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??