This summer has been a challenge for many course superintendents in Sydney, dealing with record heat and humidity conditions. Our Poa Anna greens are not a fan of high humidity so it's important to keep on top of our fungicide program as well as our normal practices such as monthly needle tining. We would normally have given the greens their monthly verticut and dusting however we have been kept busy cleaning up storm damage, watering during extreme heat and keeping on top of the growth of all playing surfaces. As we head into Autumn, we will get back on top of the dusting program to improve greens surface roll and firmness.

The team will be busy over the next few weeks with several important projects. One of these projects is the topping up of bunkers with fresh sand. Overtime the amount of sand decreases due to the effects of wind, as well as golfers removing the sand in the process of playing a shot. The first bunkers to be topped up will be the greens side bunkers on holes one, three, four and nine with others to follow in due course. The new sand will be compacted with a plate compactor during this process, and these bunkers to be GUR until they are fit for play.

The 6^th tee was turfed with new strain of turf called Tahoma 31 and is establishing nicely. This is a trial grass to see how it will perform under shade stress. Several courses in Sydney have been using Tahoma on their tees with great results. If it performs well, it will be a good option for when the 6^th tee is rebuilt under the Craig Parry master plan. Based on current growing conditions, we are hoping to have the 6^th tee back in play by early March.

In the meantime, I wish all members happy golfing, and look forward to seeing you on the course.

Pace of Play

In the last edition of the eNews we spoke about some of the data provided to Management from the Club's Verifeye Pace of Play software. Feedback from members on the sharing of this information was positive, so we thought we'd share a further demonstration of the information provided by the software.

The image below is a snapshot of the daily report from Wednesday's competition, showing group's pace of play (POP), tee off time, finish time and the time behind the group in front. Data like this in important as it shows the effect on later groups, if a group early in the field loses their spot in the field. Management use the data below when sending emails to such groups, with suggestions on how they can improve their pace of play.