The Downs Course

Spring has been very dry so far with only 15mm of rain in the last four weeks. We have also had some frosts in early April which has delayed recovery on the greens slightly. The greens are now due another feed and we will look to start our sand dusting regime to promote true surfaces and aid in our thatch dilution programme. We will also brush the greens as often as we can to improve the quality of cut, which will in turn improve the quality of the putting surfaces.

Also this month we will look to spray a selective herbicide on the tees, aprons and fairways to reduce weeds from the sward. This will promote a cleaner playing surface and be more aesthetically pleasing for the course.

Tees have had a granular fertiliser applied to them and we aim to do the same to the aprons in the upcoming weeks. We will also continue our liquid feeds around the complexes to improve these areas. These will also reduce in height of cut in the near future.

Bunkers have been topped up this month and we will continue to do this throughout the season. We will also use total weed killer to remove any weeds in the bunkers, unfortunately pulling weeds brings up the stones in the bunkers, so we try to irradiate this by doing it though spraying them. Also with extended periods of dry weather we will go to smooth raking bunkers instead of tine raking, as again this can bring up the stones in the bunkers.

We have cut some new fairway shapes on the course to give the course more character. We have extended some fairways out for playability and most fairways bunkers are closer to the fairway edge now.

Look forward to seeing you on the course!

Rob Dyer, Head Greenkeeper, The Downs Course

The Park Course

With the recent warm temperatures, the course has seen a boost in growth which has given us the opportunity to put some definition and character back in. Greens maintenance at the end of March went well and the recovery has been quick due to the health of greens. We will be continuing with a light sand dusting every two weeks to aid trueness and speed.

The fairways and aprons have been fertilised to help thicken the grass sward and give them a nice colour, regular brushing to stand the plant up and with a more frequent mowing schedule has really made them stand out.

The tees have received an organic fertiliser to help encourage a more consistent growth, better recovery and a heathier thicker sward. We will keep up with devoting sanding and overseeding.

As I am sure you all have seen the bluebells throughout the golf course have flourished. All our hard work through the winter months has really paid off. Seeing such a thick carpet of colour really does compliment the golf course and as part of our ongoing ecology programme we will be creating more wild flower areas.

The team excelled during greens maintenance and the hard work certainly paid off. We completed the following work:

• 20 tonnes of top dressing put on the greens
• Verti-drained using a 12mm tine, to the depth of 200mm
• Solid pencil tine using a 10mm tine, to the depth of 75mm
• Brushed the sand into the surface, filling the holes.

As a result, we gave the greens some good aeration at various depths and the sand will help dilute the thatch layer. The aim is to put down around 150 tonnes of sand this year.

Most pathways have received a top up. New shingle has been put down on the main paths while this path towards the back tee on 9 has been re-levelled, with a wood chip topping to finish off.

Look forward to seeing you on the course!

Simon Berry, Head Greenkeeper, The Park Course