Course General: Remarkably dry for time of year with no significant rain events during December or January this far. Verti draining to greens, tees and fairways continuing throughout month. Volunteer Thanks : st - Graham Bow, for supplying excavator machinery to assist with grading of 1 tee. - David Meldrum, for his continued work on the course with dead tree removal and continued refurbishment of tee markers. - Alan Carlyn, for removal of mole hill spoil Health & Safety: No reportable incidents Machinery Update We have commenced discussion with Fairways (Jacobson franchise holder) in relation to the annual hire of an Eclipse 322 greens mower for this year. Winter servicing and repair requirements have been listed for all machinery and a price is being sought before seeking authorisation to spend. Staffing David Bryans father has sadly passed away, he has had two days compassionate leave. David has thanked Bill McIntosh for attending his father's funeral. th Scott Wilkinson returned on 14 January following his four week layoff. A Time for reflection As this is generally the time of year when we take stock and reflect, I thought it important to write a few lines on what we consider went well last year and identify areas where we can improve for this New Year. It is a year now since Peter surprised us all by submitting his resignation letter, attempts to persuade him to stay proved futile . Then in April after Jim Saunders took on the position as Head Greenkeeper, Gary Tusler the newly promoted Foreman Greenkeeper advised that he was leaving to join Peter at Dundas Park Golf Club. Absolutely no doubt that a lot of knowledge and experience left our club over that three month period. Scott Wilkinson joined the greens team in March as a seasonal greenkeeper. Scott had previously been an apprentice greenkeeper at our club. Shortly after in May, we recruited David Bryans to the position of Senior Greenkeeper. David had previously been the Head Greenkeeper at Shotts Golf Club. It was a stressful start to a new season with a 75% shift in staffing personnel over a relatively short period of time. We feel our new team bonded quickly and staff aligned to priorities and objectives determined by the club. The excellent summer brought many challenges to our club and every other club in the country. An ageing irrigation system tested the patience of all greens staff. The stresses as a consequence of the dry conditions made them more susceptible to disease infestation and one of the contributing factors for our ongoing Anthracnose disease issue. Areas for Improvement going forward - Failure to fully recognise the stresses within greens during late autumn that could have reduced impact of disease scarring on greens. - We were cutting greens too short (3mm) for too long a period (10 weeks) which could have contributed to stresses on the greens surface. This would have been normal prctice in typical years but after a summer such as ours we should have been quicker to respond. - Staff resourcing during clear up events such as after Storm Hector, 3 days clearing debris from course resulted in a 10 day cutting catch up cycle. Outcome: keep at least one person mowing fairways during clean up events. What we consider went well: th - 5 tee construction - Team building