It's hard to believe it's the same golf course that I toured last Saturday afternoon after the rain had stopped when you look at it today.  A great effort by the crew to restore the course with the amount of wash that was around coupled with the bunkers almost requiring to be rebuilt.  Not to mention the amount of mowing needed now that the grass has well and truly jumped.  You literally can almost watch it grow.  We also had a metre deep 150mm irrigation repair to cope with on 4W fairway that occupied a lot of time as well.  It was one of those weeks when you wonder how all the required work will get done then sit back on Friday afternoon and thank the crew for their efforts over the week.

150mm irrigation repair on 4W.

 

The roughs are really starting to move especially the Kikuyu areas.  We mow roughs with outfront rotary mowers that are fitted with "mulching blades'' which as the name suggests mulch up leaves and sticks to leave a tidier appearance in the roughs, which given our tree population is rather important.  They don't mow as well as a traditional blade but are of great benefit for us with the finished result.  The top photo shows a brand new mulching blade on top and a worn one underneath and the next photo shows a ''normal'' blade.

 

Mulching blade.

 

 

Normal mower blade.

 

The fairways were treated with a growth regulator last week which was nicely timed given the arrival of the rain, heat and humidity.  Unfortunately one of the motors that operate the nozzles burnt out during application which meant that the product ran in a line rather than being broadcast out causing a burn.  The sprayer is a shrouded one which means the nozzles are encased which is great for spraying in the wind but not so good for seeing if they are all operating.  It is always tested before and also during spraying.  The photo below is of 6R fairway where the line from the faulty nozzle is clearly visible as indicated by the bottom arrow.  What is also visible next to the upper arrow is the amount of growth in that line where there was no growth regulator applied and the turf is scalped.  

 

6R fairway.

 

 

The photo below is of 13W fairway which missed being sprayed last week due to time constraints and the amount of clipping that was left after mowing which once again demonstrates how good the growth regulator is.  Years ago this was a common sight on fairways.

13W fairway.

It's pretty amazing to be saying that we only got 195mm of rain overnight!!  Lots of falls over 300mm around SE Queensland and hopefully not too much damage is caused.  We had 118mm @ 6.30am then a further 77mm till 9am when the gauge is officially read for the weather bureau.  A lot of what we have had will unfortunately run off due to the intensity of the rainfall but it will do the courses the world of good.  A few shots from around the courses about 8.30am this morning below.  Oh and note to self - the seagulls arrive after the rain!!

Corner of 12R.

18R green.

12W looking back to the tee.

15R from the tee.

1R fairway from 10R green.

Seagulls are in on 4W!!

We only got 10mm of rain on Tuesday night but the big benefit was that it all soaked in with none lost to run off and what a difference it has made.  It's probably not quite enough to get the fairways moving again but it had a pronounced effect on the West greens with a surge of growth since the rain.  The recent rainfall predictions have been a little off which is pretty unusual for the main site that I follow which is Willyweather.  They base their predictions on the weather bureau but then tailor them as they read it and they have been off the mark recently.  They have tomorrow at a 90% chance of 40 - 80mm so here's hoping they get it right - and the rain falls out of golf time!!  Some of the falls over the last couple of days have been sporadic with rain coming down from the north.  Yesterday Caboolture GC got 20mm and Nudgee Gc missed out completely while downtown Brisbane got 26mm.  Here's hoping for some at Coolangatta Tweed.

And a good story out of the horror of the bushfires.  A good friend of mine is at Bermagui GC and the town was evacuated and all power turned off which meant his greens had no water for eight nights.  He snuck past a road block to get back to the course and was amazed to find the greens fully covered and a verdant green.  The carbon component of the ash that blanketed the ground had releaased into the profile and the greens had responded accordingly.  No traffic for the duration also helped but as he commented that is no money coming in at the busiest time of the year.

Quite a promising forecast for rain over the approaching week end and here's hoping that it comes true.  I hope I haven't cursed the rain by cleaning the drainage pits around the courses this week and clearing debris from them.  Let's hope not?

Ready and waiting for some rain?

Obviously the dry continues and there is a rock that has been in the dam at 15W since the rockwall was built there in 2001.  That dam is directly related to the water table and the top of the rock has only been visible once before.  It is now just about to break the surface.

Just about visible.

The West greens have continued their recovery this week with a good sanding applied.  The sand is the same that we use at renovation and is what the greens were constructed from so as to prevent any layering from occurring.  A couple of spoon feed fertiliser applications were also applied and have had a good response despite the difficult soil conditions.  I took some more soil tests this week and the condition of the soil has deteriorated even further since late November which is understandable given the lack of rainfall.  

A herbicide was applied to green surrounds on both courses this week and it causes a temporary burn on the leaf which should grow out within a week.  Two applications are necessary so if the weather behaves the second application will happen next week.

Probably the busiest Christmas / New Year period we have had for quite a few years on the courses with huge numbers of players out there.  Unfortunately with it comes some less than desirable course etiquette with the bunker boys saying that "they didn't just walk up the faces - they stomped up them"!  It is always hard for us to strike the balance between maintenance and play especially with the early groups playing very quickly.  As a general rule we like to stay in front of the play especially for things like mowing greens and hole changing which are all done on a daily basis.  That isn't always possible with 6am starts and time restrictions on machinery operation.  After the initial set up we then need to go back and work in amongst play to get the job done which often causes angst for players.  Please bear with the crew as they go about their business while you play.

Given the fact that the seagulls have virtually taken up residence on 4 / 9 West dam certainly disproved my thought that it meant rain was on the way!!  And yes we did finish 2019 as the third driest year on record for Tweed Heads.

The West greens are very slow to recover from renovation which is the same as last year.  The greens were solid tine aerated against hollow tine when a core is removed to lessen the surface damage but they have still been set back.  They have also had an outbreak of insects and the high salt levels in the soil and water don't make it easy for them to recover.  It's a bit like human beings, when you are feeling a little down physically just a minor ailment is made worse.  I am very cautious in the amount I feed the greens as they can easily be overfed which can cause excessive thatch build up which only causes significant other problems.  

Rainfall and plenty of it is our friend which is true across the country at the moment.

20mm of rain in the gauge on Christmas morning was a very welcome Christmas present and the follow up showers have been a bonus and don't seem to have affected play too much.  The grass has already started to jump and as always the short working weeks and volume of play at this time of year make it tough to keep up with all the work that needs to get done.  I have noticed it before prior to rainfall and will keep an eye out in future but on Christmas eve morning a flock of seagulls was gathered on the dam at 4 / 9 West preening themselves and then spent most of the day there and sure enough in came the rain.  They were also there again this morning so with no rain in the forecast it will be interesting to watch.  It's always hard to tell with so many people having their own signs of rain to come.  A couple of other local ones I have heard of are the arrival of the black cockatoos who were actually very active this morning and the swallows flying about low to the ground feeding which I have seen a few times myself but no rain had followed.  Let's just hope we get enough rain across the country to break this dryspell.

The seagulls are in?

With no more significant rainfall, 2019 will figure in the four driest years on record for Tweed Heads with 961mm so far this year.  There have only been three years when less than 1000mm has been recorded and that was in 1902 - 689mm, 1915 - 858mm and 1986 with 962mm.  The average yearly rainfall for Tweed Heads since 1888 is 1665mm so yes it's been a dry one. 

Well the rain last week didn't last long but it certainly had a good effect with the courses greening up considerably over the past days.  We are now back into a dry spell and with our predominantly sand base it is amazing just how fast it dries out.  The West greens are a bit slower to recover than they were last year and that is due to the high sodium levels in the growing profile and also in the irrigation water.  Last year we had some very good rain following the renovation in December which helped "flush" the greens and last weeks falls weren't enough to achieve the same effect.  Hopefully we don't endure another dry summer like last year.

A quiet day on the courses on Thursday and then the West course being closed after the Vets shotgun allowed us to get all the fairways sprayed with growth regulator which is an essential application at this time of year for obvious reasons.  That is normally a task that takes three to four mornings over a week to complete around play so the closure was once again very beneficial.  Apart from slowing the growth down the growth regulator can also help root growth.  A few years ago I was doing a trial on the nursery green with the growth regulator and couldn't really see much difference on the surface.  However when I took  a couple of plugs to look at the roots it was an amazing difference as seen in the photo below.  The other photo below shows an area that was missed during the application on 14W fairway one time and the difference is distinct.

 

 

Growth regulator applied to top plug.

A miss on 14W fairway.

The winds this week have finally just about stripped all the bark off the Gum trees so the roughs will look a little tidier from now on.  This is an annual event for the trees and the wind just helps speed up the process.

 

Bark be gone...

And with the Aus PGA on this week who could forget the presence of Jeff the Dinosaur at the 2012 version of the tournament at Coolum!!!

Jeff the dinosaur!!!