From Tee to Green ‑ July

The Downs Course

Team News

Over the past month the team dynamic has changed with the internal appointment of Scott Peterson as deputy head greenkeeper. Scott has a superb CV and over 20 years experience within the industry. Scott will bring a new management style to the team and will help improve the efficiency and standards going forward.

Members of the team have also been showing their commitment to the industry by volunteering at a number of high profile events including The BMW at Wentworth, The Final Open Qualifying at Royal Cinque Ports and The British Open. This gives them a fantastic insight into tournament preparation, course presentation and a great networking opportunity for them to meet like-minded greenkeepers from all over the world. This benefits us as a team with fresh ideas, presentation techniques and motivated individuals filtering through from their experience.

Course News

Having come through an extremely testing month with all playing surfaces being put under immense heat pressure, Mother Nature has finally given us a break which has perked areas back into life enabling us to focus on course presentation techniques which I hope you are seeing out on the course.

With events that have occurred on the greens our focus has been to nurture them through this testing time with a little and often approach to foliar and soil feeding in order to not overload or further stress the plant. This alongside an aggressive overseeding programme on our immediate green surrounds will help counter the loss of rye grass in these areas. Please see our processes:

• Solid tinning to create a seed bed
• Close up of pockets for seed created by solid tines
• Overseeding – dropping seed at a calculated rate
• Topdressing – providing organic matter for the seed to germinate into
• Drag mat helping work seed and material in to the holes
• Finished product awaiting rain to wash in

Looking forward

Our main focus will be on the immediate playing areas affected by the rescue application. This will include further over seeding and re-turfing of the worst areas. This alongside the continued bunker maintenance programme focusing on sand levels and distribution will keep the team extremely busy in the coming month.

Thank you for your patience and understanding through this time. It has been extremely refreshing to have a number of emails of support and messages on the course from the membership and has helped the teams morale hugely. These challenges are here to test us and we will come out on top.

See you on the course!

Tom Brearley, Head Greenkeeper Downs Course

The Park Course

Greens 

The green staff have been busy through the month of July with the rise in temperature. Hand watering has been a priority and around the clock monitoring of the irrigation system to help prevent dry patches. We have continued with our folia feeds to help with grass health and to aid heat stress. The cutting height is set at 3mm with the groomers set at 1mm below to discourage lateral growth and stand the plant up. We have also applied a light sand dusting to aid with trueness and speed with rolling the greens three times a week. The stimp meter reading has been on average 9.6ft - 10.

Tees/Aprons

The tees have received some aeration work with a small tine to relieve compaction and help aid drainage. Regular brushing has given both areas a much more uniform finish. In the coming weeks, we shall be applying a granular fertiliser to aid strength and colour.

Fairways and Surrounds

Despite the dry conditions, the fairways are in excellent health. The regular brushing and a spot treatment for clover has kept our fairways consistent with a uniform finish. 

In recent weeks, it has been noticeable that unrepaired pitch marks have got a lot worse! So, when your ball kicks off line or jumps in the air it's not always the greenkeepers fault. Please repair your pitch marks.

See you on the course!

Simon Berry, Head Greenkeeper Park Course