Tee To Green April

20th April 2026

Find out the latest from our Greenkeepers in this month's Tee to Green.

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The Downs course

April has been a big month for us on The Downs course and it’s been great to finally see a number of key projects come together.

The headline news is that our irrigation installation is now complete. This is a major step forward for the course and one the team has put a huge amount of effort into over the past months. We’ve now moved into the testing phase, working through the sprinkler arcs to ensure we’re getting consistent and accurate coverage across all playing surfaces. It’s always satisfying to see a project like this come to life and it will play a huge role in maintaining surface quality through the drier periods ahead.

On the maintenance front, we’ve had a really productive window. Greens were scarified to a depth of around 2 inches, which has removed a significant amount of thatch from the profile. This is a key part of improving firmness, drainage and overall playability. Following this, we applied approximately 40 tonnes of sand across the surfaces to help continue building a firmer, truer playing surface.

Unfortunately, we did encounter an issue with machinery during the process, which meant we weren’t able to carry out hollow coring on this occasion. While that’s not ideal, the work we have completed still delivers strong benefits and we’ll look to reintroduce coring at the next available opportunity.

Around the course, you’ll hopefully have noticed we’re starting to get some really nice definition between playing surfaces. This is something we’ve been focusing on and it’s beginning to show. The tees in particular are looking especially smart since we’ve introduced hand cutting, which gives a much cleaner, sharper finish.

We’ve also carried out verti-cutting on the aprons. This helps to stand the grass up and remove lateral growth that can cause a “puffy” surface. It’s a process we’ll continue little and often throughout the season, gradually refining these areas to get them performing exactly how we want.

Finally, I’d just like to say thank you for all the positive feedback we’ve received recently, it genuinely means a lot to the whole team. If you do see me out on the course and have any questions, please don’t hesitate to stop me for a chat.

See you on the course.

Dan Cornish, Head Greenkeeper, The Downs course