Friday, December 31, 2010

The end is here!

Well let's hope it's the end of the rain.  It has certainly been the hot topic of the past week in particular and I signed off this morning on 469mm of rain for December, 312 of which fell from the 23rd to the 28th.  December 2010 comes in as the second wettest on record for this location behind 1955 with 487mm, which is a bit of a concern as that was the lead up to the "1956 flood" which was the second worst for the Tweed area behind 1954.  Interestingly only 1970 with 462mm, 1983 with 440mm and 1943 with exactly 300mm are other years where more than 300mm of rain was recorded in December for this location since 1886, which illustrates just how unusual this month has been.  2010's total rainfall of 2,280mm has it placed 10th for annual volume since 1886 and well up on the location average of 1685mm.

The fan at the 17th West green didn't like the rain as some moisture found its way to a control switch and caused a circuit breaker to trip out.  It is back in full operation now in time for the next month which is normally crunch time for the green.  Looking at the quality and quantity of grass cover at the moment the mind boggles as to why it is such a problem child. 

The other West greens have experienced some disease which is only natural given the intense moisture that has been about and that outbreak is now hopefully in check.  The River greens have "puffed up" with the ideal growing conditions of late and are proving difficult to maintain a level mown surface with the amount of growth they are experiencing, although the putting surface is still good..  A light de-thatching next week should help the surface level out somewhat. 

With the short working weeks and huge volume of play it is impossible for us to keep up with mowing all the rough given the exponential growth at present.  At this time of year there is no such thing as finishing mowing rough so please bear with us through the coming weeks.


2 comments:

  1. Thanks for your efforts and those of your staff for 2010, Peter! Keep up the great work and a Happy New Year to All !

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