Thirty inches of rain since November 11.  Not a misprint!!  I doubt any other course could take that type of punishment and remain open.  It really is a credit to the people who built the courses and installed the drainage which works incredibly well on such a flat site.  Having such little fall makes the pipes run very slowly but they are very effective.

At the Board meeting on Tuesday night this week there was discussion around the forecast for Wednesday golf.  My contribution was that the biggest concern, although not technical in any way, was that the seagulls had been camped on the dam at 4 / 9 West and had been there all night.  They certainly did know something as that 80mm in 40 minutes just after lunch on Wednesday was almost literally out of this world.

The West course is taking forever to dry out in places and just when we think we can mow a fairway we get more rain on it.  The 80mm on Wednesday wasn't to big a problem as that volume of water just runs to the catch basins.  It's the smaller showers that are the ones that really keep us wet.

The constant rain means low sunlight hours which isn't conducive to good greens growing weather.  The River greens have really struggled which is a trait of 328 and even the West greens have got a bit ''puffy''.  Both sides got a de-thatch this week followed by a close mow which has resulted in a scalped look in areas on the greens. A good forecast of sunny weather looms so hopefully that occurs.

They didn't move for 48 hours.

 

I could nearly write exactly what I wrote last week with respect to the rain, grass growth and staff shortages.  At one stage earlier this week we had received 22 inches of rain in 26 days.  I don't know of many courses that could take that volume of rain in that timeframe and remain playable.  This week was a shame though as during the course closure on Tuesday the West course was completely blown and mown and looked an absolute treat on Tuesday night.  32mm of rain in a squally weather front soon changed all that for Wednesday unfortunately.

Year to date rainfall has us sitting at 2,706mm which puts it at number 6 on the all time list since 1886.  Rainfall figures for the past 4 years see the following;

2020 - 2,735mm.    2021 - 2,413mm.    2022 - 2,846mm.    2023 - 1,314mm. 

On the irrigation front 14W has finally been completed but some of the main trenchlines are still very soft.  No installation will be started before Christmas with a lot of topping up trenches and tidy up work currently being completed.  Work will re-commence on Monday January 6 on 18W which is also when we will do some work at the LHS fairway bunker on 18W to eliminate the wet area in front of the bunker and will also reduce the size of the fairway bunker and re-drain it.

Another ''500 Friday'' this week with over 500 players booked in and with the way the Fridays fall during Christmas we will probably have a couple of 600 Fridays thrown in.  Hopefully we get some decent weather to allow everyone to enjoy the courses.  It should be noted that when you are putting that quantity (and type of play) through the courses, turf quality and presentation has to suffer.

The practice facilities, particularly the new ''target green'' as we call it are really getting some use and are showing the signs of wear quite badly.  When you are practicing and taking divots on the ranges, the preferred method of arranging your divots is as per the top photo below which will allow for a much more rapid recovery of the area compared to the bottom photo. 

A good pattern.

 

A not so good pattern and sand dump.

So November 2024 finished up being the second wettest November since records began in 1886 for Tweed Heads with 408mm recorded.  The actual record happened in 1917 with 606mm of rain falling.  We have now had 542mm since November 11.  That's half a metre of rain in a bit over three weeks so no wonder we are wet.  There is water still lying in some rough areas that I have never seen stay there this long.

It has come at a bad time this week with two staff off each day sick, one on annual leave and a casual resigned last week leaving us four men down on where we should be.  The West bunkers have taken a real hit and will remain out of play until next week when we have the numbers to get to them.  The grass growth is also at its peak at the moment with the heat and moisture in the ground so it is nigh on impossible to keep the courses mown.

Speaking of taking a hit, thanks to the player that did this to 16R bunker this past Wednesday afternoon.  When you have people like this out there it's hard to produce any sort of quality playing surfaces.

Nearly tripped over the rake.

The irrigation install has also taken a hit over the past month with ground conditions as wet as they can be.  The contractors have done a bit more top dressing on the low trenches this week while trying to finish 14W off.  I have mentioned a few times about the mainline trenches that are dug by a large excavator doing a very good job of root pruning along the sides of fairways.  I didn't expect to get the same result from the ploughing machine that pulls the pipe in around the greens.  The photo below is from 15W at the rear of the green with the plough line arrowed and a distinctive difference in growth on the greenside of the line.  It has happened in several other green surrounds as well so is another added bonus.

Significant difference in growth on the greenside of the plough line.

 

A few more showers this week took us to over 400mm for November which makes it the wettest month of the year just eclipsing January when we had 393mm.  That also takes us to 2400mm for the year or 2.4 metres!!  The water table is very high so any amount of rain pretty much just tops us up.  This location has been recording rainfall data since 1886 and more than 2000mm in a calendar year has only been recorded 27 times over all those years.  Somewhat perhaps worryingly is that in the 14 years since 2010 there has been 2000mm+ 8 times!!

We had an issue with one of the old irrigation satellite locations at the rear of 9R green it is a location that we have had problems with over the years due to corrosion caused by its close proximity to the river.  A group of solenoid wires had severe corrosion and caused them to stop operating the sprinklers.  Unfortunately that group included all of 9R green, causing it to dry out to the point where there was virtually no moisture left in the profile.  Fortunately we are now able to go to the older defunct satellites and scavenge some parts from them as the parts we require are no longer available.  We were able to get to the green and get the moisture levels back to where they needed to be before we lost turf but it was touch and go to be honest.  That has always been one of the issues with our old irrigation system in that you generally don't find out there is a problem with the system until you start losing turf.  With the new system an alarm will alert us to any operational issues and we are able to run a diagnostic test every day which will also give us feedback as to operation.

Those pesky seagulls back again on 17R.

 I don't really know where to start after last night and today.  The photo above is of the dam on 17R this morning and that water is the same level as the irrigation lake which is behind me in the photo.  Quite incredulously I saw five people out playing today!!  We received 126mm till 9am this morning and we have picked up another 59mm till 5.30pm, most of which came down between 4.30 and 5.30pm. 

Looking back to 12R tee 5.30pm Friday.

 

Needless to say the West greens renovations were a bit of a disaster in what was almost a carbon copy of last year weather wise.  We finished up getting everything done except for a hollow tine aeration and fertiliser.  We might be re-sanding though as a lot of that has been washed away in the torrential rain.

Also needless to say it wasn't a very productive week on the irrigation install either with them sheduled to work on one of our wettest fairways at 14W.  They did get some sand in to top up some of the trenchlines and at lunchtime Friday most had stayed in place.  Not so sure now!!

Seagulls on 9W dam.

It's never a good sign when the seagulls come on the property preening themselves next to the dam on 4 / 9 West as they only do it when there is excessive rain and quite often in flood times.  So I was a bit concerned on Tuesday morning after the deluge the night before to see them there.  It didn't lead to a flood but it was another 115mm for the week that we really didn't need.  It has had quite an impact on our programmes and has us well behind where we need to be.  Weather always plays a part in our operation but all this rain is quite frustrating. This week numbers takes us to 2150mm for the year which means that four of the past five years has produced more than two metres of rain.

I mentioned last week that the massive storm just after the renovation fertiliser went out may have washed some of the fertiliser away and at that stage we looked pretty good.  However after some time for the fertiliser to start releasing the nutrients we have had some loss.  There must have been some really heavy rain along the riverbank as its 1, 12, 13 and 8R greens that are the worst affected with a blotchy result and you can see below on the side of 13R where the fertiliser washed off the green.  This weeks bad weather hampered our efforts to top the greens up again.

Two fertiliser wash areas circled.

The renovation of the West greens is scheduled for next Monday and Tuesday and as mentioned for the recent River renovations we need dry conditions and the forecast doesn't look good.  We had the same issue last year with wet weather de-railing the West renovation so hopefully the forecast changes. 

This time last week I was lamenting how the violent Thursday night storm, had washed away the fertiliser that had been applied that day to the renovated River greens.  How wrong could I have been with one of the most aggressive bursts of growth post renovation I have seen.  We are pulling a full catcher load off every green compared with maybe one catcher for all 18 the norm during normal growth.  It has been a difficult week with the wild winds meaning we haven't been able to spray anywhere, particularly the growth regulator that the greens so desperately need now.  It's a good problem to have though and it will be a good result to the renovation in the coming weeks.

The wind has provided the new irrigation system the chance to demonstrate one of its features and that is the smaller fairway sprinklers operating effectively overnight in the windy conditions.  As we dry out any dry areas on fairways can also be noted and the closest sprinkler can have its run time increased to alleviate the dryness as they are very effective covering a eighteen metre arc rather than the thirty metres of our previous fairway sprinklers..

Elsewhere on the courses I think I remember blogging about unrepaired pitchmarks on the West greens recently so I dug up an old photo of 8W green when it was Bentgrass.  If I had the time I could have replicated the ''golf ball'' photo below on 8W this week.

450 golf balls on poorly repaired pitchmarkrs 8W 2011.

 

Could do the same today on 8W.

 

While I was searching the blog for the golf ball photo I came across this quote from 2010 and wondered if you told Cameron where he would be now if he would have believed you back then. 

It's been a long week hosting the Greg Norman Junior Masters but a successful one, particularly for the senior boys winner Cameron Smith who shot an amazing four round total of 24 under par.

 

What a week, with a bit of everything thrown in.  I arrived at 4.30am on Monday after hearing the wind blow all night thinking conditions will be dry for the renovation starting that day, only to see what was on the radar, shown below.  I think the boys thought I was mad when I said I don't think we will get much and we went out and made a start.  There was still some dew around and a couple of light showers made it across the ranges which made it very wet to work in.  But we persisted and a few more showers during the day didn't help.

4.30 Monday morning!!

Tuesday provided a very heavy dew and we were able to get some sand on the greens but didn't get time or the conditions to fertilise or renovate the greens collars.  Come Thursday and we were able to get the slow release granular fertiliser out with a weather forecast of ''chance of a storm and 30% chance of <1mm''.  That proved to be incorrect as we all know and most of the fertiliser got washed away in the hail and 27mm that fell in even time.  Friday morning's plan was to get some upfront soluble fertiliser on the greens to get them kick started, but we had all hands on deck putting the place back together again.  There were forty five players milling around the practice greens by 5.55am this morning so we didn't have much time!!  The greens will take a little longer to recover with the lack of fertiliser and I am expecting a blotchy result from the granular fertiliser put out on Thursday thanks to the washouts caused by the rain.  The greens collars will be renovated next Tuesday weather permitting.  Mother Nature??!!

It's that time of year again when the Eucalypts start shedding their bark.  It would be nice if it all just came down in one hit rather than taking six weeks.  It is a windy time of year so the courses will be a bit messy at times.

18R fairway mess from just one tree in just one day.

Greenside bunker on 3W this morning.

 

James from the Pro Shop got a couple of awesome photos of post the hailstorm last night.  Hopefully no readers got any damage from the hail?

 

 

Bit hard to find your ball??

What a difference a week makes.  This time last week we were busy trying to get water off the courses so play could proceed in the Championships and this week we are pumping water onto the courses due to the dryness.  Probably a nice problem to have given the rain we have been getting though.  The storms that blew through last night and early this morning were certainly spectacular light and noise shows but not much rain fell which again was a nice break.  We did get a little bit of hail in the storm around 6am this morning but not enough to do any damage.

A really busy play week with 8am 2 tee starts on the River course all week and they were very slow, particularly in the wind today.  It didn't afford us much time to get much work done on the River course except in the mornings before they teed off.  A course closure this afternoon on the River course finally gave us the chance to get out there for a few hours unhindered.

Speaking of the River course and it's THAT time again, yes greens renovation.  The greens are certainly healthier than last year when they were just about worn out from the amount of play we get.  The shaded greens are still a bit weaker and as usual won't get the same treatment as those with more light penetration.  That pretty much goes year round with all our programs differing slightly to cater for the shaded greens.  This years renovation will, as always, be dependent on the weather we get next week.  As I have said many times we get a better result with most processes in the dry, so here's hoping.  We will be endeavouring to get the greens scarified to -5mm, de-thatched to -3mm and hollow tine aerated with 9mm tines.  The greens will then get some fertiliser and then top dressed with a blended sand.

First load of blended sand arriving.

 

A pretty frustrating week just gone by with the weather playing havoc with all of our operations.  The rain just wouldn't leave us alone to dry out and Wednesday nights 27mm was not what we needed.  And quite annoyingly there were only three locations in the Northern Rivers that received more than a few mm on Wednesday night and that was the three green dots in the circle below.  Chinderah, which is just across the River, Banora Point, which is at the sewerage treatment plant where we get our irrigation water from near Bunnings, and US.  Just over 200mm in seven days.  Frustrating.

Frustrating to say the least.

 

Another 27mm rainfall event happened last Saturday night into Sunday and had carts off both courses on Sunday.  We were still really wet Monday morning but had the Gold Coast District Super Senior Classic on the West as a shotgun.  Carts shouldn't have really been out there but I thought they might respect being allowed....but how wrong I was.  These shots below are from two groups in a row on 16W with the signs pretty plain to see right next to the tee markers.  Frustrating.

No comment needed.

To allow us a chance to get some work done and prepare for the Club Champs, the Board approved the closure of the course from 1pm the Friday before, which is what happened today.  The amount of work we can get done unhindered is amazing to say the least and one of our goals is to get most of the front nine bunkers raked to save time on Saturday morning.  Only three groups in the Friday members comp would have played the RHS bunker on 4W after it was raked this afternoon, and this is what we got.  Frustrating. 

Picked the rake up but didn't know how to use it?

Another fairly major step in the irrigation installation was the assembly of the pump set and control panel this week.  It's no easy task moving such heavy precision instruments around and the contractors did a great job.  Now for some power supply and pipework and we will be pumping.  Not frustrating.

Ducks in a row.

The control panel.

Another pretty accurate forecast from the weather bureau this week although they did miss with the volume of rain.  142mm all up for the week with 135 of that falling in about nine hours on Wednesday night.  Safe to say it didn't help with our Club Champs preps.  But full credit once again to the crew with the way they turned the courses around on Friday with Thursday virtually being a write off.  The short week after the public holiday didn't help much either.  A day like Thursday with no play does give us a chance to do a couple of jobs that are difficult to do in play and that was to hang two new practice nets and edge the paths on the West course with the paths being about the only dry thing out there!!  Some machine prep for the upcoming River course greens renovation was also done which is a very time consuming job.

A couple of shots below to demonstrate the volume of water that was out on the courses.  The photo across 18W and R was at 6pm Wednesday after only 60mm so there was another 70 dumped on top after that.  The other photo is of 12W fairway.  The main drain that drains this fairway was completely covered with debris not allowing the water to move but again just shows the volume of water that was there.

Looking across 18W & R from the entry road.

12W fairway early Thursday morning.

I had a very enjoyable break with some really good weather throughout but arrived back to the mess that was left after the cyclonic conditions that an east coast low weather system can, and did produce.  To get the course back to where it is today after what confronted us on Monday morning (photos below) is a credit to the crew despite some more very windy days making the clean up extremely difficult and frustrating.  Dads Army did an almighty job stick picking the rough areas on Tuesday and removed a huge amount of debris to allow us to continue mowing.  The bunkers literally become leaf collectors and a huge amount of time and effort is devoted to them to restore playability.

16R fairway bunker full of leaves.

18R fairway with turf barely visible.

Elsewhere on the courses things have ticked along really well and the irrigation install continues with 19 holes now completed.  The new pump set has been delivered and we are currently waiting on some approvals from our electricity supplier for the install to be completed.  Meanwhile next week we will be moving to 15W for the next hole install.  An upcoming forecast of dry warm weather will allow us to really put the new system to the test, however until the new pump set is installed and all the larger diameter pipe is online it is difficult to really see the benefits.  One of the main challenges we have had so far is to keep both the new and old systems operating side by side but so far we have done very well.

Unfortunately while I was away one of the crew decided to return home to Ireland after working with us for the past ten months.  Simon was a proficient greenkeeper who will hopefully one day return to our shores for another stint with us.  A couple of months ago I was contacted by a Spanish greenkeeper who is currently third in charge at Golf Club Crans-sur-Sierre in Crans-Montana Switzerland, where they host the Omega European Masters each year.  He is keen to come to Australia to work for three months while their course is closed for the ski season.  I was able to meet with him during my travels and have confirmed employment for him for three months from December.  Short term accommodation is scarce so if any followers have some temporary lodgings available it would be most appreciated and you could leave some details with the front office.  

October is Club Championship time for the men so hopefully the weather behaves and we can produce some good playing conditions for the competitors.  October is a notoriously windy month so here's hoping we get some good days coming up.

 

Pretty accurate sign??

                              

This amazing run of weather continues and we have had to actually apply some growth regulator to the River fairways this week and the West fairways will be done next week along with the tees on both courses.  We have never applied growth regulator before in August and the application in September is normally to just control seedhead.  Even the heavily shaded 4R tee has shown some recovery.  Let's hope it continues because as I mentioned last week it is essential for us to have a very healthy sward of turf given the cart and player numbers we experience.

But no matter how good your turf is you won't beat players who decide to practice from the middle of the fairway on 16R or drive stupidly in a shaded weak turf area at the start of 11R.

At least they tried to sand some of them.

??

The irrigation install continued this week with most of 15R being completed.  The contractors didn't work on Friday due to the GC show day so they will be back next week.  And next week we start the installation of a new power supply to the new pump shed which will require a substantial trench to be dug across 16, 14 and 13W fairways.  Some of the conduit was delivered this week and we did some ''potholing'' to locate some of the various services that we need to cross including the town water supply to the clubhouse and the NBN cabling amongst others.  Play on some of these holes will be affected with some temporary tees required to ensure the safety of staff and contractors.  The new pump set is also due to be delivered next week along with its control board for it.  We have selected Grundfos pumps which is the same as our current set which was installed in 2000 and has barely missed a beat.

I will be on some R&R for three weeks from next Thursday so the blog will take a break for the same period.  Till then...... 

I don't think I have ever seen this much grass on the courses in August ever before.  To actually see scalping happening Is certainly a first in August.  It comes in pretty handy though with the amount of play we are having given the excellent weather this week with another 500 plus day today by the looks of it.  You certainly need to have good turf to be able to survive the cart and golf traffic.  It's a good problem to have and not one that I thought we would see this year given how wet we were earlier.

The irrigation installation continued this week with a large main line being laid on 15R And part of the fairway being installed.  15R will obviously continue next week and we then move to 16R.  Next week we will be doing some exploratory digging to find some of the services on 13, 14 and 16W as the following week we will be installing a new power supply from near 16W tee all the way to the pump shed.  This will be quite a major excavation and play on all three holes will be affected that week.  The weather forecast for the next couple of weeks is apparently quite good so hopefully the courses may dry out enough for us to actually start using the new system once again.