The greens are having to deal with some very testing conditions at the moment. Hot temperatures, high winds and low cutting heights mean that they are very stressed currently.
There have been several comments about the speed of the greens recently. It is very difficult to keep them very quick during this time for various reasons.
The irrigation system is having to be used constantly to water the greens to avoid them drying out too much. There have been some dry patches appear and they are being managed as best as possible. The drain lines really struggle in this heat due to the sand underneath. These lines have been topdressed and a wetting agent applied to help cope with the stress.
The greens have also been aerated using the Procore. This was essential maintenance to help the greens breathe. Allowing them to breathe means that they relax a little and with the added water the greenspeed does drop a little. We have maintained a lower height of cut to assist with the speed where normally during the hot spell it would be raised.
A granular supplement feed as been added to help with this stress period. It has small amounts of feed in it as well as acting as aid to help reduce thatch.
Another point to be made is staff levels. We have said in the past that when we are all on top of things all over the golf course we would hand cut as much as possible. This has recently been difficult to achieve as at various times some members of staff have taken part of their annual leave entitlement. This stretches the small squad at times and so we may not have time to always handcut. The use of the iron will be used to help with the speed though.
We thank the members and visitors for their comments regarding the presentation of the course and we continue to work hard to achieve the standards required.
