From Tee to Green ‑ November

The Downs Course

Playing Areas

November has been a pretty wet month, which has left the greens slightly on the wet side. Although in the last week the weather has helped us and the greens have started to dry out nicely. Please keep repairing pitch marks as this helps us out greatly and improves the smoothness of the greens.

We have started plugging disease scars on greens 1, 5, and 18. The process involves removing the damaged turf from the green using either a hole changer or our Hexagon plugging tool and replacing that plug with a healthy plug from the green on 16a. This is quite a long process but is beneficial to recovering the greens which have been hit with the Fusarium Patch disease.

We have applied one foliar and one soil feed to the greens to keep the plant healthy. We have also carried out some light aeration work with pencil tines and Sorrel Rolling to improve the oxygen availability in the greens profile and on the top surface.

We have sprayed all the Greens, Aprons and Tees with Iron to improve the strength of the plant, improve the colour and as a disease preventative. The fairway surrounds and semi-rough are now being cut less frequently now due to the temperature dropping and slow growth rate of the grass plant.

Looking forward to the winter months we aim to keep the greens as dry as possible. Therefore our aeration programme will continue using the Air 2G2 aeration machine, which injects air into the soil profile, which intern forms small cracks in the soil to help with de-compaction, improve drainage and aerobic activity. Also, we will continue to pencil tine, sorrel roll and slit throughout the winter period.

In the last month, we have been hit by a fair amount of badger damage on the 4th and 5th holes. Badgers are a protected species and the damage is caused by them looking for a food source which is normally earthworms and insects in the soil. The only thing we can do is repair the damaged areas, as most insecticides have now been banned.

Projects

Most the natural long rough areas have been cut and collected. The natural areas benefit from this operation as it thins out and removes unwanted weeds and coarse grasses. It also allows the natural fescue grasses a chance to grow by not being overpowered by the courser grasses. This will also aid our wildflowers on the course to flourish. We do this operation this time of the year so it does not impact on nesting birds and wildlife.

Our beehive has had a successful season, producing its first crop of honey. The swarm of bees were collected from a tree on The Park course and transported to our beehive, which is located on the right-hand side of the 8th tee. The bees have now been winterised and will be left alone until after the winter.

Look forward to seeing you on the course!

Rob Dyer, Head Greenkeeper The Downs Course

The Park Course

Greens

Aeration work this time of year is key, especially with the wet conditions, and of course, disease is always threatening. We are sorrel rolling the greens weekly to improve aeration by putting one-inch spikes into the surface to help with airflow in the top layer and pencil tinning greens twice a month with the aim to aerate a little deeper 4/5” to help dry out the greens and to help aid drainage. Spraying ferrous Sulphate of iron helps deter fusarium (it acts as an anti-septic tonic).

We continue with our spraying programme that consists of soil feeds which helps root development and enhances nutrient uptake while our folia feeds help to increase sward density and aid leaf strength. Hand mowing twice a week has kept the greens well-presented and has kept them performing well with good smooth surfaces and modest speeds.

Booked in early December, we have hired in a less disruptive method of deep aeration. Using tines to the depth of 12” the Air2G2 releases compressed air into the soil which breaks up soil compaction. This will create more air flow through the soil profile, this task will encourage better drainage and deeper/stronger root growth. Along with our thatch removal programme, this will result in the playing surface having a stronger, healthier turf and in turn a more consistent, faster, firmer putting surface.

The picture shows the Air2G2 at work with very little disruption.

Winter maintenance begins

Sadly, due to the wet ground conditions the planned cut and collecting of all the natural areas have had to be postponed until ground conditions have improved and the weather is a little dryer, but we have been busy clearing in and around all the woodland areas, removing all brambles and unwanted growth using the pedestrian flail mower and strimming.

General 

Our cutting schedule has reduced due to ground conditions and lack of growth, but as conditions allow, we will continue to put definition and character into the course.

See you on the course! 

Simon Berry, Head Greenkeeper Park Course