From Tee to Green ‑ July

The Downs Course

To say July has been a tough month is an understatement. We had no rain for nearly nine weeks and with temperatures above or around 30 degrees each day, the grass plant has stressed out quickly.

The biggest challenge has been getting water to the dry patches on the greens. We usually hand water these areas with hand hoses and wetting agent tablets to get the water into the soil profile. Our irrigation water comes from a borehole next to the 1st hole. It is treated and then pumped up to reservoir tanks on top of the trundle where it is then used across the estate for drinking water and irrigation.

With the extreme heat, this water gets used up very quickly. Therefore we had to rely on a water bowser for the last two weeks in July to keep our greens alive. To give you a rough idea of water outputs, the bowser holds 1500 litres and takes about an hour to pump out a full tank. Our greens on average have five sprinklers on them and can put out 1500 litres between them in three minutes. Therefore I hope you can appreciate the amount of time we spent watering to keep the greens alive.

We aim to keep the soil moisture around 20% for optimum plant health and firmness. Before the rain, our greens were being recorded at 9% with dry patches on the greens at 2%. Therefore you can see why the rain made me smile!

Due to the lack of water, we did a few things to protect the greens:

• We added more applications of growth reducer. This helps stop the plant wasting unnecessary energy in producing extra leaf growth.
• We also applied soil wetting agent granules to combat dry patch areas. As the soil dries out, there comes a point where it cannot absorb water (which then can be used by the plant root).
• We increased liquid wetting agent applications to the leaf. Keeping leaves hydrated is important.
• Raised the height of cut from 3mm to 5mm. More leaf means better photosynthesis for plant health.
• No sand dressings until weather conditions change. Sand is abrasive to the leaf causing unnecessary harm.
• Reduce granular fertilizer applications by 50% and reduce the frequency of cutting by 50%. This allows the leaf to recover and fight stress more efficiently.

This has caused the greens to become slower and slightly bumpy. Although we pride ourselves on trueness, we have had to sacrifice this a little to keep the greens alive. With the rainfall at the end of the month and temperatures predicted to decrease into the mid 20’s, greens trueness and speed will increase week by week, albeit having access to irrigation water. I would just like to thank you for your patience in the last month.

The new trial sand has been installed in two bunkers on the 14th hole. The bunkers on The Downs Course currently have a sand type in them which has a circular particle structure. This means when it dries out it becomes unstable and will move around easily. The sand in the bunkers does move daily due to wind on the course and when golfers rake the bunkers incorrectly, or not at all. When the bunkers are moist they perform quite well, however being on chalk, The Downs drains extremely quickly. We have started to experiment with wetting the bunkers before raking in the morning to improve consistency, but again this dries quickly especially in the drought conditions we have been in the last two months.

The new sand type is in two bunkers on the 14th are on two different bases. One has a rubber crumb lining which helps with retaining moisture and keeps the bunker stone and weed free. The other is on a traditional upside-down turf base. The sand has an angular particle structure which binds the sand together making it more stable. In theory, this sand type should have less movement in the bunker and levels should be more consistent, especially throughout the drier months. It should also retain moisture better than the sand we currently have in the bunkers.

Next time you play on The Downs, please feel free to hit some shots out of these bunkers as any feedback will be greatly received. Please email rob.dyer@goodwood.com with any feedback as this is very important to us. I’m sure you can appreciate that we need to trial this sand for a few months to get all the data for all weather types.

Tees and Aprons are extremely dry due to water being prioritised to the greens. Some areas have started to crack and these will be repaired in the near future. They will be heavily hand watered with a wetting agent and an application of fertiliser applied to aid in recovering these areas.

Look forward to seeing you on the course!

Rob Dyer, Head Greenkeeper, The Downs Course

The Park Course

Playing Areas

The team have been busy through the month of July and with consistently high temperatures, hand watering has been a priority, as well as around the clock monitoring of the irrigation system to help prevent dry patch. We have continued with our foliar feeds to help with grass health and to aid heat stress. The cutting height has been raised up to 4mm to protect the plant as much as possible. We are still rolling the greens to aid trueness and keep the speeds consistent.

Greens Maintenance

This month we took full advantage of the course being closed for Festival of Speed to carry out some greens maintenance. Tasks undertaken have included: 

• Overseeding. We broadcasted 4kg per green of colonial bent into the channels created by the verti-cutting.
• Solid Tines. Aerating the surface using 13mm tines going to the depth of 3.5”
• Sand Dressing. Once these tasks were completed, we then dressed sand across the greens and drag matted into the aeration holes and into the surface. The amount was enough to fill the tine holes and smooth out any imperfections. The amount of sand used was 30 tonnes across all greens.

We expect a quick recovery. The greens are in good health and with applying an organic fertiliser to give them a boost, it will help the plant push through the sand dressing.

Fairways we were able to double brush and cut to ensure a uniform finish and all the tees were seeded and top dressed.

See you on the course!

Simon Berry, Head Greenkeeper, The Park Course