Finally a week of decent weather but not really drying enough with a lot of soft areas left out there.  But as I have mentioned we have been so much more fortunate than so many other courses and thus far most of our turf is in good condition.  I did state very early this year that we would be in for a tough winter period with the low light intensity over summer with all the rain and that is certainly the case.  The photo below shows 11R fairway with the right hand shaded portion of the fairway in much thinner condition and although this happens on an annual basis it is worse this year due to the low light intensity of summer.  And we still have at least three months before some recovery can happen.  At least the winter solstice is next week so hopefully things will improve.

Right of the line so much thinner / weaker in the shade.

 

I am heading to Melbourne for the annual turf conference next week which I am really looking forward to and am obviously not going for the winter weather!!  For the first time our Association is holding a joint conference with the Golf General Managers Association which quite possibly couldn't come at a better time.  High on the list of topics to be discussed is staff procurement, training and retention.  There is currently a massive shortage of qualified greenkeepers in Australia and clubs in some areas are literally outbidding one another to attract or retain staff.  Other sectors in the turf maintenance industry are also playing a part in poaching staff from golf clubs.  I have just recently lost two qualified and long term employees to schools who are paying $10 an hour more for basically just groundstaff to operate mowers.   It is a major issue facing the golf course maintenance industry and something needs to be done soon.  In our local area the cost of rental properties pretty much precludes interstate prospects from even thinking about coming here, if there are any options available anyway.  It will be an interesting week I am sure and I am hopeful for some really positive outcomes.   Over 700 delegates are already registered to attend and if you count the allied trade attendees who are there for the trade show the numbers easily top 1,000.

Probably one of the biggest single day golf events I have been involved with on course with the Mick Fanning Charity Golf Day at our club today.  I have certainly seen more sponsors covering more holes but the efforts of the sponsors to do something unique for the day was exceptional.  Not often I sit in my office to the ''doof doof'' of the RedBull disco on 11W tee and every so often the sounds of the Mirarchi band entertaining the players wafting across the course.  A perfect day of weather for the event and a very professional organising team who co-ordinated the day very well and fortunately the course was probably as dry as it's been for some time, especially given the size of some of the displays we had to get out on course.  And at the end of the day there was one empty can and two pieces of rubbish that hadn't been binned out on the courses and they have been left in a state that you would barely know anything happened out there.

NTP circle Balter style.  Hand drawn as well!!

Hmmmm the perfect day!!

Lululemon Airstream @ 4RT.

The Mad Hueys @ 2RT.

RedBull disco truck @ 11RT.

 

A big crowd on hand for the 18R shootout.

Speaking of the dryness of the course and not sure if you have seen the video at Grafton GC where they showed the second fairway and it was just mush.  They have only been able to play the course a handful of times since the first flood.  There are a number of high level clubs in Sydney that are carry bag only and quite a few that are nine holes only.  We are still as wet as I have seen it considering no rain for four or five days and that is one of the driest runs we have had this year!!  The greens are holding up really well but the fairways are still very soft and have some long term damage from the cart and pull buggy traffic.

The National Golf Foundation is an organisation in the USA that collects and analyses data for distribution throughout the golf industry.  I was staggered to read the following figures which perhaps shows why the equipment companies have so much leverage in the sport with a lot of business at stake.   Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve chronicled the increase in active golf engagement – both participation and play. Broadly speaking, almost 1-in-9 Americans are active golfers, whether that’s playing on a golf course, hitting balls at a driving range, or swinging and socializing at a golf entertainment venue like Topgolf.

That’s 37.5 million in total, making golf one of the leading U.S. participation sports. Consider that more people played golf in some form last year than participated in basketball, baseball, tennis, soccer or skiing.    Amazing figures.

Well I didn't seem to miss much while I was away as the rain just kept on coming down for the entire month of May.  In the old terms of measurement 12 ½ inches of rain fell in May which takes the year to date total to 82 inches.  And if you go back to October 1 2021, we have had 102 inches of rain in those seven months.  It’s almost mind boggling and there is apparently the threat of another east coast low pressure system forming some time in mid – June.  Surely enough is enough.  And as the photo below shows there was plenty of water on the fairways last July that we tried to move off the surface by deep slicing the area to no avail.

July 1, 2021 on 18W.

  

Not that it’s very comforting but we are certainly not alone.  Speaking with a number of fellow Supers this week from Gympie all the way down the east coast to Sydney, the story is the same.  Water logged courses with water pooling in areas never seen before for extended periods such as the water sitting on 4R fairway.  It’s actually a high spot on the fairway just short of the bunker but is still pooling water.  There is a course on the Sunshine Coast that has full cart paths that have actually restricted even pull buggies to cart paths to prevent damage!!  But when you look at the damage caused by pull carts on our normally considered ''dry'' course, you can understand. Many courses are playing tee up or a majority of holes played as par 3’s to try and limit damage.

It seems hard to believe that this is what I wrote in a blog post in December 2019;

The need for rain gathers momentum every day now especially with the increasing temperatures.  The turf is under a lot more stress as the heat exacerbates the drying out of the rootzone.  The pond on the dogleg of 5W has dried up again which is the third time in eighteen months and I think it has only happened on three other occasions since I have been here.

 

5W dam November 2019.

 

And some good news yesterday with the delivery of six new course runabouts that are the main mode of transport for us around the courses.  As with all other industries there are lengthy wait times for delivery with these taking nearly twelve months to get here.  Our existing fleet were all but exhausted and these will be put to good use.

3 of the new ''Gators'' coming off the truck at last.

 

Day 4 is here already and the time seems to have flown. At this stage I haven't heard any negatives about the course which is a good sign and very pleasing with the amount of effort put in by the crew.

The threat of gusty winds meant that the greens were only mown this morning and not rolled to restrict the speed, hopefully preventing balls moving if the wind did get up.  The greens are running at just under ten and a half feet.

Greenway Turf Solutions who are one of our suppliers has been providing breakfast for the crew each day since the Pro am on Wednesday.  They do this at most major tournaments around Australia and on Wednesday I asked them how many they cooked for at January's Australian PGA and the answer was 40 and at the 2019 Presidents Cup the answer was 100+.  So cooking for the thirteen of us was a walk in the park!!  I then commended the crew on the job they have done and the quality course that they have produced, particularly considering the two floods.

To think this was 18W tee eight weeks ago.

18W tee February 28.

18W tee after round 3.

 

Day 4 pin placements below and I will do a pin sheet for tomorrows Members competition who are playing the same course.

Day 4.

I will be on leave for a while so the Blog will be taking a break until June.   Hopefully the weather starts to dry up sooner than later.

 

 

Only light showers overnight and the course will be good to go for the first players at 7.50am off the first tee only.  Greens are still running @ 10.5 feet and are true as can be which is the aim of all the preps.  Day three pin placements below. 

 

Day 2 of the tournament and unfortunately we received just over 7mm of rain in the front that blew across the courses at 4am this morning which reversed all of yesterday's drying.  We weren't able to mow fairways again today but got all greens, tees and collars mown and all bunkers raked.

Feedback from the players was positive which was good especially the comments about the greens which was expected as they are running just about perfectly.  Pin positions for round 2 below.

Day 2.

 

Tournament day one has finally arrived and fortunately the weather is fine and a vast improvement on Wednesday's Pro am day.  The rain started at 8.01am on Wednesday morning just as the groups were about to tee off in the Pro am.  15mm in twenty minutes was absolutely not what we needed and most of the puddles filled again after finally drying out over the weekend.  I have spoken to a couple of Sydney Superintendents who are experiencing the same high water table causing water to pool for prolonged periods and losing turf cover in places as we have.

We couldn't mow fairways this morning in the wet conditions which from the mowing perspective isn't too much of a problem as they aren't growing much but it meant the dew, which was quite heavy this morning, was left on the ground.  The greens were mown and rolled and are running at just over 10 and a half feet which is pretty much their normal speed which is in line with the tournaments requirements.

The ladies are using 1 and 9R fairways as a driving range and with the shorter daylight hours  some portable lights have been set up to help the early starters.  Don't get any ideas about golfing at night Members.... the course needs a break!!

1R fairway 4.30am this morning.

 

Here are day one pin placements that were selected by Golf NSW officials which is very pleasing as it takes the heat off us!!  We have two staff members changing holes and they have both had tournament experience on the PGA tour at Pebble Beach and Harbourtown so this is a walk in the park for them.  

Day one.

 The figures for holes 3 and 8 may seem confusing but the players are supplied with a yardage book and some of the measurements are referenced off points in the book.