FULL AT LAST: Shoalhaven City Turf Club course superintendent Chris Nation is thrilled at the level of the club’s dam in the middle of the course.
WHAT a difference a week can make.
Late last week local farmers and sports administrators were looking skyward hoping for rain.
The remnants of ex-tropical cyclone Oswald answered the locals’ prayers over the weekend and early into the week, dumping in some cases more than 125 millimetres of rain.
Nowra Golf Course superintendent Maurie Snell said he was as “happy as a pig in mud” after his parched lay-out received just over 100mm of rain.
“It could not have come at a better time, we needed it so much,” he said.
“The fairways were struggling. You could hear the grass crackle under your feet.
“But it’s amazing. We get some rain and things have all greened up.
“You can see it changing colour.”
This time last week Mr Snell said it was the driest he had seen the course in all of his 23 years at the lay-out on the banks of the Shoalhaven River.
“This is exactly what we needed but we will want some more follow-up rain next week,” he said.
But no sooner does the team at Nowra overcome one emergency they have to deal with another, now keeping an eye out for diseases.
“With all the humidity we will get after the rain we will have to keep an eye out for fungal diseases which can attack the greens,” he said.
Shoalhaven City Turf Club CEO Lynn Locke admitted she never thought she would be saying the words “rain, beautiful rain”.
On Friday the dam in the centre of the course, which is used to irrigate the 2000m track, was at about 20 per cent capacity.
The dam collects the run-off from the nearby Flinders Industrial Estate. On Tuesday morning it was almost at capacity.
The Archer Raceway received more than 130mm since Friday, which Mrs Locke said has greened up the complex.
“It’s amazing how green everything is now,” she said.
“We hardly had any growth before the rain but in just a few days it has greened up and you can almost see it growing.
“You can water as much as you like but you just can’t beat the rain.
“I knew it had to rain sooner or later, the show season is coming up.”
Course superintendent Chris Nation said the transformation had been incredible.
“I came in Friday afternoon and we had received about 17mm and the dam had risen by about a metre, after the rain at the weekend it was near capacity. We even managed to get some run-off into our overflow dam as well,” he said.
“And it will continue to run in from Flinders Estate for days to come.”
The club is now gearing up for its next meeting on Saturday, February 9.