A wet way to end the week with 30mm overnight followed up by another 10mm during the day.  It was a bit disappointing to get the rain in one way as the irrigation system was in full swing this past week with our supply almost back to normal.  For the first time with the new irrigation system, we were running at full capacity of the pumps and virtually all sprinklers were being operated.  One of the many features of the new system is the reduction in our watering window which is the time it takes for a full cycle to run overnight.  Our old system was actually incapable of completing a full cycle overnight whereas the new system can do it in just 5 hours.

The River tees got a renovation this week that consisted of a circle scarify and hollowtine aeration and the cores were then rubbed back into the surface effectively topdressing the tee.  The tees will bounce back very quickly and it is an ideal preparation for them going into winter.  The West course tees will be done next week.

We had a demonstration of a GPS guided boom spray unit this week and although I have seen them before, it was pretty impressive to say the least.  You need to map out the areas that you want to spray and then once this area is selected you merely drive across the area and the booms will turn on and off as required so that only the mapped area gets sprayed.  This results in substantially less product being used which results in significant savings.  It does however come with a significant initial cost.  There is no doubt that autonomous mowers and sprayers will be the way of the future with quite a few variations already available, and indeed, in use on courses in Australia.  Watch this space.....

GPS guided sprayer with the receiver arrowed on top.

 

I mentioned last week that our mechanic Mitch is moving on and we have been lucky enough to find a replacement with help from Mitch so we will only be a week without someone in the workshop.  Our youngest apprentice also resigned this week after just completing his first year.  He was a very good worker but just didn't think greenkeeping was for him long term.

February 28 is a date that will linger for some time as it was our biggest ever flood in 2022.  From memory there were 8 greens fully submerged and another 13 partially under compared to a "normal" flood where 2 greens get some water on them.  450mm of rain in just over 48 hours on already saturated ground plus some monumental falls upstream was the trigger for our flood.  As I write today, there is a severe thunderstorm cell happening near Lismore with up to 175mm of rain in some parts today.  It must be stirring some bad memories for the people down there.

1R green on the morning of March 1, 2022.  The high water level was about 2 feet over the green.

 

 

I don't think anyone could say that last weeks rain event was any sort of surprise with the forecast pretty well spot on 7 days ahead.  The volume of rain certainly varied and some people seemed disappointed by that but weather patterns are an unpredictable thing.  We picked up 180mm over the four days with the bulk coming down on Friday but given favourable tides and the fact we were so dry the courses just lapped it up.  We certainly needed the rain as it was really starting to dry out and stress in the un-irrigated areas.  As previously mentioned the new irrigation system performed extremely well, despite less than normal supply.  At this stage this week supply has returned to normal so we hope that continues.

The arrow indicates the courses during Friday's deluge last week.

 

A well timed fertiliser application to fairways just prior to the rain has them jumping out of the ground and looking very healthy indeed.  We do get comments from time to time that the fairways are too thick but with the extreme volume of cart traffic that we get we need as much buffer as we can.  On the other hand, the sanding that the River greens received in the lead up to the rain was all but washed away. 

Over the next couple of weeks we will be giving the tees some renovation via a scarify and scalp and an aeration.  This will generally happen on the course closure day and is subject to suitable weather conditions.  It may seem strange to be thinking about winter at the moment but we need to get as much healthy grass as possible on the tees to maintain a cover through the winter.

On a very sad note our mechanic Mitch is leaving for personal reasons.  He has big shoes to fill and has settled in to our operation seamlessly over the past 2 and a half years and is personally sad to be moving on.  His analytical skills (read problem solving) are second to none as is his skill in setting mowers up which he had never done prior to joining us.  I have mentioned before that Mitch is the unsung hero of our team that most golfers never get to see but I can assure you we are going to miss his expertise.  

We are still having issues with our water supply from the treatment works with flow rates varying from 40 to 100%.  There is a lot of weed on the pond that we pump from and it is causing blockages in our pumps.  It's not too bad during the week when we can access the pumps to clear them (sometimes four times a day) but on weekends we are unable to access the pumps for any type of maintenance.  Still the new irrigation system continues to impress with its even distribution of water. 

We had a Canadian greenkeeper join the crew in November and he has been a great addition to the team.   This week one of his friends also made the trip downunder to join the crew and when he left Ottawa last Thursday it was -25 degrees!!  At least this week has been a little cooler than normal for February for his first few days.  It was almost cold on Monday with a very gusty south wind that kept player numbers down.  His arrival took us up to 19 crew which is as high as we have been for over 10 years.  It won't last though with one of casuals finishing up today to move onto brighter pastures, and much better pay!

Pretty much sums up Monday's weather!

The fairway bunker on 4W had some new drainage installed this week which was long overdue but with more numbers on the crew, more can get done.  Our main fairway spray unit has been down for nearly 3 weeks now and the weeds seem to be growing on themselves.  7W fairway has quite an outbreak of Crowsfoot which we finally got to treat today so expect quite a burn / dis-colouration in the coming days.  It will probably be a three week timeframe at best to gain control.  The fairway was treated with a pre emergent product which seems to have worked elsewhere on the courses but not on 7W.  Hopefully not a sign of resistance developing. 

 

LIV golf returns to Adelaide next week and obviously Cameron Smith is back again.  I will never forget his win in the Greg Norman Masters that we used to hold here.  In 2010 I penned the following for the Blog - 

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.  I guess you have to feel sorry for the runner up who shot 17 under as that would normally win comfortably.  The story of the young fellow who aced the 17th River two days in a row was quite amazing too.

 

I don't think it matters where you place the rake in a bunker, some people just refuse to use them! 

 

Lucky they didn't twist their ankle on the rake.  The rake was the hazard this time!