The Greenkeepers report back from the courses....
MAR 31st 2016
From tee to green ‑ March
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The Downs
Playing Areas
With the majority of the month being dry and having the northerly wind the playing areas have dried out dramatically.
On the whole I have to be fairly pleased with the performance of the greens in March. We have had a lot of golf being played throughout the month with still little or no growth so it’s been difficult to keep the surfaces true. We have continued to hand roll the greens at least three to four times a week with the occasional iron. This has meant that the greens have been rolling pretty quick (averaging between 8.5-9.5ft) but still a bit bumpy on busy days which is not a good combination.
We have applied two foliar feeds to the greens to keep the plant healthy through the cold/dry weather. We have also carried out some light aeration work such as Air 2g2, slitting and Sarrel Rolling to improve the oxygen availability in the greens profile and on the top surface.
We have sprayed all the tees with iron to improve the strength of the plant, improve the colour and kill off the moss. The moss will be scarified out during the maintenance days in April.
The fairway surrounds and semi-rough have been cut more frequently now the course has dried and this has given us more definition and hopefully made your game easier should your ball stray from the fairways.
With warmer nights ahead we can be encouraged that the greens are in a good position compared to this time last year. With maintenance taking place from 11-13 April], we will be micro coring, overseeding, dressing & verti-draining greens. We will also use this time to verti-drain, hollow core and overseed tees.
Projects
March has been a busy month on the course for different projects. Most involved contractors with our team tidying up behind.
Firstly, as part of our on-going habitat management plan the woodland areas behind the 8th and 10th greens, right-hand side of the 8th carry and right hand side of the 11th carry were all thinned out. 25% - 30% of the pine trees were removed to allow the more native beech trees to flourish. These areas had become overcrowded and the pines were smothering the beech. The clean-up operation continues.
Another area cleared as part of our habitat plan was the left hand side of the 13th green. The fir trees closest to the 13th green and 14th tees were removed. Again these trees are not natural in this environment and this area will be replanted with more native trees in the future. This area has now also been used to build the new tees on the 14th hole. This has started ahead of schedule with the new tees and fairway bunkers on the 14th being completed along with the cross bunkers on the 11th and the fairway bunkers on the 15th.
As a team we appreciate the frustration when having to play on temporary greens or tees, we are trying to keep that to a minimum. The positive is that the bunkers will be back in play in six to eight weeks and damage to the course is minimal compared to work carried out in the autumn/winter.
All the natural areas have been cut and collected. Our next step to improve these areas will be to spray a product in the next couple of weeks that will kill the clumpy ryegrass and allow the finer fescue grasses to grow through. This will produce a more uniformed coverage and also make it easier to find and play a shot from.
We have also re-turfed the blue tees on the 5th & 6th. With the wet winter we experienced these tees became very worn. They will need six weeks to root in and will then be brought back into play. The other tees on these holes will be cored and over-seeded during the maintenance days.
Current Conditions
The course is dry on the whole although the rain over the bank holiday weekend has softened areas again. With this rain and temperatures rising we should see some growth in the coming days/weeks. Mowers at the ready!!!
Andy Brown
The Downs Head Greenkeeper
The Park
Greens
We began the month with aeration work to the greens with a machine called the Air 2 G2, using tines to the depth of 12” this machine releases compressed air into the soil which breaks up compaction which will encourage better drainage and deeper/stronger root growth. We have continued with our folia feeds to help with grass health and to improve density as well as cutting we are also rolling the greens three times a week for pace and trueness. The stimp meter reading last week read 10.5. Heading into the spring I am very pleased with how the greens are performing.
Tees
The Men’s white tee on the 9th and the Ladies Red tee on the 16th have received some well needed renovation work, these tees have both had the exiting turf stripped off, more root zone landscaped in and the teeing areas levelled. We are confident these will be back in play in four weeks’ time. The other tees considering the amount of play these have received are in good condition, Spraying Ferrus Sulphate of iron have deterred the worms and has kept the plant strong with good colour. Our fertilising programme will begin when the soil temperature improves.
Fairways/Surrounds
These areas are improving all the time, regular brushing and a good maintenance management programme have seen these areas go from strength to strength. The cutting height has been reduced so to improve the course definition.
Rough
As part of our on-going conservation/habitat management plan all the long natural rough areas around the course have been cut and collected removing all rogue grasses and unsightly areas. Although the course does look a little bare at the moment in the coming months we will see more free flowing grasses.
Current Conditions
With the course being so dry I’m sure you are all pleased with buggies being let back on to the course but please could I ask you to follow all traffic management signs and avoid areas around tees and greens.
And remember to repair your pitch marks!
Simon Berry
The Park Head Greenkeeper
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