A Warm Week

Watering wetting agent into the 5th fairway

The continuing trend of warm weather looks set to continue through to the end of next week, with temperatures forecast to be in the mid 30's all week. This week has seen staff mini-tine greens again and then follow up with another scheduled application of wetting agent. All fairways have also been spayed with wetting agent over the past two weeks. This is the second application for the season and as a result I believe that the fairways are in as good condition as I have seen them in my time at the club. The mounds on the 4th fairway have had couch scarifyings from the 2nd, 6th and 7th fairways incorporated into the rootzone and are starting to show signs of establishment.

10th green Koala

After a very hot Monday and Tuesday the Koala from last blog at the rear of the 10th green was again spotted in very relaxed mode, this time in the River red gums on the highside of the 15th fairway.

December Statistics

	December 2011	December 2010	average
Rainfall	26.5 mm	117.5 mm	38 mm
Year to Date	807 mm	902 mm	841 mm
No. of rain days	3	12	-
Average Temp.	29.7 °C	27.9 °C	-
Average Humidity	52.4 %	60.3 %	-

The hottest December in the last five years, combined with the second driest December in the last ten years has meant an increase in water usage from last month, and also a significant increase in staff time spent hand watering over the last three weeks. As can be seen from the above chart, December was almost two degrees warmer on average and we received 91mm of rain less than last year over the month. The onset of the warmer weather has also meant that fairway growth is now at its peak, and as a consequence of this a large proportion of staff labour is being spent on course presentation.

Koala - Rear of 10th green 

I took the photo of the koala early in the morning on New Years Day after I spotted it low in the tree when I shut down the sprinkler at the rear of the green, it had sat in the spray of the sprinkler for @20 minutes and was soaking wet. I think it must have realised that we were in for a 42 degree day and was quite happy to to take the opportunity to get some welcome relief from the heat. The following day, the koala was in the same spot late in the afternoon and was happy to accept a drink of water from the club professional, Matt Dent.