The latest from our Head Greenkeepers of The Downs and Park Courses.
JUL 04th 2018
From Tee to Green ‑ June
The Downs Course
It has been pleasing to see the performance of the greens improve again this month. Some areas have been slightly stressed with a small amount of dry patch coming in around the edges of the green, but in the last week, we have hand watered these areas heavily to bring them back.
We carried out our second light maintenance which went extremely well. This included verti cutting to a depth of 3mm, this was done to remove any lateral growth overseeded with Bent grass. We applied 15 tonnes of topdressing over all the greens, pencil tine to a depth of 75mm using 8mm tines, drag mat the sand in, then rolled the greens. We then applied a heavy water application to aid plant recovery.
We applied an 8-0-4 fertilizer to aid recovery and protect the greens against a summer disease called Anthracnose. We are normally quite prone to this as we have low soil fertility and with the greens being of a USGA specification and The Downs on chalk soil, they dry out very quickly which can cause stressed areas to be attacked. Therefore adding the fertilizer along with our foliar and soil feeds will aid plant health and give the plant more chance of fighting off the disease.
Light aeration work and light topdressings have also been carried out this month to help with greens trueness and speed. June’s trueness readings average 100% true, whilst green speed for the month was averaging around 9.10 on the stimpmeter. This increased to 10.4 for Club Championship week.
We continue with our foliar and liquid soil feeds to increase the microbiology in the soil. We have also applied a growth regulator which has not been done in a few years. The greens have now become more consistent in trueness and speed throughout the playing day.
Also, we have granular fertilized our tees with a 12-6-6 slow release fertiliser, which will last 10-12 weeks. Applying this really helps aid recovery with all the divot mix we put down to promote new growth in the damaged areas.
The fairways and aprons were also fed using a 46-0-0 Nitrogen Urea with a growth regulator. This helps with growth and colour and slowly thickens the grass sward without excess growth.
Next month we will continue with our feed programme and apply another 10 tonnes of topdressing. This will be done in two applications of five tonnes which will hardly be noticed after it has been brushed and rolled in.
We will also be trialling a new sand in the bunkers which has more angular particles rather than rounded ones to bind the sand together tighter. This experiment will be carried out on two bunkers on the 14th hole. Please give us as much feedback on the new sand as possible. We aim to spend more time on bunker levels. When the bunkers are moist they perform quite well, however when the sand dries we lose consistency, as the sand moves around when played in and in the wind. We will be carrying out more experiments on bunker liners to eradicate any sand contamination and aid in bunker consistency due to holding more moisture in the sub-base.
Look forward to seeing you on the course!
Rob Dyer, Head Greenkeeper The Downs Course
The Park Course
Greens
We have continued with our soil and foliar feeds that help enhances root growth and improves oxygen availability for the plant with our foliar 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 during the month to aid with trueness and speed. Green speeds reached 11.1 for the men’s club championship. Despite the dry conditions, the fairways are in excellent health. Regular brushing and a spot treatment for clover have kept our fairways consistent with a uniform finish.
Back tee 9th
Just in time for Club Championship week, the artificial matt on the 9th back tee was finished (see pictures below). This has been such a problem area to establish a grass sward fit for a teeing surface due to the ever-growing woodland around it and with very little light and no airflow it left us only one option to have an artificial matt put in. The new addition has been well received and we have been able to keep what is a very challenging hole.
Hand watering greens
The green staff have been busy throughout the month hand watering the greens due to the high temperatures. This has been a priority and around the clock monitoring of the irrigation system to help prevent dry patches.
See you on the course!
Simon Berry, Head Greenkeeper, The Park Course