The latest from our Head Greenkeepers of The Park and The Downs Course
OCT 05th 2018
From Tee to Green ‑ October
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The Downs Course
Playing areas
We have used this month to try and recover the course as much as possible and maintenance of the greens has been successful. We micro cored with 7mm tines to a depth of 50mm. This removed about 4% of the soil profile and helped with soil and gas exchange in the soil. We have added another 20 tonnes of sand to the greens and this has hit our target of 100 tonnes in a year. This should firm up the greens for winter with the aid of our aeration programme.
Four days before we started the maintenance programme, we applied a 4-0-4 9% granular fertiliser to speed up recovery. This has worked really well in promoting a lot of growth and filling in the sparse weak areas of the green. This time of year we look at thickening up sward to allow the green to be more tolerant of the wear and tear of the winter months. The height of cut has been raised from 3mm to 3.5mm as the greens were beginning to look stressed and although half an mm does not seem much, it makes a massive difference for the health of the grass plant. At the beginning of October, we will look to raise the height to 4mm for autumn and then again when the cutting regime reduces we will go to our winter height of 4.5mm.
We have continued with our aeration programme using sorrel rollers, which puts a small tine into the ground to a depth of about 20mm. This keeps the surface open slightly and helps with gas exchange in the top part of the soil profile. We have also flushed the soil with a product called CalpHlex, which breaks down any bicarbonates in the soil which lock up nutrients. We then add a soil liquid feed a day after to increase the micro-biology into the soil profile. We also continue with our foliar programme to aid in the plant's health.
Bunkers
The bunkers faces which suffered over the drought periods have been overseeded, fertilised and dressed. This is to try and repair any damage, whilst seed can still grow. Any bad areas which do not recover will need to be turfed over the winter period.
The new Buckbrick sand has been installed into the trial bunker on the 14th. The green complex now has all three types of sand in them. The approach bunker has the newest trial sand; the right greenside has the first trial sand called china clay and the left greenside bunker has our original sand in it. Again if you have some time, please feel free to try all the bunkers and email me your feedback to rob.dyer@goodwood.com.
Course news
Lately we are experiencing a lot of badger damage on the course. These mammals are protected and there is not much we can do to deter them. In the past, we have used insecticides to control the leatherjackets and chafer grubs, which is the badger’s main food source. These chemicals have now been banned in the golf industry and now we are trying to figure out how to deter them from digging up the playing surfaces.
Looking forward into October, we will be cutting and collecting the natural areas or long rough and then spraying these areas to reduce the coarse grasses so these areas become wispier with the finer grasses. We continue to overseed and fertilise areas during this good growing period to try and recover any worn areas and promote growth in the high wear areas.
We will be micromanaging our 13th green, as this green has double the thatch and compaction levels compared to the others. We will also be verti-draining this green, to relieve deep compaction and help the water move through the soil profile quicker. Also, this green will be added to our winter hollow core and soil amendment list to bring the greenback in line with the other greens.
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Clearing micro cores during greens maintenance.
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The newest bunker sand in the trial bunker on 14.
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Damage we have to deal with on a daily basis caused from badgers.
Look forward to seeing you on the course!
Rob Dyer, Head Greenkeeper, The Downs Course
The Park Course
Greens maintenance
Maintenance that took place at the beginning of the month.
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Scarifying the green, removing unwanted lateral growth and organic matter.
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A picture showing the total amount of unwanted fibre removed which was 700kg per green.
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Clearing all remaining debris from the green.
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Broadcasting our colonial bent seed into the channels made by the scarifier, the amount used was 70kg
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Topdressing sand on all greens using about a tonne a green
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Tinning the greens with 13mm solid tine, to the depth of 75mm
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Drag matting – When the sand had dried out we used a brush and a drag mat to work the sand into the surface and into the aeration holes and scarifed lines.
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After the sand had been brushed into the surface, we broadcasted our organic fertiliser 5-2-10 + Fe. To aid recovery and to thicken the sward going into the winter months.
Tees & Aprons
This month we fertilised with a slow release granular to aid colour and strength We also overseeded and top dressed.
Bunkers
We've spent time on the bunkers which have all been weed killed, edged and topped up.
Autumn is coming...
A large apple tree holds 50,000 to 100,000 leaves. A normal birch averages around 200,000 leaves. An old oak, for which we have several have holds700,000 leaves. So, please bear this in mind when you see them on the ground and spare a thought for us. We have billions to pick up!
Looking forward to seeing you on the course!
Simon Berry, Head Greenkeeper, The Park Course
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