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.