Greens Update

The renovation work done to the greens this week has been a great success and recovery is well underway. The greens were scarified and we removed around 15 tons of material which was replaced with free draining topdressing.

 

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We have applied around 25 tons of dressing to the greens and this has been brushed and matted in. The down side to these procedures were twofold. Firstly the weather in the build up to it was not kind, in fact approximately 21mm of rain fell over the weekend before we carried out the scarifying.

 

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This obviously had an impact and the greens have softened up in the short term. It goes to show that this kind of work is very important to the general improvement of the putting surfaces and more work is needed on a regular basis.

 

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The other short term issue is that putting down the amount of dressing we did then blunts the blades of the mowers. This leads to a poor quality of cut. Together with the softer feel the greens do slow up.

 

Today after cutting the greens the mower has been sharpened and cutting heights lowered so that they perform better over the weekend.

 

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We thank you for your patience during this period as we have been on the greens quite a lot recently but the work is essential in improving the greens for the future.

 

Greens Renovation

Greens Renovation

On Monday the 24^th August we will be carrying out our annual summer greens renovation. The whole process will hopefully be completed in one day with all the staff taking part.

 We will hire in a scarifier that rips out some of the thatchy material in the top 20mm of the sward. This material is the main culprit for soft greens, holding onto the moisture like a sponge rather than letting it drain through. This is collected and discarded. We replace this with a more free draining topdressing material that dilutes the thatch so that the greens continue to become firmer and more playable all year round.

The dressing will be brushed in with the sweep and fill brush and then the greens will be cut after. Every day after this the greens will improve and we will keep the disturbance level down to a minimum. The greens have received a specific granular feed already in time for these procedures so that they will recover as quickly as possible.

This is the right time of year to be carrying out this type of process as the warmth in the soil gives the greens the optimum amount of recovery time.

 We appreciate that this work can be an inconvenience but it is of paramount importance for the continued improvement of the putting surfaces.

 

Steve Hemsley

Head Greenkeeper

Greenspeed

There have been quite a lot of comments over the past week raising concern about the speed (or lack of speed) of the greens. This has been unfortunate seeing as lots of work has gone into the greens that have struggled through a non existent spring.

This has happened for several reasons which I will attempt to explain now.

The main reasons for differences in speed are height of cut, sharpness of cut, weather, growth and maintenance regimes.

We are always after the ideal scenario of quick and true putting surfaces but the fact of the matter is that this is not always possible. The reasons listed above change on a regular basis and therefore consistency is sometimes difficult to achieve.

Last Monday we verticut the greens, which is a light scarify, and then we topdressed the greens. After this we used the Sweep and Fill brush to brush in the dressing and also help lift any grass that was lying down. As it was very dry we then took the opportunity to hand cut the greens and removed a lot of grass and excess dressing. This left the greens running quick and true. All the work was carried out on the same day to try and reduce disruption through the rest of the week. Now it is obvious to say that those playing Monday evening would have had the best of conditions.

Now during the period last week the temperature climbed a lot higher than it has been and the greens started to dry out. We have started to take regular soil temperatures as we need to make decisions to make sure the greens don't bake and deteriorate. Having done all the work and the greens drying out, we took the decision to raise the height of cut. Now it was only raised by less than 1mm but raised all the same. We are looking to work under certain parameters with regard to safe soil temperatures and a slight raise in the height of cut can be most beneficial for the long term health of the greens.

This then had a small effect on the pace of the greens but not as much as the sharpness of the cutting blades. Having cut through the regular topdressings the blades have become blunt and therefore were ripping the grass rather than cutting like a scythe. It is very important for the health of the grass plant to cut with a sharp blade. It was obvious to see that the mowers were not cutting as well as possible and that was the main reason for the pace of greens dropping off.

At the same time as this work the heat in the soil produced a natural growth flush. We have made great steps in recent times in using different products to improve the quality of the greens. The main liquid fertiliser we now use does not give you a massive growth kick unlike previous years. However the greens did react to all the heat and it was clear to see that there was much more growth throughout the last week during the day.

So with blunt blades, a flush of growth and a raised height of cut the greens were a lot slower than the Monday.

So to improve matters the handmowers were sharpened on Tuesday afternoon and the triple mower will be done before the weekend. The height of cut was lowered again and we continue to use the iron to help with greenspeed. Today we took lots of grass off the greens due to the sharp cut and the pace has already improved. We will continue to monitor the cut and speed of the greens to make sure we keep them at a satisfactory pace for all the members. Just please be aware that conditions change from time to time and there are variables that can affect things.

Upcoming Greens Maintenance

On Monday we start our greens maintenance which is vital in the continued improvement of the putting surfaces. Initially it was put in the club diary as hollow coring. However we took the opportunity back in the early spring  to carry out the hollow coring, therefore leaving this current window free just in case of weather issues.

We will however be carrying out other operations during next week but disruption should be kept to a minimum. Firstly the greens will be deep spiked using the Vertidrain with half inch tines used down to a depth of 8 inches. This has great benefit for the greens as it provides much needed air into the soil profile, aiding drainage and allowing roots to grow deeper and stronger.

 

Verticut x2

 

We are also going to verticut the greens two ways to try and stand up the lateral growth and remove unwanted thatchy material from the surface. At the same time we will be topdressing the greens. This work together will help the greens to run faster and smoother. The putting green has already been done (apart from the dressing) and we took off plenty of grass.

 

Putting Green After work on Friday

We will try and keep the disturbance down to a minimum at all times. This is all necessary work if we are to strive for better greens. We have had a good start to the season with the greens so we must carry on the improvement.

Course Update

The golf course is coming on well as we are starting to experience some warmer weather. We are starting to see the onset of growth , especially in the outfield areas (fairways, semi rough, rough etc) but the finer turf areas of greens and tees are still a couple of weeks behind in growth terms in comparison.

 

We are trying our best on the greens to achieve the best surface possible so some more warmer weather would be beneficial. The greens have been fertilised, topdressed, aerated and the mowing regime has been stepped up. Once we experienced a growth spurt after the Easter warm weather, the greens were "flicked" using the Sweep and Fill brush and we removed lots of lateral growth. We have since applied part of our wetting agent programme and also another light topdressing. This is helping to smooth out the surfaces. This kind of maintenance work will continue to take place during this period of uneven temperature.

 

The greens are due to be fertilised again next week which should help to encourage growth further. We are using a mixture of products which will all help to improve the greens. The old disease scars are closing up well and we are filling them in by hand with dressing to aid this process. The warmer it becomes, the quicker this process will take place.

 

We are trying to achieve all this in the shortest possible time and so any spare moments we have will be spent on the greens. We really appreciate your patience during this time and hope not to inconvenience the golf too much while we are out working.

 

The tees will all be scarified before being fertilised and topdressed and this will take place as soon as possible. They will also be divotted to aid their winter recovery. The par three tees are always the worst affected and so special attention will be given to them. The 13th and 17th competition tees are improving nicely but we are still limiting play on them at the moment until we see some warmer weather. We think it is best to protect them for the long run rather than stress them too much straight away.

 

Hollow Coring

As a result of the increased aeration and topdressing procedures over the last eighteen months it has been possible to play on the main greens all year round, give or take a couple of days here or there. That is because the greens are draining better and are firmer as a whole.

 

However the downside to this is that the greens don't really get to have a rest in the winter season. This means that they are a little on the soft side at the moment and compaction levels are higher than normal.

 

Therefore this week we are going to take the opportunity to hollow core the greens and topdress after. We will be coring with 10mm tines down to a depth of 3 inches. The topdressing will be swept into the holes using the sweep and fill brushes. This will give a tidy finish, cleaning the surface and making sure all the holes are filled. The greens will be hand cut after and also fertilised with a granular feed to aid recovery.

 

We will try and keep the disruption of these operations to a minimum but we will operate a rolling temporary green system when working on the main green. This will mean we can achieve our goal as efficiently as possible.

 

There is a date in May where hollow coring is already in the diary. Doing it before the season starts gives us more flexibility for maintenance in May. Now that the club owns all the required equipment we can be much more efficient. We will be at the mercy of the weather but hopefully the aeration procedures run smoothly and as a result the greens will be firmer and playability and golfer enjoyment will be increased. 

 

 

Soil Testing and The Results of Hard Work

At the end of March last year the club had some soil tests done to see where we were at coming out of the winter. We have had this type of thing done before from time to time but not to this extent. The purpose of soil testing is to try and register where you are in terms of nutritional input, aerobic conditions, soil pH and organic matter levels. They can be quite in depth and I won't bore you with all the stats!!

This test has been followed up with another in November 2014 on the same greens using the same method. This enables us to achieve some consistency.

As you know we have carried out a lot of work in the last eighteen months with regard to increased aeration and topdressing, including deep Vertidraining and several hollow core soil exchanges.

These soil tests show prove that the benefits of carrying out such works are leading to improved greens surfaces. Some of the main points are as follows:

Salt levels have decreased by extra aeration and using specific fertilisers.

pH levels are on target.

Organic matter levels have decreased and are now in the guideline levels. This is a result of the soil exchanges and using 120 tons of dressing. Creating more air in the soil means an increase in microbial activity which helps to reduce thatch levels.

However these results to show us where we are lacking in certain nutrients and how to improve further the standard of the putting surfaces. Extra aeration may be needed on certain problem greens, 17th for example, in order to improve consistency.

All in all we are very pleased with these results but this standard of work will need to continue to improve things further. We have received many favourable comments over the winter for how the greens are compared to other winters. This is down to the work already carried out and a slightly different feeding regime. This standard of work will continue so we can achieve the best results.

What Do You Do When The Course Has Snow???

One of the many questions we are asked is What happens when we the course is full of snow? Do we just sit round a fire and play cards, drinking tea, play darts etc..etc?

 

What actually happens is that we keep working away on the winter projects, trying to improve areas of the course that will be of benefit come the new season. The following is a summary of some of the work we are carrying out over the winter.

 

One of the main priorities on the winter programme was to repair as many GUR areas as possible as they were in play and making the course untidy throughout the season. These areas were either caused by wear and tear or other factors such as broken culverts or mole runs collapsing. Many of these areas have been repaired with some still to do.

 

Also there are four areas of the course that have needed the use of a digger. Firstly, behind the newly laid 17th tee a ditch needed to be created to link the ditch on the 2nd to the one on the 18th. This carried the water right through so that no water is spilling down the slope and onto the tee. This work is complete.

 

The culvert to the right of the 18th fairway which was overflowing onto the fairway is being repaired. Some large drainage pipe is to be installed to carry the large amount of water which flows through that area. This work is ongoing and will be sorted very soon.

 

When the new water pipe to the barn was installed the contractors unfortunately dislodged a culvert at the side of the 7th green/ 8th tee. https://db.tt/vhtLVe36

This area tends to lie wet and so we have removed the material from the area and installed some extra drainage pipe work to connect to the existing pipework. The trench has been filled with rootzone added to the top. The frozen ground is currently preventing us from finishing off completely but this area will be tidied as soon as possible.

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The final digger work is extending the ditch to the right of the 1st fairway to sort out the problem of torrential rain flowing through the broken culverts and spilling onto the course. We have lengthened the ditch removing all the blockages and now the culvert is flowing nicely into the ditch. This area will be finished this week so we will be out of the way for players off the 1st tee.

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As well as all this work on the course we have been carrying on with several other tasks. The large bay at the barn which was filled with all sorts of old material has been emptied. This has freed up valuable space for new materials for the new season.

 

All the tee markers, ditch posts and 150 marker posts have been sanded down and repainted ready for the new season.

 

The machinery is being serviced and the units will all be sharpened ready for the new season ahead.

 

So as you can see plenty is still going on and with plans for the new season at the forefront all the team are working to make sure that we are ready to go when the winter is over. Whenever that is!!