Tee to Green - July

The Downs Course

July has been a testing month from a greenkeeping point a view. We started off at the beginning of the month with our greens maintenance programme by double sorrel rolling, overseeding with bentgrass, top dressing and an 8mm solid tine. Then we brushed in the sand, ironed and applied a Nitrogen-based fertiliser to recover the greens quickly and to prevent any anthracnose disease which is common for golf greens in July.

Day one of maintenance went well and we completed 10 greens as scheduled. Day two did not go quite to plan as we had to stop after three greens due to water resource issues, as other areas of the Estate had priority for drinking water due to the weather being hot and dry. The sand applications and aeration work will be made up over the next few months to get the desired amount on each green. Therefore holes 2-6 may have an extra dusting on them from time to time.

On top of this, we also had two main pipeline bursts which took a lot of our time to deal with this. Adding to this we also had one of our four electrical zones on the irrigation system go down for a number of weeks trying to locate a cable break.

Water resource is a big issue on the Estate and we now have a water committee which is looking into new ways to improve all the systems over the Estate and on the golf courses in the upcoming years. We have also been doing a lot of work on re-arching sprinkler heads to maximise the water we have. Due to this, some areas of the course have burnt out and we have spent a lot of time this month trying to recover these areas using cultural measures such as terra raking (scratching the burnt areas) and aeration work, plus the use of a granular wetting agent has increased the recovery rate. We also use wetting agent pellets whilst we hand water, either by hose or by our bowser. This helps re-hydrate the soil and helps the profile stay moist.

We have had 53mm of rain this month, 40mm of this came in one night in steady rain which was extremely beneficial. The course has now started to green up again and recover nicely. Some more renovation work is needed on selected tees and most of the aprons. We will be overseeding the worst areas with a 70/30 sand soil mix and with Eon-Bio, a product that holds nutrients in the soil for longer.

Looking forward to the month ahead, we have another maintenance window scheduled where we will be verti-cutting, 8mm micro-coring, 15 tonnes of topdressing will be applied, then ironing and washing in. This time it will be done in one day rather than two. Another five tonnes of light dressing (dusting) will be applied later in the month. This month we will also flush the soil profile with a product called CalpHlex, this breaks up all the bi-carbonates in the profile which is present due to the quality of our water down on the south coast. This will mean increased health to the grass plant.

The fairways this month will also get a terra rake or scarify, which will scratch up any dead areas so air can get into the top canopy of the profile, this will be followed by a wetting agent to again re-hydrate the soil ready for overseeding in the autumn to try and fully recover these areas.

The 16th fairway this month has been hit hard by the badgers and have caused significant damage. The badgers are searching for leatherjackets as a food source and have literally destroyed the area. We have now sprayed an emergency insecticide on this area, which has deterred them in the last week. We constantly look for new ways to deal with them, but it is extremely hard when they are a protected species and there is only an emergency insecticide available at certain times of the year to affect their food source.

We look forward to seeing you on the course!

Rob Dyer, Head Greenkeeper, The Downs Course

The Park Course

The greens have recovered extremely well after maintenance. The granular fertiliser used to aid recovery has boosted the growth and colour of the surface and a foliar feed in the middle of the month has protected the plant against heat stress. It has been pleasing to see that the bentgrass seed we used has been thriving and new growth is evident. Through the month of July and with the rise in temperature, hand watering became a priority to help prevent dry patch. Although a very welcoming 53mm of rain fell throughout the month which boosted growth and colour for our areas without irrigation. We have continued with our cutting height set at 3.5mm with the groomers set at 1mm below to discourage lateral growth and the use of brushes to stand the plant up. We have also applied another light sand dusting a week after maintenance, our aim throughout the year is to apply at least 80 tonnes of sand to the greens, this will help improve drainage, reduce our thatch levels and aid trueness and speed.

As well as looking after the golf course, the team also provide assistance to the ever-improving Goodwood cricket pitch. The main man is Richard. In the picture below he is teaching the team about the wicket and his maintenance procedure.

We try very hard to give a smooth consistent ball roll on the greens so golfers have an enjoyable round and good surfaces to play and putt on. The one thing the golfers can do to help us achieve this is completely being ignored. On average we repair seven pitch marks on each green every morning. Please repair your pitch marks!

Look forward to seeing you on the course!

Simon Berry, Head Greenkeeper, The Park Course