A dry week at long last and a bit of a lift in air temperature finally has us drying out.  We are considered to be a "dry" course so I would hate to see some of the heavier courses and how they would have coped with the rainfall that we have received.  Year to date we have had 2230mm and 3236mm since October 1 last year. 

The West greens were fertilised this week with a granular product that has a slow release effect on the turf so there shouldn't be a surge of growth.  The River greens will receive the same next Tuesday during the course closure.  The fence at the rear of 11R tee was replaced this week and is a sturdy looking structure indeed offering great protection from 1R tee. 

Some of the more common types of Couchgrass and Kikuyu have started to develop some seedhead which is very normal for this time of year.  The seedhead is very difficult to mow off and the growth regulator we use controls it and also prevents it from forming.  An application of the product started last Sunday but we have had some major issues with it coagulating and therefore blocking nozzles.  We may get some stripy results and lines due to the mis-application.

The CDA in action on 18R.

We sprayed the fairways with our usual machine which is the big yellow dome type sprayer that we have used for nearly 25 years shown above.  It uses a spraying process called CDA which is the abbreviation of Controlled Droplet Application.  The spray mixture is delivered as a fine mist and that is why it is shielded from the wind under the dome.  The total spray application volume is only 22 litres per hectare which is ultra low and we get a much better result at this rate with the growth regulator than normal high volume spray rigs.  The cause of the problem with the product is currently under investigation but it has been a frustrating week.