turf conditions had to meet FIFA's strict standards with every competing country having their own Base Camp ground.  This created its own set of issues with some grounds not being available for regular club play due to the prep requirements and also the fact that it is winter so turf growth is at its slowest which adds to the pressure.  I borrowed the article below from Australian Turfgrass Management Journals Editor Brett Robinson that gives some insight into the gameday ground preparations for last Saturday nights Matilda's game at Brisbane Stadium and this happened at every game played, including the requirement for the grounds to all be walk mowed.

It will be an earlier than normal start tomorrow for Brisbane Stadium grounds manager Matthew Oliver and his crew of Rob Saxby and Michael Gilman. With the Matildas-France quarter final scheduled for 5pm, they will be in and starting their match-day preparations under lights at 5.30am. With the pitch needing to be handed over to the FIFA match director seven hours before kick-off, Oliver and his crew need to be off the pitch by 10am. As soon as they arrive, they will set up the string lines for mowing and then double mow at 23mm with two Dennis 36” pedestrian cylinder mowers (catchers on) in an east-west/crosswise direction.

 

The pitch is then blown off to make sure there are no clippings left on the surface. Once the string lines are taken down, the match goals are set up and made square and then the ground is line-marked and walked for any surface scuffs or indentations.

 

Once the pitch is handed over, that seven-hour window allows FIFA to conduct any ceremony rehearsals, calibrate the VAR goal line technology and program in any other requirements. During this time there is a window to water the pitch at six hours and three hours before kick-off. Before the teams take to the pitch for warm-ups, the field is given a water and as soon as that cycle is complete a staff member turns the master control valve off so nothing is left to chance. Portable goals are then deployed while another staff member walks the field and places crumbed rubber and grass clippings over the sprinkler heads to make sure they are not visible and for safety reasons.

 

As soon as the warm-ups are done, 20 minutes before kick-off there is another window to water the pitch if needed. After warm-ups, the portable goals are folded away and stored in the tunnels before staff do a final walk of the pitch where the teams have warmed up to repair any minor indentations that may have been created. Then it’s game on! “We are really looking forward to tomorrow night; the atmosphere will be incredible,” says Oliver. “We went into our first game between England and Haiti in the best shape we have been in all year and we have been able to maintain the pitch at that high level for the remaining games. Every ground I have seen throughout the tournament, both in Australia and New Zealand, has presented so well which is fantastic to see and a real credit to the grounds teams at those venues who have shown great dedication to the cause.”

 

Not really the day that you want an on course toilet block to have issues when you have 200 plus players in the veterans week of golf on the West Course today but unfortunately that's what happened.  The halfway West toilets empty into a pit and it is then pumped up to the rising main from the club house sewer pit that crosses the course and exits the course just near the sand bins on 9 West fairway.  Being Friday we were unable to get the pit pumped to locate the actual pump and so a couple of portables have been bought in until we can fix the issue next week.  Just out of interest the toilet block at 3 W Tee is just your normal septic tank.

The other major news this week was that of the retirement of our head mechanic Craig Plowman after 32½ years’ service to the club.  Craig started at the club in 1991 and worked as a groundsman until I arrived when I put him in the shed with then mechanic Norm Mavor as his assistant. At that time the machinery was in pretty ordinary condition and we needed two people working on the machinery full time.  Norm then retired in 2006 after 36 years at the club and Craig assumed the head mechanic role and has held it ever since.  He has done an enormous job for us and never complains (well to me anyway) about any of the dirty jobs that he has to do, and believe me there are plenty.  He has kept the machinery in tip top operating condition and will be a big loss to the crew and the club.  Craig is probably someone that not many people see as he generally helps us mow greens first up in the morning and then spends the rest of the day in the shed working on machinery.  If you do get to see him in the next two weeks please give him a thumbs up for his dedicated service.

So yes for the last fifty three years the club has had only two mechanics on crew !!  Amazing to say the least.