The Greenkeepers report back from the courses....
MAY 01st 2016
From tee to green ‑ April
The Downs
Playing Areas
It’s been a mixed bag on the playing areas for April. The tees, fairways and surrounds have really come on and the presentation of these areas has been really good. However, we are still struggling for growth and good playing surfaces on our greens and aprons.
From 11-13 April we carried out our first maintenance session of the season. The tasks went well despite the wet weather on the Sunday night and all through Monday. All the greens and tees were micro-cored. The greens were then top-dressed, overseeded with velvet bent and top-dressed again to fill all the holes. All in all I was pleased with how the operations went.
On 26 April the greens were fertilised with a low nitrogen fertiliser to help encourage some growth to the existing grasses and also the new seed. This growth will start to fill in the scars that have been on the greens since the winter. By keeping the nitrogen levels low it will give us a steady growth over a four to six week period rather than a flush of growth only lasting a couple of weeks.
In all honesty it has been a really frustrating year so far because we haven’t been able to produce the standard of playing surface that you and we expect. Yes, the weather has not been on our side - snow and frosts at the end of April are not ideal - but this is too easy to use as an excuse. Please trust me when I say we are doing everything in our power to get these to the standard we all want as quickly as we can.
All the tees have been sprayed with a selective weed killer to kill off the daisies currently present. They have also been fertilised along with the aprons to encourage more growth to strengthen the plant so it can take the wear and tear through the coming weeks and months.
The fairways are now being cut two to three times a week to get the presentation right and also to allow us to stay on top of the growth before they really kick off in a couple of weeks. The weeds will be sprayed in the next 10 days along with the surrounds and semi rough.
Projects
Phase two of the bunker work is now complete. The contractors have left the site and won’t be back until October. I think you will all agree that the new bunkers look fantastic and it was worth the pain over the four to five week period they were being worked on. These bunkers will stay out of play for at least another four weeks. We hope to bring them back into play towards the end of May.
In the meantime, please stay off the new turf and use the ball retrievers provided should your ball visit one of these bunkers.
The two new tees on the 14th are also finished with the tee tops being turfed and the banks around the tees being seeded. The puddle/pond behind the new tees will be left natural as this will encourage wildlife back to the area.
Our team have a spent some time this month topping up bunkers that were getting low on sand and also moving sand around in other bunkers where the levels were inconsistent.
The clearing up in the woodland areas has been a very labour intensive task. The stumps in the copse behind the 8th green have all been grinded along with some old stumps that were still present in the valley. We now just have the copse to the right of the 11th carry to clear so this will continue over the next couple of weeks.
It’s been really pleasing to see some of the woodland areas we cleared in the winter now flourishing with bluebells, cowslips and other wild flowers.
New ball washers have been put out in various spots around the course. These will all be stationed with a bin eventually. These are currently being hand made with the first finished one already on show at the gazebo.
Current Conditions
Regular cuttings are now taking place on all areas despite some lack in growth. The greens remain a little bobbly and lacking good grass coverage so I hope to see a big improvement in the coming days. A light dusting of sand will take place early in May as the growth improves along with some regular light aeration, foliar and soil feeds to keep the plant healthy.
Andy Brown
Head Greenkeeper
The Park
The Course
The condition of the Park Course is progressing nicely despite inconsistent growth due to warm days and cold nights. The soil temperature is still a little low for consistent recovery. Regular brushing, rolling and light aeration work has kept the greens healthy and the green speeds consistent and we have continued with our folia feeds to improve grass density. The fairways are continuing to improve with brushing to stand the plant up and with a more frequent mowing schedule. The tees and aprons have both been fertilized to help encourage a more consistent growth.
Projects
The newly turfed tees on 9th and 16th are starting to take shape. They have received a cut and we will be lowering the mowing height in preparation for their opening at the start of May.
As I am sure you have seen, the bluebells and wild garlic throughout the golf course have flourished. All our hard work through the winter months has really paid off. Seeing such a thick carpet of colour really does compliment the golf course and as part of our ongoing conservation programme we will be creating more wild flower areas.
Benefits of Aeration
I won’t bore you with the details of all the different types of aeration work that is carried out, not just on greens but to all course surfaces. Some are more labour intensivre than others and some forms are less disruptive to the playing surface such as pencil tining that was carried out on the greens last week. No surface distruption but benificial to releive turf stress and promoting oxygen levels in the soil. Aeration is vital to keep the turf healthy, better drainage, deeper root development, reduction of thatch levels, gas exchange and improves the effectivness of fertilisation.
We understand that some aeration work can be disruptive but the benefits of aeration out way the short term disruption.
The Academy
The Academy greens have received some well needed maintenance. Recently we carried out sorrel rolling of the greens which creates lots of small shallow holes then broadcasted seed into the holes, top dressed with a soil/sand mix and then brushed this into the surface. This creates a level playing surface and then the areas were fertilized to help kick start the recovery process.
We have received an enormous amount of positive feedback from Members which motivates the team and gives us the drive to continue to achieve our high standards so please keep it coming!
Simon Berry
Head Greenkeeper