2010 Rainfall Total

We've commented fairly regularly on how much more rain we've received this year compared to last. To give you some idea:

2010 rainfall total: 2,788mm

2009 rainfall total: 1,815mm

An increase of 973mm, or 39 inches.

The rainfall this year however has not been as heavy, rather more frequent. For example:

2010 total days of rainfall: 144

2009 total days of rainfall: 92

Thus, for 2010 it rained 40% of the year. When you add on days where it was just cloudy and no rain (quite regularly as you would remember) it would be fair to suggest that the sun shone for less than half the year.

Here's hoping for more sunshine in 2011.

Happy New Year.

Tree Root Trimming

You may notice behind the 7th, 12th, 13th and 16th greens an area which we have run a trencher through. We have suspected that tree roots have been entering the green and competing for water and nutrients which has been disadvantaging the Novotek in areas. This was confirmed last week when we found a small tree root in the back of 12 approximately 50mm from the surface. What we didn't expect today after running the trencher through were just how many roots there were around 2 inches below the surface.

We hope this will assist in the management of

these greens during the wet season.

Golf Australia 2011 Public Course Rankings

Good news for Sea Temple, moving up 3 places from No. 39 in 2009 to No. 36 in 2011 in the Top 100 public access courses of Australia. This also puts us in the Top 10 in Queensland. The nearest major course to us, Paradise Palms, dropped 9 places to 45.

Design Influences at Sea Temple - No. 4 'Tribulation'

The 4th hole at Sea Temple which we know is a strong Par 4 usually played into the south-easterly breeze where a par is a very good score. Following his writings on the 15th, Mr Michael Wolveridge has kindly provided the background into the creation of the 4th 'Tribulation'.

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Links golf is such an ancient game that those of us who dabble in the art are rarely lost for inspiration. Take our 4^th hole for instance. I had planned for a long Par 4 to be played into the prevailing winter Trade Winds, which with a Par 5 to follow, would comfortably cover the eastern boundary of the property. There is a famous hole of similar length at Royal Dornoch, “Foxy” the 14^th at that splendid old Scottish links, a par 4 headed down the coastline some 450 yards long, with no bunkers but a brute of a hole. “Foxy” is a slight double dog-leg, a little bit to the left and a little to the right, created by a series of intervening mounds too high and too rugged to see beyond, finally ending at a large plateau green, very, very hard to hit in two shots be a drive slightly off the proper line, whereupon the target becomes blind and probably unattainable. It is a hole many pundits include in their ‘Best 18 Holes’ – a famous hole from a famous links.

At our Links, there was available heaps of material suitable for mound making and of course, the underlying sand was ever present for gently contouring into typical seaside fairway links land. With this material I managed to create a series of mounds at a realistic height, interposing them to confuse and mask the green for any who would stray from the designed line of approach. Originally we made them rugged also!

The main deviation in principle from the original are the two ponds near the green, two elements I was unable to avoid as in our case they were necessary for drainage and as nutrient stripping ponds for displacement of fertilizer with respect to the significant rains we can expect during our Wet Season, when we receive a great deal more rain than the east coast of Scotland. Trying it out into a strong Southerly, we agreed entirely with the unfortunate Captain Cook and named it “Tribulation”.

Greens Verti-cutting

The greens received a light verti-cut yesterday which removed a bit more excess organic matter. After cutting today they have received a light fertilise, and will be cut and rolled tomorrow. They will be in excellent condition over the Christmas period.

Overnight Rainfall

What a wet past 4 days. We have received a total of 176mm, or 7 inches, over this period and as such the golf course is very wet. This brings our total for the year to 2.65m. Carts will be on paths only today.

Overnight Rainfall

A total of 33mm of rainfall overnight, but the course has adsorbed it well. The re-drained bunker on 16 was completed just in time!

Jabiru

One of the great things about Sea Temple which I've said many times is its vast array of wildlife which inhabits the course. A great sight are our Jabiru's. During the winter there were two on the course, but only one has been a frequent visitor of late. Rob Cooke of Visibility Photography and Video in Port Douglas, captured this great image recently on the 10th.

Bunker Drainage 16 Fairway

With this run of fine weather, we are taking the opportunity to clean the drain lines in the pot bunker on the right of 16 fairway. It has provided a few headaches recently when rain areas come through the course, but once cleaned it should be hassle free for some time. We expect the bunker to be back in play by either later today or early tomorrow.

Sea Temple Open

Congratulations to all participants for entering and playing in the Sea Temple Open over the weekend, especially given the hot sultry conditions yesterday. A great effort by Steve Toyne of Atherton to finish on even over 2 rounds. Well done Steve.

Also, a special congratulations to Sue Cooper who aced the 15th yesterday to win the HSV!! If you don't need it Sue, I know where it would be given a good home.......

From all reports, the course was well received. Thanks to all and we look forward to next year being bigger and better.

Design Influences at Sea Temple - No. 15 'Eden'

The main hole to watch this weekend during the Sea Temple Open is the 15th, one of my favourite holes out here. The main prize for an 'ace' during the tournament is a $70,000 HSV. While the 15th provides a great challenge to all levels of golfers, you may have noticed the name of the hole being 'Eden' which draws its influence from the original Eden, the 11th at The Old Course, St. Andrews. The course architect, Mr Michael Wolveridge, has been kind enough to pen a few words on the background of the 15th at Sea Temple.

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The Par 3 15^th hole at the Links which we call The Eden, is a copy in principle of perhaps the most famous hole in all golf, the 11^th hole at St. Andrews. In the process of making both the 10^th and 15^th holes, the 10^th hole was rather too short and I decided that the best answer was to create a double green and thus maximize the length of the 10^th hole. The juxtaposition of the walk-offs was ideal for creating a double green in this instance and it quickly occurred to me that here was a mirror of the 7^th and 11^th at St. Andrews. Our 15^th was already the perfect length for an Eden Hole, there was water beyond the green at a similar distance to the Eden River and I had brought in a great deal of fill material to elevate the green in any event.

The original green has a fierce slope from the back, ending in a steep slope at the very front which can take a ball which doesn’t quite make the plateau where the flagstick awaits, down into the nearest bunker which lies at the foot of the slope, namely Strath Bunker or Shell Bunker. It is a diabolical arrangement causing grief to most of the games’ distinguished players at some time or another….most famous being Bobby Jones in pursuit of an Open Championship in 1921 at age 19, who upon taking far too many, picked up his ball and stormed off the course! In maturity he did return to St. Andrews over the years to come and win the great championships in brilliant manner more than once. He fell in love with the Old Course, 11^th hole et al, moving on towards the end of his life in 1958 to receive the Freedom of the City of St.Andrews, declaring at a most moving ceremony in his famous acceptance speech: “I could take out of my life everything but my experiences at St. Andrews and I would still have had a rich and full life”. The Eden is indeed a most famous hole.

November Rain

No, not the Guns N' Roses song.....

A total of 149mm of rain for November taking our total to 2.4m for the year. Might just fall short of the 3m mark.

Almost Ready

Preparations are in their final stages for the Sea Temple Open this weekend. The greens are shaping up nicely after being rolled a couple of times this week. Hopefully the rain will stay away for a few days which will allow the greens to firm up a little more. As it stands now, they will hold a good shot played right up to the hole. Another application of Primo went on the fairways early in the week to keep the growth down, so they should also play a little faster over the weekend.

Back on Deck

Things have been a bit quiet of late on the blog thanks to me dropping a 50+kg bookcase on my foot and 10 days off work. The stitches are out now but am still hobbling around a bit. I'm sure all agree that the course looks great - maybe the guys don't need me at all?? We'll get back into some regular updates next week including some nice pieces written by Michael Wolveridge on the design philosophy and background of some of our holes at Sea Temple. Until then, good luck to all the participants on Sunday in the Neighbourhood Centre Charity Day.

Herbicide Spraying

With the clear and calm mornings we've been having of late, we are taking advantage by boom spraying the golf course for weeds. The front 9 rough was completed this morning, with the back 9 rough to be sprayed tomorrow morning. This will cause the rough to go off colour which is temporary, and should be back to normal in around a week.

Greens Renovations

The greens are recovering well following the work on Monday. We have been cutting them the past 2 days at 3.5mm and will continue to do so through the weekend. Once the remainder of the sand is incorporated into the surface, we will lower the height to 3mm again which should be by next weekend. It might not sound like much, but after 20 years in the industry I'm still amazed at what a difference 1mm in cutting height makes.

Greens Renovations

Greens renovations: two words which golfers don't enjoy too much. Our growth levels mean we need to remove excess organic matter from the greens which renovations provide. The end result are better greens, for your enjoyment. We don't go out in the heat and humidity and work hard on the greens for us, we do it for you.

So today, we commence our greens renovations. The poor weather of late last week resulted in a change of procedures for today as we did not know what the weather had in store for us. So the procedure today will be as follows:

- Verticut the greens: We will be using verti-cutting heads in the greens mowers instead of the walk behind unit and verti-cutting the greens to a depth of around -5mm. Verti-cutting means vertical mowing, straight down. After one pass we will assess the results and determine whether we make a second pass. By using the heads on the greens mowers, it will mean we will get across the greens fast.

- Clean up cut: Once we finish verti-cutting, we mow the green to standard height which currently is 3mm.

- Aerate: Very important. Aeration provides a number of benefits for a golf green such as increasing the oxygen levels in the soil; encouraging deeper root systems; reducing compaction; improving water infiltration through the profile; and so on. This is where our major change is. We were initially going to use a hollow tyne and remove plugs from the green. To clean them up they need to be dry. But due to the rain last week we were concerned that if we remove plugs and could not get them dry then we would have made alot of mess on the putting surfaces which takes longer to get back to good condition. Therefore, we have switched coring tynes to solid tynes, which still provide the above benefits, but also don't leave any mess as we are not pulling material out.

- Topdress: The greens will receive a light topdress to promote surface smoothness.

As we are using our ride on mowers for the verti-cutting we will get over the greens faster. Therefore, we probably will not stop after 9 holes today (front) as originally expected. We do not know what the weather will bring so we will no doubt press on as the day progresses. Please check with the pro-shop to our current status if you are intending on playing.

Wet Conditions

Another 35mm recorded yesterday and overnight. Surprisingly it is has not created any damage to the course (like bunker washouts). There is standing water on fairways 10, 12, 16, 17 & 18 and these holes will be cart path only. The remainder are fine to drive on, but obviously you need to watch for the typical wet areas on a hole, such as around 9 green and any low areas on fairways or rough. Also, if you observe any other golfers not adhering to the rules of the day can you please inform the pro-shop as we unfortunately do not have a marshall at the course.

Overnight Rainfall

A total of 7mm of rain to 5.00am this morning, so the course is in relatively good condition. The forecast is for a chance of moderate falls to rain periods today, easing early tomorrow. Carts today will be as normal for the front 9, with the 90 degree rule in place for the back 9, primarily on our problem holes 10, 12, 16, 18. If the rain intensifies during the morning then we will reassess later in the day.

Pre-emerging

As we live in a tropical climate, our soil temperatures are warmer than many other golf courses which results in not only increased growth but also increased weed pressure. Every 8 weeks, we apply what is known as a pre-emergent herbicide to almost the entire golf course and we will be finishing the golf course today. Once applied the herbicide creates a film in the top of the soil so that when a weed seed germinates and comes in contact with this film, it adsorbs the herbicide and is killed before it becomes visible - hence the term 'pre-emergent'. Given our 5 days of winter this year, we started our pre-emerging in August instead of typically September. We will continue this programme now right though to around April/May.

Greens Renovations

A reminder to all members that greens renovations are scheduled for next Monday (front 9) and Tuesday (back 9), October 25 & 26. We will be verti-cutting again followed by aerifying and topdressing. We expect the greens to be back in good condition in around 2 weeks.

Greens Verti-cutting

It has now been 2 weeks since we verti-cut the greens by hand. The extended rainfall into April this year meant we were not able to carry out our typical greens renovations as we had limited time between the wet season finishing and school holidays/Carnivale time which is why we only aerified. As such, we had excess organic matter under the surface which we needed to remove before the rain starts again. Excess organic matter can contribute to a number of problems for a golf green, such as increased insect and disease pressure (ie. more 'food'), soft and uneven putting surfaces, slower greens, reduced root structure, and so on. It is imperative in our climate that we maintain a minimal level of organic matter so that our greens can drain quickly and remain in the healthiest state possible.

The greens are recovering well with the darker lines you see in the greens being new shoots. The greens are now firmer underfoot and the roll is smoothing out well. As the appropriate saying goes, 'Short term pain, long term gain'.

Growth Regulation

During the summer months, and wet season, we apply a growth regulator product called Primo to nearly all parts of the golf course which assists us in keeping the turf under control. Applied monthly, it slows growth by limiting cell division in the leaf blade so when heavy rains are around and we can't cut fairways for a week, it ensures the length of the grass does not get out of control. We applied our first application last week to the fairways which has caused a slight change in colour to the fairways. The first application typically gives the fairways a slight 'smokey' look which you may have noticed. By the second and third applications (November/December) however, this turns more to the typical dark green.

19mm of rain received yesterday and overnight. Carts will be on a 90 degree rule for the back 9 today. Please be mindful of low areas when you are driving.

2010 Rainfall

2010 is shaping up to be one of our wettest years on record on the course. To date we have received 2.2m for the year. As an example of how much more we have received, the annual totals in 2007 were 1.95m, 2008 2.21m, and 2009 1.82m. With the current La Nina weather pattern, the final 3 months to New Year look to be wet.

Welcome

Welcome to the Sea Temple Golf Club Course Maintenance blog for members and guests of the golf course. Please check back regularly as we update course conditions and inform you of works being undertaken around the golf course.