A few showers to end the week dropped nearly 8mm on us which, dare I say, was quite welcome.  I doubt it was welcome for the Vets WOG though as the early starters on Thursday got a bit wet.  I'm not sure how long this event has been running but I can only recall one day when rain fell for most of the day so an early morning shower certainly didn't do much damage.  Another mainly sunny week as well so hopefully the players enjoyed the courses.

With 6.52am multi tee starts and / or shotguns it doesn't allow us much time to prep the courses in front of them but we do our best and it's fortunate that it is played at this time of year when there is little or no growth.  And on the topic of course preps, the speed that the first groups often play at has an effect on what prep we can get done for a competition field, when all greens mowing and hole changing needs to be completed in front of the first group.  The first groups out, regularly play in under three hours and if they come out as a two or three ball, they are even faster.  A Superintendent friend of mine in Florida at a very high end country club actually introduced timings for where the first group out can play to at allocated times, so to allow adequate time for course preps.  I often say that you can have a 5.30am shotgun but don't expect much prep work to get done before tee off.

The resistant Poa annua continues to baffle but at least we are getting some signs of control as I spoke with quite a few fellow Supers this week who are still getting no result.  There is even a turf farm in Victoria who has resorted to spraying Roundup at five times the rate that is considered ''safe'' on fairway Couch.  Another photo below this time from 11R green, with some dead Poa circled with some very healthy plants boxed less than 300mm away.

A conundrum??