Tee To Green November

The Downs course

It’s been quite the month here on The Downs course. The leaves are falling, the weather’s been keeping us on our toes and there’s plenty going on behind the scenes (and under the turf!).

As many of you will have noticed, our £1.75 million irrigation project is now well underway. This major upgrade will see brand-new sprinklers installed on the greens, tees, approaches and walk-offs, giving us far better control over moisture levels and turf quality throughout the course. While the machinery, trenches and works may cause a little disruption at times, we promise the end result will be well worth it. We really appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding while we carry out these essential improvements.

The recent heavy downpours haven’t made life easy either. A few of our bunkers have been hit with some downwash and the team as been hard at work repairing and raking to keep them in top shape. If you spot us dashing around with shovels and rakes, you’ll know we’re battling to keep the sand where it belongs! We’ve also been keeping a close eye on the high disease pressure that comes with this time of year. With the combination of damp conditions and cooler nights, it’s always a tense period for turf health but thankfully, we haven’t been hit too hard this autumn.

The greens are holding up well thanks to our ongoing preventative measures and the team’s attention to detail. This is also due to the work we have carried out throughout the year with our feed programme and the topdressing we have put on them, which currently stands at 180 tonnes. Not only does the sand help with the trueness and firmness of our greens but it also helps to dilute the thatch level which reduces the stress on the turf which is another factor on which disease thrives. 

Of course, autumn wouldn’t be autumn without endless leaves. Our blowers have been getting a serious workout this month, it sometimes feels like as soon as we clear one area, the trees have another go at us! But we’ll keep at it to make sure the playing surfaces are tidy and enjoyable. A large apple tree holds 50,000 to 100,000 leaves. A normal birch averages around 200,000 leaves. A old oak, for which we have several have 700,000 leaves. So, bear this in mind when you see them on the ground and spare a thought for us. We have billions to pick up.

As you may have seen, we have cleared the bank on the 2nd. This was carried out by the grounds team from the Motor Circuit, with their new remote controlled mower, making light work of the bank and had it all cut within two days. A huge thank you to all our members for your continued patience and support while we work through this busy period.

We’re committed to keeping The Downs course in fantastic condition, both now and for the future and we can’t wait to show you the improvements once the irrigation project is complete.

See you out on the course (hopefully between showers)!

Dan Cornish, Deputy Head Greenkeeper, The Downs course

The Park course

This month we have seen a real mixture of weather. Very mild, one of the mildest November’s on record with temps hitting 18C at times. In this period, we saw increased disease pressure across all playing surfaces, especially greens. We continue with our monthly fungicide program, but we have tweaked it a few times this month to counter the disease pressure, applying additional fungicide mixes to control the disease. We also done a 13mm solid tine to 5 inches depth across all greens to help oxygen flow and move water quicker. Now we are going through a cold period which greatly reduces disease pressure, with the frost’s keeping it at bay for now.

With the mild weather a lot of rain came but the course held up well. Post and rope is being put out in high traffic areas to protect the surfaces. Please, if you need to move it can you replace it from where it came. They are there to protect the course. As you may have noticed as well, down the left-hand side of 3rd a lot of coloured stakes. These are for the next stage of the Masterplan. Each colour represents a tree species going there. They have all been mapped out to exactly where they need to be. You get relief from these as in the local rule that has been put out. Please, if you do have to move one, please try and replace in the same position. The planting of the more established trees will be done by our Forestry team and the whips to bulk out these areas done by us. Planting has started this week, and the aim is to have them all in this year, that includes the 12th which hasn’t been marked out yet.

Leaves have been an issue like normal at this time of year. Every morning the team clears as much as we can on greens/tees/aprons and then in afternoons using turbo blowers to clear larger deposits of leaves on fairways and semi rough. It’s a time-consuming task, one where you can clear an area and 10mins later it’s covered again.

Even though the course has held up well with the wet weather, minimal closures and buggy’s still being allowed at times, the bunkers have been poor and a lot of the time GUR. With the rain we get now, it's more torrential than constant. This washes down the faces of bunkers. The team spent one week in the afternoons shoveling the faces back up for it to pour down (not forecasted) the next morning and washed them all out again. It’s quite disheartening for the team when this happens as they must go out and do it all again. We repair them as quickly as we can but due to leaves falling at a rapid rate and grass still growing it takes time.

The Copse

The Copse has had all the long areas of rough cut and sprayed with selective weedkiller as we head into winter. The greens also had a 13mm tine and disease pressure is much worse down there due to the lack of sunshine with most greens shaded all day. They have been fed with a granular feed to increase density and strength as we move into winter. We are also delighted to be nominated for Short Course of the Year at this year's Golf Course Awards to be held at the Emirates Stadium on 4th December. It’s a great honour for the team to be recognized for such a prestige award, hopefully we return with it.

See you on the courses

Scott Peterson, Head Greenkeeper of The Park and Copse Course