Another pretty accurate forecast from the weather bureau this week although they did miss with the volume of rain.  142mm all up for the week with 135 of that falling in about nine hours on Wednesday night.  Safe to say it didn't help with our Club Champs preps.  But full credit once again to the crew with the way they turned the courses around on Friday with Thursday virtually being a write off.  The short week after the public holiday didn't help much either.  A day like Thursday with no play does give us a chance to do a couple of jobs that are difficult to do in play and that was to hang two new practice nets and edge the paths on the West course with the paths being about the only dry thing out there!!  Some machine prep for the upcoming River course greens renovation was also done which is a very time consuming job.

A couple of shots below to demonstrate the volume of water that was out on the courses.  The photo across 18W and R was at 6pm Wednesday after only 60mm so there was another 70 dumped on top after that.  The other photo is of 12W fairway.  The main drain that drains this fairway was completely covered with debris not allowing the water to move but again just shows the volume of water that was there.

Looking across 18W & R from the entry road.

12W fairway early Thursday morning.

I had a very enjoyable break with some really good weather throughout but arrived back to the mess that was left after the cyclonic conditions that an east coast low weather system can, and did produce.  To get the course back to where it is today after what confronted us on Monday morning (photos below) is a credit to the crew despite some more very windy days making the clean up extremely difficult and frustrating.  Dads Army did an almighty job stick picking the rough areas on Tuesday and removed a huge amount of debris to allow us to continue mowing.  The bunkers literally become leaf collectors and a huge amount of time and effort is devoted to them to restore playability.

16R fairway bunker full of leaves.

18R fairway with turf barely visible.

Elsewhere on the courses things have ticked along really well and the irrigation install continues with 19 holes now completed.  The new pump set has been delivered and we are currently waiting on some approvals from our electricity supplier for the install to be completed.  Meanwhile next week we will be moving to 15W for the next hole install.  An upcoming forecast of dry warm weather will allow us to really put the new system to the test, however until the new pump set is installed and all the larger diameter pipe is online it is difficult to really see the benefits.  One of the main challenges we have had so far is to keep both the new and old systems operating side by side but so far we have done very well.

Unfortunately while I was away one of the crew decided to return home to Ireland after working with us for the past ten months.  Simon was a proficient greenkeeper who will hopefully one day return to our shores for another stint with us.  A couple of months ago I was contacted by a Spanish greenkeeper who is currently third in charge at Golf Club Crans-sur-Sierre in Crans-Montana Switzerland, where they host the Omega European Masters each year.  He is keen to come to Australia to work for three months while their course is closed for the ski season.  I was able to meet with him during my travels and have confirmed employment for him for three months from December.  Short term accommodation is scarce so if any followers have some temporary lodgings available it would be most appreciated and you could leave some details with the front office.  

October is Club Championship time for the men so hopefully the weather behaves and we can produce some good playing conditions for the competitors.  October is a notoriously windy month so here's hoping we get some good days coming up.

 

Pretty accurate sign??