Tee To Green September

The Downs Course: Building for Month's Ahead

September is always an important month on the Downs. The days are getting shorter, temperatures are starting to come down and after a long and demanding summer, our focus begins to shift towards getting the course in the best possible condition for autumn and winter.

There has been plenty going on across the course over the last few weeks, with much of the work focused on improving the playing surfaces and setting us up for the months ahead.

DryJect: Working Below the Surface

One of the biggest jobs has been our DryJect work on the greens. DryJect allows us to inject sand and water deep into the green profile. The process helps to fracture the soil, improve air and water movement through the profile and reduce compaction, while the injected sand helps build a firmer and more consistent rootzone.

The real benefit is what happens beneath the surface. We are trying to create a healthier profile that can cope with moisture more effectively while also producing the firm, consistent putting surfaces we want on the Downs.

It is one of those jobs where, from a golfer's point of view, you might not immediately see what we've done, but hopefully you'll notice the difference in how the greens perform.

Fairways: Giving the Grass a Helping Hand

We've also been busy working on the fairways.The fairways have been Terra Raked to remove dead and weak grass material and stand the existing grass back up. We've then cut them and blown off all the debris, leaving a much cleaner surface ready for the next stage.

We are now putting down 120 bags of seed, using a fescue-based mix.

Fescue is an important part of what we're trying to achieve on the Downs. It is well suited to our conditions and can offer good drought tolerance while helping us develop a stronger, more resilient and consistent fairway sward.

You'll also notice that we've started seeding some of the newer cut lines. These areas have naturally had less time to establish, so we're using seed to help bring them into line with the existing playing surfaces and create a more consistent experience across the course.

Preparing the Tees for Winter

The tees have also received fertiliser to encourage healthy growth and help strengthen the turf as we head into the cooler months.

After the wear they receive throughout the season, autumn is an important opportunity to rebuild plant health and encourage the grass to recover before winter really gets going.

Disease Pressure

Disease pressure is also high at the moment, which is fairly typical for this time of year.

As we move from the warmer, drier conditions of summer into autumn, we start to get longer periods of moisture on the leaf, heavier dew and less drying from sunlight and wind. These conditions can create an environment where turf diseases, particularly Fusarium, can become more active. Stress, moisture and reduced air movement can all increase the risk.

Our job is therefore not simply to react when we see disease. Good nutrition, sensible irrigation, maintaining airflow, removing surface moisture where appropriate and keeping the turf healthy are all important parts of managing the pressure.

180 Tonnes of Sand - and Counting!

One figure that might surprise you is that, so far this year, we've put 180 tonnes of sand onto the greens.

That's a lot of sand, believe me, I've moved enough of it to know!

Regular sand applications are an important part of maintaining good putting surfaces. Sand helps dilute organic material in the upper profile, improve the physical structure of the rootzone and maintain better drainage and infiltration. Over time, this helps us produce firmer, smoother and more consistent greens.

It isn't necessarily the most glamorous side of greenkeeping, but it is one of the foundations of producing the surfaces we are aiming for.

Looking Ahead

A lot of the work we're doing now is about investing in the future of the Downs.

From improving the greens profile, strengthening the fairways with fescue, bringing the new cut lines into the existing sward and preparing the tees for winter, the aim is to finish this season with a stronger and more resilient course ready for next year.

And, as a golfer myself, I completely understand that the first thing you want to know when you arrive at the course is simply "How are the greens today?"

You probably don't want to hear about sand profiles, infiltration rates, disease pressure or 180 tonnes of topdressing!

But I can promise you that while we're thinking about all of those things behind the scenes, we're always thinking about the same thing you are – making the course as good as it can be to play.

Dan Cornish, Head Greenkeeper, The Downs course

The Park and Copse courses

After what seemed the longest and hottest summer ever, finally the weather turned and we've seen some much needed rain and cooler temperatures. The course has changed a lot in just these last four weeks. What looked like the Gobi Desert has now greened up a lot, really showing how resilient grass is. With some moisture now in the ground, areas are coming back quickly and growing quickly. 

To aid recovery, especially on fairways, we have Terra raked them all. This is like your average garden springbok rake, just on a bigger scale and more aggressive. This removes all the dead material from the summer and will help newer growth come through. Once we Terra raked, we then followed by a rotary cut and then all the debris blown away. We have seen recovery on all the fairways but maybe one or two will need overseeding. The 13th fairway, which was heavily impacted by Festival of Speed, is one of them. Some are just patchy and will take a little longer to come back. 

We've had some good positive feedback on the greens this month. They have remained consistent and rolling true. With the stress of summer then going into cooler temps but humidity remaining high, we had an outbreak of disease across all the greens surfaces. We quickly applied a fungicide to halt the outbreak and a few days after we then applied a granular fertiliser. This helped recover from some scarring we had from the disease, plus strengthening soil conditions and promoting growth. They are in great shape leading up to our maintenance at the end of the month. 

This maintenance will be once again using the GKB machine. This removes thatch and fills it back in with dry kiln sand. Before we do the GKB, we will verti-drain to a depth of 7 inches, iron greens, GKB, then a light sand dressing followed by a drag mat to work dressing in. With temps and conditions looking good, we anticipate a quick recovery after the process. 

As you may have seen, the final phase of The Park Masterplan is underway. Holes 5/6/14/15/17/18 are being worked on by our constructors, MJ Abbott's. Most bunkers are having a reshape and some are being filled in. Works are expected to take around four weeks to complete. We appreciate your patience during any hole closures and are confident the improvements will be well worth the wait.

The Copse has recovered extremely well from the summer. The greens had the same fungicide and fertiliser as the main greens. We will be doing different maintenance compared with the main course. We are using once again the Graden machine, this removes thatch to 30mm then we will clear the debris and apply a sand dressing. As with the main course, all the natural rough areas will be cut and collected over the next few weeks. 

See you on the course.

Scott Peterson, Head Greenkeeper of The Park and Copse courses