And down it came!!

Just had a look at the course after a storm went through and there is water running across the 18th fairway into the dam and the creek along the side of the 10th was flowing strongly. This should top up the dams and give the course a much needed soak. In total we have had 65 mm since Thursday night. Looks like it is all gone now.

Bring on the rain

Looks like there is a bit of rain on the way, let's hope we get a good drop to irrigate the course and put some water in the dams. The dams are getting low and we have started pumping water from the river. Water is pumped into the dam at the 5th near the back tee and then transferred during the day up to the main dam using existing irrigation lines and the pump on the 5th dam. Water can only be transferred during the day as the pump and lines are used each night to irrigate the course.

With the extreme weather the staff are spending a lot more time fixing sprinklers and hand watering greens to keep them in good condition.

The greens will be renovated during the week starting 24th of March. A contractor will be brought in the verti-drain the greens. The verti-drain machine punches holes deep into the green with no core taken out. The holes are smaller than during the spring renovation and less sand is applied and we expect the greens to be back in top condition within 2-3 weeks.

New Cups

Cam has just installed new cups in the greens which look to be helping the hole keep it's shape a little more. To also help with keeping the edges of the hole sharp I ask if players could pick the ball out of the hole carefully and not use their putter to flick it out as I have seen before. If you see anyone doing this can you ask them to stop as it can damage the hole. Cam also had to install a new fitting on the flag stick to fit into the new cups.

With this hot weather upon us the boys are spending extra time fixing sprinklers and broken pipes to try to keep the course as green as possible.

We have a new greens and grounds committee headed up by myself. The committee is:

Simon Miels (Director Golf)
Cambell Griggs (Course Superintendent)
Rod Drayton
Heather Millar
Elaine Wilson
Bill Miller
Rob Bendle

Please feel free to speak to any of the committee if you have any feedback or leave some comments on the blog that everyone will be able to see.

Have a great Christmas!!!

Rain

We receive around 77 mm of rain from Friday night through to Tuesday morning this week which has helped green the rough up a bit and filled our dams. We had gone around 2 months with very little rain and this was much needed. The bottom dam has been overflowing since the rain and the main dam is within around half a metre from the overflow pipe. The course has now dried significantly and will be firm for the weekends golf. The staff have spent a lot of time draining water from the bunkers and these should be back in reasonable condition for the weekend also.

In the growing season the staff spend much of their time cutting grass. Below is a bit run done of the cutting program.

• Greens - cut 6 days a week at 3 mm
• Fairways - cut twice per week at 14 mm
• Greens collars and aprons - cut twice per week at 12 mm
• Tees - cut twice per week at 12 mm
• Long greens surrounds and first cut of rough around fairways - cut once a week at around 32 mm
• Secondary rough around fairways and tee carries - cut once a week at around 60-65 mm.
• Remainder of rough cut at the same height as the secondary rough on an as needs basis - this is usually about once very 2 weeks when it is growing
• Bunkers - raked twice per week with mechanical bunker rake

Poll results

Well the results of the poll on the site are nearly in. With a grand total of 7 votes 2 for a bit slow, 3 for about right and 2 for a bit quick I conclude that they are about right.

The course is getting a bit dry and hopefully we receive some good rain over the next few days as predicted.