The tale of wet continues and the courses, particularly the West, just aren't drying out.  I have actually been wondering if we have been doing something wrong as some of these wet / boggy areas have never been like it before.  I attended the annual Turf Conference in Melbourne last week and was almost relieved to hear that golf courses anywhere from Coffs Harbour to Hervey Bay are as wet as they have ever been, despite lower YTD rainfall figures. Comments such as "never seen some of these areas this wet before" and 10mm of rain feels like 100mm" were pretty common and echo my thoughts.  And we are considered to be a dry course in comparison to many others.

LHS 4W fairway near 135m marker.

Cart tracks near 135m marker 10W fairway.

Hand pulled buggy damage LHS 11W fairway.

 

The photos above were all taken on Thursday afternoon and these areas are the main reason carts have been off the West course this week.  The photo below was taken last Sunday morning after Saturdays hand pulled buggy traffic on 13W fairway.

13W fairway.

 

We got greens on both courses "needle tine aerated" this week with a 6mm diameter tine which causes little or no surface disruption but allows for some much needed oxygen exchange and allows the surface to breathe.  The tees were also done but with a 12.5mm tine which again causes little surface disruption but allows for the air exchange and will hopefully help the tees dry out a bit.

We also pulled our big tractor mounted slicer out and trialed it on some fairway areas to see if it would assist in drying them up but with the damage caused at this time of year with little potential recovery, we judged it not worth the effort given the time it takes.  When some of the really boggy areas such as those above on 4, 10 and 11W fairways dry out some more, we will definitely be trying it again on those smaller areas.  

Slicer in action RHS 9W fairway.

 

Another year of the Mick Fanning Charity Golf Day and they really are blessed with the weather.  I have been dreading the week given how wet we have been and then we have a rare run of dry weather then a mid June day reaching into the mid 20's.  There are still quite a few areas that haven't dried on the fairways but for the most part the courses were in outstanding condition.  The size of the build for a one day event is extraordinary to say the least and logistically we were so lucky to have dried out enough.  This time last week would have been a different story.

The latest trend for activation's is to fit out a container then transport it to site.  Works well in a hardstand carpark or similar but not so much on a sodden golf course!  A couple of locations had to be changed such as Yeti who were originally allocated 9R but were moved to 16R where there is at least some handstand to get them there.  The sheer size of the containers mean a Franna crane truck or side loading semi trailer is required to put them in place.

"Yeti" being maneuvered into position.

 

"Balter's" bar being dropped on 18R fairway.

A look inside "Fatboy Bikes" container.

It is a logistical nightmare on many fronts and we needed to find somewhere for 4 semi trailers, including one oversize, to park and unload on Wednesday.  The cart shed carpark was the only choice to ensure the trucks had somewhere to park and unload safely so apologies to players trying to get a park for golf on Wednesday.

Just two of the trucks on Wednesday.

And some of the infrastructure required.

  

The nightmare on the courses continues with constant rain most of the week wetting both courses again.  We just can't get a chance to dry out even though the actual rainfall figures aren't that dramatic.  We are getting to the stage of needing to treat the tees for disease which I think I recall having to do once before in my entire career.  We are not alone with most courses in SE Qld affected and some actually closing.  Below is the latest long range forecast from the BoM so hopefully they get that highlighted first line right??

 The long-range forecast for July to September shows:
•    Rainfall is likely to be below average across parts of southern and eastern Australia.
•    Daytime temperatures are likely to be above average south of the tropics.
•    Overnight temperatures are likely to be above average for much of Australia.

Really not very much to report given the weather this week and next week all efforts move toward the Club hosting the Mick Fanning charity golf day on Friday.  A reminder that the course and practice facilities are closed on Thursday and Friday next week as we prepare to host the biggest one day golf event in Australia.

The US Open is to be played at Shinnecock Hills next week and it's extraordinary how much the course has morphed over the years.  I was lucky enough to play it in the early 90's when it was still fairly heavily treed and the difference to look at it now is amazing.  It is an all cool-season grass golf course and the greens are predominantly Poa annua and it is an extremely sandy (and windy) site so the greens dry out naturally very easily.  It is also extremely undulating and a very hard walk, especially if there is any heat about which is a big chance next week.  Shinnecock is where Phil Mickleson famously hit a moving ball that was going to get away from him in the 2018 US Open.  This is a good YouTube video that gives a recent update on the maintenance at the Club and also gives a good look at some of the undulations.

 

Seven days without rain has been a very welcome change although there are still some areas that are yet to dry out on the courses.  4 and 10W still have boggy areas on them and I can't recall that happening previously after such a dry run.  The general rule of thumb is that the West is about a day and a half behind the River course in drying out.  Some cooler overnight temperatures have really snapped the greens back with a loss of colour and growth.  We were able to get what maybe the final de-thatching of the season done on the West greens this week which really leveled the surface up nicely.

Whilst out on the West greens the number of unrepaired pitch marks was glaring and a blight on the putting surface. It is well documented that an unrepaired pitchmark takes weeks to recover whereas a properly repaired one can be instant.  The one in the photo below was one of about a dozen on 14W green and the arrows indicate the area that has been scalped by the mowers.  At this time of year that will be there for six weeks. 

 

We continued on with some more tree works this week opening up the playing corridor on 4W.  Unfortunately further tree work will be put on hold for a few weeks as we have some major amounts of golf coming up over the next month.  A week of shotguns next week followed by the Fanning charity golf day and then the senior matchplay.  Let's hope the rain stays away so we can get them all in.  And please remember to fix your pitchmarks!!
 

Another bad week of weather and quite luckily we narrowly avoided a flood when the river actually broke its bank at the low spot behind 1R green on both high tides on Tuesday.  Fortunately the river's catchment upstream missed some of the heavier rain (they still got 80mm) and that kept levels "under control".  The bunkers took an absolute pounding and have taken the rest of the week to get shoveled back into some normality and the fairways were too wet to mow for most of the week and in the end due to their length we had to mow through some unfavourable ground conditions.

One of a few bunkers a machine could help out in.

 

In the 81 days since the start of March we have had only 26 days where no rain was recorded and received 760mm or 30 inches in the old scale.  You have to go back to the double flood year of 2022 to match that same run of rain days. 9 inches of that rain has fallen in the past 8 days as well.

The weather has played havoc with our work programs with either rain or wind disrupting.  Our preventative spray programs on the greens have been the worst hit and we now have some disease present in some River course greens.  Following the solid tine of the greens a few weeks ago we are getting some wheel marking from the mowers which is normal and probably exacerbated by the wet soft conditions.  There is no disruption to the playing surface though. 

With no further rain overnight carts should be back on the West course for Saturday.  It is still extremely wet in places so please drive with care. 

Another disastrous week for golfing and golf course maintenance.  We were lucky enough to get all but 10W fairways mown on Monday while we were able and it pretty much hasn't stopped raining since.  The rain forecast seems to get worse every time I look at it and some of the showers we have been getting have been torrential.  90mm from Tuesday am till Friday am which isn't a crazy number for us but it just comes on top of everything else we have had this year.

We have done a few Poa annua control trials around the courses and the rain certainly hasn't helped.  One of the more successful ones was on the edge of some of the West greens.  We did get a leaf tip burn that has since grown out but we finally got some result with some yellowing of the target plants.  When the rain stops we can continue the trials on a wider front.  Most of our other trials haven't been successful so the search continues.

Discolouration from the spray.

3 plants in the spray zone yellowing.

 

  

Yet another frustrating week with the weather again impacting work programs and golf.  At least it dried out enough for us to get a mow on some West fairways but there are still several that are still too wet to mow.  The volume of rain this week hasn't been much but the ground just isn't drying out.  At least we were lucky on Wednesday that the 80 - 100mm that fell near Ballina and was tracking north didn't make it here.  The 7mm we did get did enough damage though and the forecast next week looks bleak and it won't take much to top the courses up.

Poa annua (wintergrass) has started to germinate again and several trials with varying products and methods are under way.  As reported here previously most of the Poa we have on the courses is now resistant to most control options.  This is not only a problem for us here at CTH but is a problem Australia and worldwide.  Most treatments will have a deleterious effect on the roots of the desired grasses so in the greens case we need to tread very carefully, particularly approaching winter..  The constant wet of the past few weeks provides the perfect environment for the Poa to germinate.  And speaking of winter we got a fair blast of what's to come this morning with 12 degrees registered in the compound.  It was certainly a chilly start on the mowers and a few of the boys went searching for their gloves.

Cold crisp start to the day overlooking the Tweed River.

Elsewhere on the courses and we are in good shape heading into winter, despite the rain, with an excellent coverage of grass on tees and fairways.  It is always interesting when carts are restricted to see the immediate improvement in the fairways.  A large majority of players have followed the signage on 1 and 9 River fairways and kept their carts off the fairways and the improvement in the turf is amazing.  Pity two of the early groups on the West course ignored the request to stay off 16W fairway.  I bet they would be straight into the bar if the sign read "free beer today"!!  

Not quite staying off the fairway??