It's been a tough month on the courses due to the amount of rain. Here is the latest from our Head Greenkeepers.
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The Downs Course
November has been a very wet month with 154mm of rainfall and 473mm in the last three months making the course is extremely wet and very slippery at the moment.
The greens have had their first organic fertiliser applied and have a good colour on them going into December. With all the rainfall we have had, the greens have become softer and with foot printing on the greens it will decrease the trueness of the surface. We have reduced the cutting frequency on all surfaces as the grass has really slowed up with regards to growth. The 13th green has been verti-drained, hollow cored, had root zone amendment applied, top dressed and brushed in by hand and a light fertiliser applied to aid recovery. Within December we will look to do the same process on the 3rd and 6th greens which lay very wet in the winter. These greens will be out of play for two to three days depending if the weather holds us up.
This month we started our bunker renovations and, despite the weather, has gone well. Three bunkers on the 14th and two bunkers on the 13th have had the existing sand removed and used to top up bunkers on other holes. The bases were re-shaped and drainage lines refreshed with new stone, then the bunkers were turfed to grow in before spraying them off before the new china clay sand is installed. The next hole we will be doing bunker reconstruction on is the 12th.
The forestry department assisted my team in removing a lot of the ash trees suffering from ash die back disease on the 13th hole in the ancient woodland. Unfortunately the hole had to be shut for three days for safety reasons. When the ground gets firmer the forestry department will come back in to remove any existing wood remaining, raise the canopy on the trees in play on the right side of the hole and remove one more ash tree which is in play. Also we have removed five trees from the 4th walk off / 5th tee bank. This is to increase the walk off area and install a wider path from the main pathway. The 4th was put on a temporary green for the day, again for safety reasons whilst removing the trees. Sorry for any inconvenience for the above.
Looking forward we will be doing more landscaping work to the bank on the right side of the 3rd green where the humps will be removed and the landscape softened to improve playability and will also be safer for us to mow. Also the 5th approach on the right side has had a tree removed and again the hump will be removed to change the playability and aesthetics of the hole.
Leaves have been a major issue for the last six weeks as we can't use our petrol and turbo blowers until 11.30am due to noise pollution issues. We are now looking to go all battery power with the blowers however we are still waiting for them. Please be patient as we try our best in the afternoons to clear the leaves, mainly from the 1st, 17th and 18th green complexes.
It was a pleasure not only to set up the course for greenkeepers revenge, but for myself, James Lynch and Keith Narey from The Downs Team to play in it. We thought we did well with 42 points coming off the 18th, only to find out 54 points won it which was quite shocking, which means next time the course will be set up a lot harder!. It was a really enjoyable day and I'm glad it was played in good spirits. Thank you to all that played and keep supporting the fun yearly competition.
My team and I would all like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year and thank you all for the friendliness and feedback you have given us this year, it really does help us move the course in the right direction.
Look forward to seeing you on the course!
Rob Dyer, Head Greenkeeper, The Downs Course
The Park Course
The last three months have been exceptionally challenging on the course with a record breaking 488mm of rain has fallen in this time and as I write this, more is on its way.
All our attention is focused on working on areas that we can actually get to which has included turfing worn, unsightly areas around the course and the pathways have had some well needed repair. When ground conditions allow, we will once again be continuing with our bunker project.
While it was all doom and gloom with the weather in England, we arranged an educational visit to Denmark to liaise with three course managers, to discuss having a more sustainable, chemical free organic golf course. The courses that we visited, The Scandinavian, Furseo Golf club and Kopenhavens Golf club, all have been chemical free for nine years meaning they can't spray for any pests or diseases. By doing this they are creating some impressive surfaces. We have brought back some great ideas which we will be implementing.
Finally, I leave you with another stat about the rain. Below is a table of rainfall for the September, October and November from previous years compared to this year, if you thought it had rained a lot, you would be correct!
Year | Amount of rain fallen in three months |
2017 | 216mm of rain fell |
2018 | 186mm of rain fell |
2019 | 488mm of rain fell |
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Look forward to seeing you on the course!
Simon Berry, Head Greenkeepers, The Park Course