Tee to Green ‑ December

The Downs Course

The weather has been challenging. We have had 130mm of rain in December, plus 25mm of snow. We have closed the course a few times this month due to the snow and waterlogging. The reason we close the course is to protect the playing surfaces from any damage in extreme conditions.

While on the subject of protecting the playing surfaces. The 1st hole has been rested for a number of days due to it being too wet and the grass coverage being poor. The green was extremely weak at the beginning of the month, so resting when conditions were poor and with our aeration programme the green is looking a lot healthier. We have the same issue with greens 17 and 18. We will be looking to rest these greens when no competitions are on using 16a as a substitute. If we can achieve on these greens what we have done with the 1st green, they will be in good condition going into the spring.

We continue plugging disease scars on green 18. The process involves removing the damaged turf from the green using either a hole changer or our Hexagon plugging tool and replacing that 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 a granular fertiliser to the greens this month to aid strength and density over the winter period. This should help grow in any old disease scars areas.

We continue this month with our Aeration programme. In December we have deep slit once, Sorrell rolled twice and micro-slit once. We have also used the Air 2G2 machine which injects air into the soil profile.

This month, weather permitting, we are going to hollow core the 1st, 17th and 18th greens. We will then top dress the green with a product called RZA which helps with water movement through the soil profile and also will aid nutrient uptake by the plant.

We are still being 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 usually earthworms and insects in the soil. The only thing we can do is repair the damaged areas, as most insecticides have now been banned.

In relation to the trial of no tee markers, please respect the teeing area and avoid playing from the plate area. Please find a nice clean spot to play from.

Look forward to seeing you on the course!

Rob Dyer, Head Greenkeeper The Downs Course

The Park Course

December has been a challenging month on the course with 130mm of rainfall, plus crisp frosty mornings and even a snow covering.

All our attention has now focused on our woodland maintenance programme due to the turn in the recent weather conditions. The team are busy thinning out copses and raising all the tree canopies around the course which has allowed better air movement and light to the surface enabling better grass coverage. All the pathways have had some well-needed repair and the surfaces have been replaced with 10mm stone. This work has really given the course a facelift. We will continue with our aeration to the greens with slitting and spiking.

When ground conditions allow, our focus will once again turn to course presentation, putting more definition and character back into the course with our various mowing regimes.

See you on the course!

Simon Berry, Head Greenkeeper Park Course