An amazing effort once again by the crew on the daunting task that confronted them when they arrived this morning.  The courses were unplayable and thus why they were closed for the day but to be honest if you hit the ball straight down the middle right now and don't look sideways or into the bunkers, you would barely know anything happened.  We have all the River course playing surfaces cleared and ready for play and only about half the West but all greens and tees are fine.  We lost count of the number of loads taken to the tree dump but it was literally dozens with our Bobcat operator not stopping all day.  Two new staff members join the crew next Monday and they are in for a rough start with probably a week shovelling bunkers!!

We finished up with 75mm with a few late showers on Thursday which is nearly double what most sites in the Northern rivers received.  That takes us to just shy of 250mm for January and since November 11 we have now had 993mm or just shy of 40 inches.  Just WOW. 

The rain forecast for the weekend isn't good but with no further rain carts will be good for the River course on Saturday and a decision made in the morning for the West.

We only had 3 holes of West course bunkers to restore when I called the crew back in just after 1pm Thursday afternoon as a safety measure given the approaching storm.  I really thought it might just slip through below us but how wrong I was.  I actually think we got the eye of the storm as the on course damage is extraordinary when compared to other streetscapes around Banora and Tweed.

I had a phone hook up with GM Nicole and President Tracy around 3pm Thursday and suggested that both courses needed to be closed to play on Friday.  Understandably they were a bit sceptic, but I suggested they go for a drive to a few select locations to see for themselves.  After doing just that, they remarked that it may not be in play for the weekend!!

I would place it in the top 5 storms / wind events I have seen here.  Below is a selection of photos from Thursday afternoon.  I am estimating that it will take a crew of 8 all day to just get the greens and tees playable let alone worry about the amount of debris on fairways and in the treelines.  Don't even mention bunkers. 

72mm of rain and hail was recorded in the brief but volatile storm which is far more than any other locations in the local area. 

Some of the views in no particular order........

The radar.

 

3R tee.

6R green.

2R green.

LHS 11W fairway.  4 x uprooted trees.

2W green.

16R green.

8W green side view.

8W green from rear.

3W green.

 

A pretty scary look taken by Pro Shops James Bonnor.

To be honest the photos don't do it justice as the amount of debris on the ground is extraordinary.  There's lots of water too but that will drain away with few problems although the tides are very big at the moment.  Once again two of our main contractors rang me to see if we needed help in the clean up and both will be onsite at 7am tomorrow.  We have ''been there  - done that' but this is a big one.

25mm of rain came crashing down in Thursday's storm which was only brief but certainly packed a punch.  That rain wasn't really much used to us as the bulk ran off but the 12mm that followed was, dare I say it, most welcome.  We were really starting to dry out so it came just in time and thankfully there wasn't too much wind associated with it so not too much mess out there.  By way of comparison, Kingscliff water treatment plant which is next door to Chinderah golf, got 55mm in the same storm on Thursday.  Now that would be too much.

The course is in the middle of the circle.

 

The heavy rain helped settle down the new works on 18W and 3R which were completed this week.  18W bunker was re-drained, although it barely had any functional drainage in it, and there was no water standing in the bunker after the storm had passed with the new drainage.  All of the surface water on 18W fairway also did exactly what it should and all flowed to the drainage pit with minimal damage to the surface.  The area will be re-worked next week after the irrigation is installed and prior to turfing on Tuesday.

Player numbers retreated a little this week though numbers are still high with 500+ players per day the norm.  Almost literally at the other end of Australia, one of our crew went down to Ocean Dunes GC on King Island last year as the Assistant Super and they had 24 players today and have a huge day of 45 players booked on Sunday!!

Happy New Year to all readers of this Blog as I start informing Members and followers for the 15th year of what's happening on the courses at Cool Tweed.  I don't know of another course anywhere in the world that have had this amount of information made available to members for so long.  The Blog now receives an average of 1,500 ''hits'' a week so it has certainly grown over the years!!  Listed below is where some of the past weeks audience numbers have come from, with Australia obviously the most popular viewers.

Ecuador 7

Kenya 6

Russia 6

Azerbaijan 5

Bangladesh 5

Pakistan 5

Ukraine 4

Nepal 3

2024 closed out with 2,785mm making it the fourth wettest year since records began in 1886.  Let's hope we get a break as the four of the past four years have seen more than 2.4metres of rain each year.  We have certainly had a good break over the past two weeks and haven't the golfers come out to play, especially over the past week since Christmas, with well in excess of 500 players a day.  It's not just the numbers that affect our productivity and quality but the speed of the first group.  New Years eve saw the first group in the members comp around in 2.45 hours which doesn't give us much time to get anything done of any real consequence.  It is just a matter of hanging on and hoping we get through to next week when the numbers return somewhat to normal but still very busy. 

The chance to host the the WPGA Tour School earlier this week gave us the chance to really showcase the West course with tee times not starting until 7.30am on day one which gives us a two hour break on the play and the quality of course presentaon was spot on.  The crew really stepped up to the mark and produced the goods.

The courses have certainly dried out and we are now in full irrigation mode with many old drain and irrigation trenches starting to show like the one on 18R below.  The new irrigation system is certainly handling the dry well with a very even cover of water across the playing areas installed so far and already a much reduced volume of water being used.  It is still not as good as it will be when finished as the success of the system is reliant on all the new pipe being installed to allow for an even flow of water to all parts of the courses which isn't there just yet.  But what we are experiencing now is very encouraging going forward.

You know it's dry when this happens.

 

Another drainline showing is one of the ''aggie'' pipes near the fairway bunker on 18W shown below.  Several of these are showing in this area and given how wet the area gets they are obviously useless.  There are also four collection pits in the area as well so prior to the irrigation being installed on 18W we will be re-shaping this area in the same manner as done on 4R two years ago and moving all surface water to one pit.  While we are there the fairway bunker will be reduced in size and re-drained.  The area will then be rid of the ''melon holes'' that have formed there over the years when it has been so wet but still subjected to carts traffic while wet. 

18W drainline showing.

 

And while the machinery is onsite the front bunker on 3R will be reduced in size and become a bit more of a pot bunker style to the left of the play line to allow some of our less abled players to access the green.  These works will be done next Tuesday and due to the location the hole will be closed for the day.

The irrigation contractors are due back onsite next Monday and will be starting on 18W. 

One thing that has certainly happened this season is an absolute explosion in the germination of Crowsfoot across the property.  I doubt I have ever seen this much which is down to three things.  The weather pattern obviously has a lot to do with it but I believe a huge amount of seed made its way on to the courses in the 2022 flood and subsequent minor flooding we have experienced over the past three years has helped spread it far and wide.  The other factor is that we have used less pre-emergent products over the past year due to the irrigation installation and the need for a lot of turfing to be done.  We have been spraying quite a few areas successfully over the past weeks and continued today with both boom and hand spot spraying happening.

Thirty inches of rain since November 11.  Not a misprint!!  I doubt any other course could take that type of punishment and remain open.  It really is a credit to the people who built the courses and installed the drainage which works incredibly well on such a flat site.  Having such little fall makes the pipes run very slowly but they are very effective.

At the Board meeting on Tuesday night this week there was discussion around the forecast for Wednesday golf.  My contribution was that the biggest concern, although not technical in any way, was that the seagulls had been camped on the dam at 4 / 9 West and had been there all night.  They certainly did know something as that 80mm in 40 minutes just after lunch on Wednesday was almost literally out of this world.

The West course is taking forever to dry out in places and just when we think we can mow a fairway we get more rain on it.  The 80mm on Wednesday wasn't to big a problem as that volume of water just runs to the catch basins.  It's the smaller showers that are the ones that really keep us wet.

The constant rain means low sunlight hours which isn't conducive to good greens growing weather.  The River greens have really struggled which is a trait of 328 and even the West greens have got a bit ''puffy''.  Both sides got a de-thatch this week followed by a close mow which has resulted in a scalped look in areas on the greens. A good forecast of sunny weather looms so hopefully that occurs.

They didn't move for 48 hours.

 

I could nearly write exactly what I wrote last week with respect to the rain, grass growth and staff shortages.  At one stage earlier this week we had received 22 inches of rain in 26 days.  I don't know of many courses that could take that volume of rain in that timeframe and remain playable.  This week was a shame though as during the course closure on Tuesday the West course was completely blown and mown and looked an absolute treat on Tuesday night.  32mm of rain in a squally weather front soon changed all that for Wednesday unfortunately.

Year to date rainfall has us sitting at 2,706mm which puts it at number 6 on the all time list since 1886.  Rainfall figures for the past 4 years see the following;

2020 - 2,735mm.    2021 - 2,413mm.    2022 - 2,846mm.    2023 - 1,314mm. 

On the irrigation front 14W has finally been completed but some of the main trenchlines are still very soft.  No installation will be started before Christmas with a lot of topping up trenches and tidy up work currently being completed.  Work will re-commence on Monday January 6 on 18W which is also when we will do some work at the LHS fairway bunker on 18W to eliminate the wet area in front of the bunker and will also reduce the size of the fairway bunker and re-drain it.

Another ''500 Friday'' this week with over 500 players booked in and with the way the Fridays fall during Christmas we will probably have a couple of 600 Fridays thrown in.  Hopefully we get some decent weather to allow everyone to enjoy the courses.  It should be noted that when you are putting that quantity (and type of play) through the courses, turf quality and presentation has to suffer.

The practice facilities, particularly the new ''target green'' as we call it are really getting some use and are showing the signs of wear quite badly.  When you are practicing and taking divots on the ranges, the preferred method of arranging your divots is as per the top photo below which will allow for a much more rapid recovery of the area compared to the bottom photo. 

A good pattern.

 

A not so good pattern and sand dump.

So November 2024 finished up being the second wettest November since records began in 1886 for Tweed Heads with 408mm recorded.  The actual record happened in 1917 with 606mm of rain falling.  We have now had 542mm since November 11.  That's half a metre of rain in a bit over three weeks so no wonder we are wet.  There is water still lying in some rough areas that I have never seen stay there this long.

It has come at a bad time this week with two staff off each day sick, one on annual leave and a casual resigned last week leaving us four men down on where we should be.  The West bunkers have taken a real hit and will remain out of play until next week when we have the numbers to get to them.  The grass growth is also at its peak at the moment with the heat and moisture in the ground so it is nigh on impossible to keep the courses mown.

Speaking of taking a hit, thanks to the player that did this to 16R bunker this past Wednesday afternoon.  When you have people like this out there it's hard to produce any sort of quality playing surfaces.

Nearly tripped over the rake.

The irrigation install has also taken a hit over the past month with ground conditions as wet as they can be.  The contractors have done a bit more top dressing on the low trenches this week while trying to finish 14W off.  I have mentioned a few times about the mainline trenches that are dug by a large excavator doing a very good job of root pruning along the sides of fairways.  I didn't expect to get the same result from the ploughing machine that pulls the pipe in around the greens.  The photo below is from 15W at the rear of the green with the plough line arrowed and a distinctive difference in growth on the greenside of the line.  It has happened in several other green surrounds as well so is another added bonus.

Significant difference in growth on the greenside of the plough line.