The pitchmarks just keep getting worse. The video below is of 5R green on Monday morning this week.  It's pretty hard to get a smooth surface with all these craters.  I counted 25 totally untouched pitchmarks in the front third of 5R green.

 

As mentioned in last weeks Blog, we were able to get the West greens de-thatched on Tuesday to help level the surface up after a faulty bearing caused some damage.  The greens surface has responded well and the surface is back to level, despite some of the lines still being visible.  It was a dry morning so we were able to get the River greens done on the same day in front of the ladies.  A little bit of thatch removal does the greens wonders.  It will be the last chance for us to get to the greens, as player numbers for the holiday period have already started peaking and the week prior to Christmas is normally quiet but numbers this week have been huge. 

The fairways received a liquid fertiliser this week to bolster them up for the play ahead.  At least our exceptionally busy time also corresponds with our peak growth time.  Although the greens take a beating with pitchmarks the fairways get hammered with divots and bad cart driving.  Our growth regulator applications have been timed to perfection with minimal leaf growth occurring on fairways,tees and green surrounds which is really important with the upcoming short weeks.   

 

 

What an amazing two weeks for Australian golf on the back of the PGA @ Royal Queensland and the Open @ Royal Melbourne culminating in Cameron Smith's oh so close moment.  I heard a comment that "I didn't think Couch greens could get this good" about RQ's greens and RM's greens probably lacked a little fire but certainly delivered.  In a first for RM, the greens weren't rolled or mown for the 1st round with a fear that the predicted wind could cause balls to move.  At RM the temperature on Monday of tournament week never rose above 15 degrees and that followed a very wet November where more than 140mm of rain was recorded which is more than twice the average.  Melbourne certainly lived up to it's reputation of 4 seasons in 1 day in the lead up to the tournament.

Back to Tweed and as mentioned last week we hosted the WPGA Tour School last Monday and Tuesday.  What we didn't really want was the 50mm of rain that caused a lot of wash and then some squally winds that nearly blew down every piece of bark off the Gum trees.  After a quick discussion with the Tour, the morning tee times were pushed back to 8am to allow us a shot at restoring playability, and restore we did.  The crew did an amazing job and the River course was presented in first class condition to the amazement of the WPGA Tour.  Considering there were more staff on Royal Melbourne's fairway mowing crew alone for the Open than we had available for 36 holes on Monday morning, it was a testament to the dedication of our crew.  It's a shame more members didn't get out to see just how good the course was.  And there was some good golf played as well with the winner having 14 birdies and 2 double bogies in her 36 hole total of -8.  

Clearing leaf debris off 11R fairway Monday morning.

15W green Monday morning and this was the scene across the courses.

 

The West greens got some damage during the renovation that wasn't noticeable at the time.  A bearing gave way and one of the scarifiers was digging in on one side of the machine causing some marking on the surface.  The greens got an extra dose of fertilser this week to help grow the marking out which is certainly evidenced by their colour at present.  With the course closure on the West next Tuesday we will be giving the greens a reasonably heavy de-thatch that should help smooth out the surface and not cause any real surface disruption.

 

 

A very warm week and a great test for the new irrigation system which it has passed with flying colours.  We are restricted in the volume of water that we can pump down from the treatment plant but the new system makes sure that virtually every drop hits the ground where needed. 

The "heart" of the new system is the pump station which was also totally renewed as part of the project.  Our old station utilised Grundfos brand pumps and we had such a great run with them that we went for them again.  They have now been fully adjusted to suit our requirements and are delivering a perfect flow of water.

Inside the new pump shed adjacent 17R tee.

The greens on both courses are recovering well from the renovation with the West greens a little slower which is normal for TifEagle.  The number of totally untouched pitchmarks is almost to the stage of being alarming.  Every morning virtually every green is peppered with untouched pitchmarks.  Please help us to present a good surface and keep the greens healthy by repairing your pitchmaks. 

There are 8 untouched in this photo of 8R.

5 untouched on 8W plus plenty more elsewhere on the green. 

 

A wild week of weather and although we received 55mm of rain we certainly dodged a massive bullet with courses from here to the Sunshine Coast decimated in Monday afternoons storm that felled trees across multiple courses.  Some reports are that over half the courses from Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast were closed to play on Tuesday with many still closed on Wednesday.  It was a weird storm with the track heading almost directly south to north and building as it moved up the coast.  Seeing some of the photos of trees on the ground I was pretty relieved that we were spared.....this time.

The high temperatures and moisture in the ground has the grass growing as though it's February and we are struggling to keep up with the mowing across both courses.  Even the growth regulators that have been applied are having a battle controlling the growth.  It's quite rare for us to get any clippings left after mowing fairways but we are certainly seeing that at the moment in the morning dew.

The greens on both sides are back down to normal mowing height following renovation and again are experiencing a huge amount of growth.  The greens are obviously fertilised during the renovation to assist in a fast recovery but they are now lapping up the available fertiliser. 

A huge month of golf ahead with an event on every week till Christmas and then the holiday makers arrive.  On Monday week we will be hosting the WPGA Australasia Tour School.  We have hosted this a few times now and the quality of play is pretty impressive and with nearly $5 million on offer in prize money this coming season for the Pro's, there may well be some extra talent heading to Tour School.  It's always nice to get a change from the normal course set up and it's great for the crew to be able to really showcase the course.  Play is on the River course with a 1 tee start from 7am Monday December 8.    

At last a dry greens renovation week and what a difference it made with the volume of thatch we were able to remove from the West greens.  It was the first time in 3 years that we were able to hollow tine (remove a core) the greens and although only a 7mm diameter core was used the amount of material was huge.  A good definition of thatch is - The intermingled layer of living and dead grass stems, roots and other organic matter that is found between the soil surface and the leaf blades. The biggest benefit of the coring as well as removing thatch, is getting oxygen to the root zone.

We also verti cut the greens at -5mm meaning that the blades cut 5mm deep into the surface.  This was done 3 times up and back then followed by another pass at -2.5mm and a final clean up pass at -1mm.  The video below shows a -5mm pass in action.

 

The greens were sanded on Thursday with a sand containing various amendments and fertilised with a slow release granular product on Friday.  We are aiming for a first mowing on Thursday next week.

The fairway fertiliser that was applied a few weeks ago is showing obvious results and the renovation and follow up fertiliser on the tees is having a similar effect.  I have mentioned many times over the years of the issues we have with shade, not only on greens but also tees.  Both 18 tees have always been badly shaded with a thin cover but thanks to TC Alfred a number of the trees causing the issue blew down.  I can't recall ever seeing both the 18's this healthy at this time of year.

18 R tee.

18W tee.

Although the AGM was postponed due to a lack of a quorum it was nice to hear several members I spoke to comment that the courses are in the best condition they have seen them in.  An absolute credit to the hard working Coolie Tweed course crew.  

A bit of a wild week weather wise with some gusty winds, cold temperatures and the southern lights to top it off.  Weeks like this are always a bit frustrating when the wind swings 180 degrees almost daily so the mess from the leaf litter is magnified.

The River greens have recovered well from the renovation although that is in part due to the weather we experienced which meant we couldn't do as much to the greens as we would have liked.  The West greens renovation is scheduled for next week and the forecast has seemed to shift in our favour a little with not too much rain predicted early next week. 

Players in Wednesday's comp would have seen the helicopter flying relatively low for around an hour in the middle of the day.  They were doing an aerial survey of the course which will result in the Club receiving a topographical plan of the entire property that has a very small tolerance which will enable any future course works to be planned knowing the ground levels.  While they were up there they took some panoramic shots as per below and the clarity of the photo's is nothing short of amazing

60kmh wind gusts = no worries!!

The flight path!!

 

Great view!!

 

In the high res version you can see the balls on the green.

The photos don't come up as clearly when reduced to a size suitable for the Blog but the originals are clear enough to get the number of the Members cart that isn't on the path adjacent to the green on 15R!!

 

Please use the cart paths!!

 

 

A great week of weather with a few welcome showers earlier in the week although the ladies run of outs continued with some rain about during their shotgun on Tuesday.

The maintenance closure on the River course on Tuesday allowed us to get the fairways fertilised and then the slow follow up play after the ladies shotgun meant we got all but 2W fertilised on the West course.  In days gone by many members would wonder how I knew it was going to rain and time my application accordingly but with the new irrigation system that skill is now defunct.  As soon as the fairway is fertilised we are able to immediately run a cycle to wash the product in.  This achieves two main things, it gets the fertiliser prill off the surface and into the turf canopy and thus preventing damage from golf carts and it also means less burn on the leaf as there is less on the surface.  The photo below shows the type of wheel marking we would get previously from an application and what we got this week.

12W wheel burn a couple of years ago.

4W wheel burn this week.

As mentioned the new irrigation system showed it's worth with a precise application following the fertiliser to get it off the surface and then a follow up the night following to start the release.  We expect to get a response although the fairways are under growth regulation so there shouldn't be a surge.  The Kikuyu based fairways weren't fertilised as they are growing well enough and a change of formulation of the growth regulator has us struggling to get a rate that will control them.  5.6 tonne of fertiliser was put out at a rate of 200kg per hectare.  It is a custom blend that is produced to my specification which hasn't changed in 20 years and it works so well for us.  There is some upfront release and then we get up to 3 months of continual release to keep the fairways ticking over.

 

The sprinklers in action.

The white dots in the photo aren't golf balls but are foam drops that indicate driving runs to help with accurate application. 

The West greens renovation is due to happen on Monday November 17 and wouldn't you know it, a rain event has been predicted.  The long term forecaster I have mentioned before has nominated November 18 as the start of a prolonged wet season and he made that call months ago.  All the amateur sites are now almost unanimous with something brewing from November 17 so we will wait and see.