Player numbers finally returned to some sort of normality this week which gave us the opportunity to get some necessary maintenance done on both courses. I don't think I can remember a busier Christmas period especially when it started the week prior to Christmas Day which is reliably a very quiet week, but certainly wasn't this year. Three solid weeks of 550+ players per day certainly tests the turf out but both courses have come through with flying colours.
The River greens got a sanding on Tuesday and then a much needed fertilise on Friday. The sanding was a little heavier than we would normally do and that was to fill in the pitchmarks and level the surface. I realise there's a lot of social play that don't really care but it always amazes me that the two things a golfer can do while playing - raking bunkers and repairing pitchmarks - are so often not done. A quiet period on the timesheets around lunchtime on Tuesday this week gave us the opportunity to get the West greens de-thatched which is the method we use to level the surface on them as well as removing thatch. A close mow and fertilise on Wednesday has them putting very nicely.
The tees have handled the volume of play particularly well and the fairways have come through extremely well. I mentioned a couple of posts back that our growth regulator applications had been dialed in perfectly across the courses to hold back the turf and reduce mowing requirements through such a busy golfing period and short weeks.
The new irrigation system has performed very well in the hot conditions although we have had some issues with the incoming water supply being interrupted which has affected our usage. We can only store about 6 megalitres (ML) and have been regularly pumping out 1.5ML per day so any interruption to supply has an effect.
