What a difference a week makes with a totally different week of weather with some sun finally showing up.  We even had the need for some light irrigation on the greens which was the furthest thing from my mind this time last week.  There are still some wet patches out there and with a few more sunny breezy days hopefully we will really get to dry out.

We started sanding some of the irrigation mainline trenches this week and a couple of methods were trialed.  We will observe the results before doing more areas and it will be a better result when the grass can grow through the sand a lot faster with higher temperatures.  We also prepped a couple of areas for re-turfing next week and these are some of the areas that were badly damaged through the irrigation install and cyclone recovery.  This will be ongoing throughout the coming season with our goal being to have no "scars" from the irrigation install visible by the time we get to winter next year. 

We will also be re-turfing some of the buggy path entries and exits and will be trialing some materials to help with the massive amount of wear that these areas get.  Again it will be later in the year to take advantage of good growth conditions but I don't hold out much hope of maintaining a grass cover given the cart traffic that these areas receive.  As part of the irrigation design / install a sprinkler has been located adjacent to these areas to help the turf survive. 

The protective fence at the rear of 11R tee that blew down in the cyclone will be replaced starting Monday next week.  We will probably need to play 1R short while the works are undertaken to protect the contractors. 

With the Ryder Cup just a month away at Bethpage Black near New York City the photo below shows some of the infrastructure build underway for the event.  And it includes one of my favorite signs in golf - "The Black course is an extremely difficult course which we recommend only for highly skilled golfers".    

I played it nearly 25 years ago and can vouch for the signs accuracy!

There is a 24yo Australian greenkeeper from Royal Melbourne GC on the crew there this year and he posted the following-

Hello all, my name is Hugh Ryan, I am an Australian greenkeeper currently interning at Bethpage Black for the 2025 season where we are hosting the 2025 Ryder Cup from 23-28 September. Over the next few weeks I will share some insight into the day-to-day preparation for what is set to be the biggest golf event in the world this year.

Bethpage State Park is impressive to say the least. It is home to five public golf courses (Black, Yellow, Green, Blue and Red) which span across 1500 acres (approx. 607ha), all starting and finishing from the one clubhouse. About 250,000 rounds of golf are played here every year, with about 30,000 taking place on the Black Course which is renowned as being one of the toughest tests in golf worldwide.

With the tournament a month away, the last day of public golf on Bethpage Black was 17 August which means the course maintenance team now has a solid window to get the course in as best condition as possible for tournament week. Immediately after closure, all divots on the ryegrass/Poa annua fairways were filled with sand and ryegrass seed, followed by aeration on some weak areas in the rough along with seed applications. We also began plugging pitch marks on the Poa annua/bentgrass greens to remove any imperfections. We have also sodded some small high traffic areas in the roughs which are a ryegrass/Kentucky bluegrass/Poa mix.

 
The weather is now slowly turning away from peak summer with overnight temperatures in the low 60s Fahrenheit (15-18 degrees C) along with a few nice slow rainfalls. It has strongly assisted turf recovery given the playing surfaces are all cool-season which thrive in slightly cooler conditions.

Construction for corporate and general admission seating is rapidly expanding with new structures popping up daily. The 18th hole will be a major attraction for spectators, with the 5000-seat grandstand wrapping around the green and 1st tee set to provide an extraordinary atmosphere. I look forward to sharing more information about the course and tournament across the coming weeks." – Hugh Ryan.