One last post before I go on leave to update readers on some upcoming works.     

Following Board approval a contractor has been engaged to install concrete cart paths on 1 and 9R.  Both paths are to be routed down the LHS as you play the hole.  

The rockwall revetment on the dam at RHS 6R green will be re-built by other contractors.  Both these projects are scheduled to start on Monday October 12.  There will be some disruption to play as holes will need to be closed / modified to ensure safety of the contractors and our staff.  The weather needs to play a helping hand in both these significant projects.

We also have a "topmaker" machine booked for early November.  This machine literally shaves off the top of the fairway thereby removing the thatch layer.  We are hoping to get both the second half of 4 and 10W fairways done where they are wet so as to hopefully give them a chance to dry out in rain events in the future.

The River greens renovation in late October will be split over two weeks to allow us to do a major renovation.  The first Monday / Tuesday (Oct 26 & 27) will see the greens scarified and then mown back down to normal height so they should play alright.  The second Monday / Tuesday (Nov 2 & 3) will see the coring and sanding of the greens where there is some of the surface disruption traditionally associated with green renovation.  The greens are very weak after such a dull winter due to the constant cloud cover associated with the rain.  We have also not been able to renovate them properly 4 of the last 5 years due to poor weather so they are desperate for a good renovation.

One of my peers in Sydney dropped me a line after lasts weeks post regarding bunkers not being raked.  That Club has instituted a discipline code and the penalty for not raking a bunker and correctly returning the rake to its position is a one week suspension!!  That would be one way the cut down the player numbers here!!

Today's Pro am has been run and won and hopefully all the players enjoyed the course.  Last years event was held after a prolonged wet period as well and the course had just dried out as it has this year.  This is probably the driest the course has been for several months which was handy timing for the Pro's.  No players broke par in the morning field last year as a strong wind blew that then calmed down to a light breeze for the afternoon field where -8 took the winners cheque.  Today's perfect weather had a dozen or more beat par in the morning and all up around 28 beat par for the day.  Three players tied for the win at -5 and one of them started his round with a double bogey and another with a bogey so a great comeback from them.

Most of this week was spent prepping for the Pro am with pretty low staff numbers.  There are two on annual leave which is the time of year to have it and then two others have been off sick.  The Facebook ads for staff the other week secured us a very good young casual 3 days a week and three others turned down positions after or just prior to induction day.  I have however been able to secure 3 international qualified greenkeepers for the summer season with a fourth one pending so we can't wait for them to arrive.  It's always nice to have an accent amongst the crew and if they are anything like our past few international visitors we will be very well placed.

And speaking of annual leave it's my turn for a few weeks off so there will not be any Blog posts for most of September.  Hopefully the course dries out completely for my return and it will be in the very capable hands of Assistant Simon. 

 

 

Another pretty good drying week and it's got to the point that some irrigation on some fairways and traffic areas would be warranted but alas the forecast isn't too bright with rain predicted through to Wednesday next week.  The greens on both courses have had some irrigation applied this week to prevent dryness but also to wash in some product. It's generally pretty normal to get some of what rain is predicted over so many days although further south looks worse than us.  We are hoping we can get to the Pro am in relatively dry conditions next Friday because the courses are still in great condition.

It's been an interesting week for weather forecasters (of the amateur variety) with some saying a very big wet spell is on the way and / or we are in for a very severe storm season.  The BoM still seem to be hanging their hat on ElNino so it's a waiting game ahead. 

I had a chat with a member earlier this week and he was commenting on a 36 hole course in another State that seemed to have better conditioning than us.  I suggested that I doubt they would put through half the players we do which makes presentation so much easier.  Last Friday, Saturday and Sunday there were just shy of 1600 names on the timesheets and this weekend we have over 1400, and that is with a full course shotgun on Sunday with only 84 players. Obviously not all the players booked on the timesheets play 18 holes but you quote those figures to other Club's and they simply don't believe you.  

And I am fairly certain what happened in the photo below wouldn't happen at that club either.  A CoolTweed member was out this afternoon and a young child with him was running through the greenside bunker at 15R smashing his way around the bunker.  I counted 20 divots in the bunker and the rake was deftly jumped over.  Not sure what the other bunkers on the River course look like where they had been??

Just some of the 20 "shots"??

 

20mm of rain last weekend was about the last thing we needed as we had almost dried out.  4, 10 and 11W fairways are still a concern with the way they are staying so soft.  They have never been like this before and apart from the obvious constant rain, there is no real apparent reason.  Having said that, they do have the worst "soil" profile of the entire property which we experienced first hand during the irrigation install.  The rest of the courses are behaving as they would after rain but these fairways just won't dry out.  A good forecast / weather over the week end and we will get the aerators back on them early next week, although the deep slicing recently carried out has had little to no effect on them.  At least we are sneaking up on 11 hours of daylight which doesn't do any harm. 

The vets week of golf again bought some glorious weather out with several days in the mid 20's.  All the forecasts and weather talk of late is about the dry conditions that are on the way with the onset of the El Nino event, but to be honest I am more than happy with the current seven day forecast with no rain in it.  It has been a very tough winter with the constant leaf wetness causing a lot of disease pressure, not only in greens but across all closely mown surfaces.  A fellow Northern Rivers club have had such a bad outbreak of disease in their fairways that they have had to treat it twice now which is something that you just don't budget for.

The volume of play during the week of golf impacts just what we can get done on the courses and quite a bit of time this week was actually allocated to some maintenance at the Club's highway properties.  The coming weeks will see a concentration of maintenance on the West course in preparation for the Club's pro am in two weeks.