Much of the same!

Another 24mm of rain this week has seen the monthly total climb to 71mm and our year to date total up to 196mm. The strong winds over the weekend also brought down one tree located at the rear of the 5th green (pictured above) and numerous branches around the course. This seems like a drop in the ocean compared to Headland Golf Club (pictured below), located at Buderim on the Sunshine Coast, who received 296mm of rain in yesterday's deluge taking their year to date total to 1470mm.

Casual water!

Bonanza Bore and Bird Box Repairs

This week saw us go from Summer to Winter in the blink of an eye. Last weekends warm weather continued through to Wednesday lunchtime giving us a high temperature of 34 degrees before the heavens opened and dumped 41mm of much needed rain (plus some pretty spectacular thunder and lightening) on the course. Friday then saw us receive another 5.5mm to give us a total of 46.5 for the week, not bad considering we had only received 0.5mm for the first 14 days of the month!

Contractors removing the Bonanza Bore

The Bonanza bore, which is located under the nursery at the maintenance sheds, stopped working at the end of last week and had to be lifted to determine the fault, fortunately it turned out to be a dead short in the power cable and not a problem with the pump or motor. The cable has been replaced and the bore is now operational again.

Geoff Couch working on the bird boxes 

A big thank you to Geoff and Ian who volunteered their time to re-secure and repair the numerous bird boxes located around the course last week. About half of the boxes can be reached from an extension ladder, but there are number of the boxes positioned at such a height that means that it is safer to carry out the repairs using a cherry picker. 

Play it as it lies! Interesting lie between the 5th and 6th fairways.



The End of Summer?

	February 2012	February 2011	average
Rainfall	42.5 mm	54.5 mm	21.8 mm
Year to Date	68 mm	75 mm	46.9 mm
No. of rain days	5	5	-
Average Temp.	28.5°C	28.6°C	-
Average Humidity	54.6%	58.8%	-

Summer was brought to a close with 16mm of welcome rainfall on the last day of February which significantly boosted the monthly total to a more acceptable figure. We have had our first major irrigation leak of the summer - the 10th fairway mainline - which has now been repaired. Compared to previous years when we have had numerous leaks, this says a lot about the way the new pump system is helping us to manage the older parts of the irrigation system.

Greens and tees have received an application of a balanced granular fertiliser which will help to maintain plant health and vigour over the coming weeks. Greens have received an application of a fungicide to control some small areas of disease that were present. Tees have been cored and will be overseeded and sanded at the beginning of next week to aid with their recovery.

I was fortunate to be able to attend a South Australian Golf Course Superintendents Association (SAGCSA) meeting at the Adelaide Oval just prior to the Redbacks victorious Ryobi one day final where Curator Damian Hough gave a very interesting and informative presentation on his pitch preparation, the oval re-development and the new drop-in wickets which are being prepared.

If you look closely you will see a clubhouse and a golf course in there somewhere!

Welcome Respite

Fox damage - 9th greenside bunker

It's amazing how much damage foxes can cause when they decide to start playing in a bunker!

A much cooler week has given us some welcome respite from the heat before temperatures climb back up into the mid 30's by the middle of next week. As well as all of our normal routine maintenance this week has also seen us fertilise greens, tees, the new sod at the 10th and the new 4th mounds. Greens have also been sprayed with a combination of products to control some small areas of disease which had appeared after the high humidity of the previous weekend. Some small areas of sod repairs have been carried out around the course using some of the better sod salvaged from the 10th tee carry and a large volume of pine needles have been cleared from inbetween the 2nd and 3rd holes.

Irrigation Wiring Problems and 10th Tee Carry

I'm sorry for the absense of the blog over the last two friday's, as you will have noticed from the additional work that has been going on around the course we have been busier than normal over the last two weeks.

These following two photos show an Irrigation contractor at work tracing wiring faults and a completed repair underneath the 16th green. The problems that are now occuring to the undergound wiring are primarily caused because of the age of the wiring which is now starting to degrade and breakdown at joints and on bends where there are additional stresses on the wiring. This is a time consuming task which not only involves the irrigation contractor but a member of staff to assist and then make good.

The other major project that has been undertaken in the last week has been the conversion of the 10th tee carry from a mix of cool season grasses to Santa Ana couch. The reason for the conversion was because of the poor quality of the cool season grass, due to heat stress during the summer months over a number of years in such a high profile location. The area was sod cut, cleared, rotary hoed, levelled and then rolled prior to being re-sodded by staff and a couple of willing volunteers (thanks - Warren and Steve!) at the end of the week.

Sod cutting the weak cool season grass

Removing the cut sod

The finished article!

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.