And just like that January has been and gone!!  A very productive week on course albeit a short week with Australia Day on Monday.  The first Tuesday course closure of 2026 gave us the opportunity to get the West greens de-thatched which is the method we use to not only remove thatch but it is our preferred method of evening up the surface.  Because of the tight canopy of turf that TifEagle produces it is difficult to get any sand onto the surface as there is literally nowhere for it to go so the sand stays close to the surface which then destroys the mower blades on subsequent mowings. The River 328 greens on the other hand are a much more open canopy and the sand can mingle through the surface allowing the mowers to pass over the sand.

We are certainly in a bit of a dry spell (for us anyway!!) with a number of old drain and trench lines starting to show and the water table has probably dropped 200mm this week alone.  The new irrigation system is performing very well demonstrating the uniformity that we are getting across the irrigated areas of the courses.  Unfortunately we are having issues with our supply of water from the treatment plant which is at about half our expected flow rates.  Even with the less water available the system is certainly doing the job.

Pipeline evident across 3W fairway.

  

I know I go on about pitchmarks a lot but the photo below shows 8 totally untouched then mown over and scalped pitchmarks within a one metre square area on 16W.  Once a pitchmark is scalped by a mower it takes weeks for it to recover and with the volume of play we are getting there's lots of scalped pitchmarks out there.  We bought  a tool that does a reasonable job of repairing pitchmarks and tried to get the mower operator to scour the green prior to mowing but they weren't able to do both jobs and stay in front of the ridiculously fast first groups out and we don't have enough crew to allocate a person to do it.  So please repair your pitchmarks!!

Each black spot is an old pitchmark.

A frustrating week with light annoying showers being enough to disrupt some of our planned maintenance, particularly on Friday morning.  It started raining just as the crew left the compound and a couple of jobs had to be rescheduled.  With the speed that the first groups play at there's no time to waste getting out on the courses.  A single in a cart who played 18 holes in two hours on Friday morning didn't help things.

The courses are still holding up well and although player numbers have eased slightly there is still plenty of traffic.  Greens on both courses got a fertilise this week and are putting well.  We get back to some normality next week with the Tuesday course closure recommencing which provides us with a chance to get a lot of work done, particularly on the greens.  The advantage of (hopefully) working in dry conditions on the greens results in a far superior result and uses less staff.  The West greens will have the de-thatching program re-commenced next week which is critical for the playing surface.  With the course closed and dry conditions it becomes a 3 man job compared to doing it in front of play in the dew when it becomes at least a 6 man job.

Over the past few weeks we have been replenishing sand in many bunkers on both courses and attending to some of the bunker faces.  We are planning to start either re-draining, fixing or installing drainage in some bunkers over the coming months and we will start next Tuesday on the front bunker on 11W.  The course closure is the only time we can do this type of work on greenside bunkers without closing the hole to ensure safety of staff and contractors.

With the volume of play we have been getting there is always going to be some unwanted damage.  But we seem to have someone who delights in taking big divots and hitting multiple shots and offering no attempt to repair the damage.  It makes you hope that they land in one of their own divots next time they are out.

10 totally untouched divots 2W fairway.

 

Player numbers finally returned to some sort of normality this week which gave us the opportunity to get some necessary maintenance done on both courses.  I don't think I can remember a busier Christmas period especially when it started the week prior to Christmas Day which is reliably a very quiet week, but certainly wasn't this year.  Three solid weeks of 550+ players per day certainly tests the turf out but both courses have come through with flying colours.

The River greens got a sanding on Tuesday and then a much needed fertilise on Friday.  The sanding was a little heavier than we would normally do and that was to fill in the pitchmarks and level the surface.  I realise there's a lot of social play that don't really care but it always amazes me that the two things a golfer can do while playing - raking bunkers and repairing pitchmarks - are so often not done.  A quiet period on the timesheets around lunchtime on Tuesday this week gave us the opportunity to get the West greens de-thatched which is the method we use to level the surface on them as well as removing thatch.  A close mow and fertilise on Wednesday has them putting very nicely.

The tees have handled the volume of play particularly well and the fairways have come through extremely well.  I mentioned a couple of posts back that our growth regulator applications had been dialed in perfectly across the courses to hold back the turf and reduce mowing requirements through such a busy golfing period and short weeks.

The new irrigation system has performed very well in the hot conditions although we have had some issues with the incoming water supply being interrupted which has affected our usage.  We can only store about 6 megalitres (ML) and have been regularly pumping out 1.5ML per day so any interruption to supply has an effect.    

    

Well that's a wrap on 2025 and the weather certainly dominated the year (as it always seems to here at Coolie Tweed).  We started the year with 3 big storms in January with one of them severe enough to close both courses the following day which is most unusual.  The rain that started in October 2024 continued throughout January although most of the 24/25 Christmas / New Year golf period was unscathed.

Two of the three fairway projects that we undertook in 2025 were badly affected by rainfall during and just after the turf was put down.  12W was turfed just prior to TC Alfred arriving and how it stayed in place in such a wet area was remarkable.  Nearly 600mm of rain fell while the turf was being laid and for the 6 days following which I was sure would have seen it float away.  Both 12 and 18W fairway works were completed in less than ideal conditions but have come up very well as has the bunker removal and re-working of 12R fairway.

On the rainfall front we recorded 2721mm for the year which has it right up there in wettest ever.  For the record here's the hit parade for wet years - 

1.    1906    3193mm

2.    1999    2874mm   

3.    2022    2846mm

4.    2024    2785mm

5.    2020    2735mm

6.    2025    2721mm

From that you can see that the 2020's have been pretty wet!!  Indeed from January 1, 2020 till December 31, 2025, 14,814mm has been recorded in the course rain gauge. 

And then there was TC Alfred.  It was the most daunting situation I have had to deal with in my time managing golf courses and thanks to our array of contractors, course staff, member volunteers and Club Board support, we got through to the other side.  302 stumps required removal following TC Alfred and although the size of most of the trees was enormous, you would hardly know they have gone. 

A bit of a photo collage of 2025 below.

A pretty regular weather radar in 2025.

Tree down RHS 8W Jan 16 storm.

Suction pipe into pump shed well.

All hands on deck 12W fairway works.

First job post TC Alfred - clear access to our shed in Davey Street.

One of the bigger trees down post TC Alfred @ rear 1W green.

Couldn't have done the TC Alfred recovery without them.  Cheers GDE Trees!!

 

GDE expertise on display looking after turf and irrigation by piecing down.

302 stumps.

 

Trimming hangers.

Tree @ front 14W green needed removal after roots popped.

14W tree gone.  What an improvement to playability.

Fire at the tree dump.

New pump set.  Running like a dream.

New sprinklers in action.  Much improved coverage.

Biggest disappointment.  Fanning golf day security guards drove over 12R green. 

I wonder what 2026 is going to have in store for us???

  

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.