Greens Renovations

 

Last week we took the opportunity to carry out essential maintenance on our greens and tees, work which we would normally do in a May window. Carrying it out in mid February hopefully means we can be less disruptive at the start of the playing season, keeping any maintenance to a minimum.

 

Just one week previous and the course was closed, covered in snow. Once the thaw began, we could plan our maintenance



Poster in locker room

 

The purpose of hollow coring is mainly for soil exchange, pulling out poor quality soil and thatch which holds moisture at the surface level, as well as allowing air and water to penetrate into the rootzone. There is a poster in the locker rooms that further explains the process.

 

 

At the top, a core taken from a tee to help remove compaction. At the bottom, a core from a green showing the organic matter we wish to remove and replace

The holes created are then filled with a much more free draining material, so that the greens in the long run are firmer and therefore smoother. We have used a topdressing sand which has been dried to remove any moisture, therefore it can fill the holes much more efficiently.

 

Although it is a disruptive and lengthy process, we actually are only targeting around 5-7% of the surface area each time we do it. Ideally in a year you would try and remove around 20% material to maintain good quality surfaces. That is why regular maintenance is necessary. A granular fertiliser is applied to aid recovery.

 

The process starts with the efficient Procore pulling out the cores in a square pattern. These are collected and discarded.

The Procore was used on the greens, here pictured without the collection box

Then topdressing is applied with the truck mounted spin dresser. This is a very efficient way to distribute the dressing over a large area.

Topdressing applied

Spin dresser applying the dressing

After this we then pull the sweep and fill brush over the greens to fill up all the holes.

Sweep and Fill Brush

 





The greens are then rolled with the turf iron to smooth them out. Obviously there are a lot of machines going over the greens and so in the short term the surfaces have a lot of wheel marks on them. The iron helps to remove them.

 

As well as hollow coring we also hired the used of the Sandcat machine from the contractor Greener Grounds. This tractor mounted machine decompacts the subsurface by shaking the ground underneath. It also creates slits in the ground down to around 6 inches. The sand hopper then releases the dried sand down into the slits, helping to firm the ground.

 

The Sandcat, slicing, decompacting and filling

 

We used this machine on the 2nd, 15th and 17th greens, which had been cored earlier. They brought a drone to illustrate how the work looks from a different perspective.

 

Sand slits. Moisture in the ground meant excess sand was brushed after

Hopper carrying around half a ton of dried sand

 

Greener Grounds' Drone to illustrate the work

 

 

The greenstaff would like to thank the members for their patience during this time. This kind of work is essential if we are to maintain our greens to the highest possible standard. With spring around the corner, recovery should be pretty quick.



 



 

Winter Works, Woodland Thinning and Vandalism

Over the winter, as well as the drainage work already completed, we also have filled in the bunker on the 7th, which was always flooding and was full of weeds. Mounding was created, using the spoil taken from various drainage sites and consolidated.

 

The shape of the mounding was thought through, to try and blend in to its surrounding area as much as possible, as well as making it easy to maintain with a mower in the upcoming season.

New turf was brought in to cover the area, and this will be cut regularly from now on.

 

 

 

 

As the weather turned colder, wetter and wilder, our attention turned towards the trees and carrying on the work like we did on the left hand side of the 5th hole.

 

We agreed to work on the area between 6 and 14, as well as the area between 5 and 15. We have removed as much dead, decayed or dangerous timber as possible, but there are still stumps to be removed.

I have provided some examples of the work inspected and undertaken.

 

On the 14th, it was clearly visible that the lack of sunlight and air movement was having a profound effect on the quality of the surfaces. Also, the playability of the hole was also becoming harder as the trees on the right were hindering shots, hiding the right of the green and the right bunker.

 

 

 

 

Now the whole right hand side of the green and bunker is back in play.

 

Below is a prime example of the issue with shade, especially in the winter. By giving the surfaces more light, they have the chance to improve.

 

 



 

 

 

 

Now looking after the surfaces as best we can in the winter time is very important, especially when they are not in full sunlight in winter time, and so it was very disappointing to find out that a motor bike had entered the course and caused damage to the 13th fairway, approach and green.

 

 

 

 

 

There are some areas of the green which were repairable with minor damage, however the bike caused significant surface damage in three main areas. A decision was made to remove the turf in those areas, replacing it with similar turf at the side of the green.

 

 

 

 

 

The turf cutter was used to strip off the turf, and then small pieces were exchanged, bit by bit, in order to fill in the space.

 

 

 

 

 

The green will be brought in on the left hand side to allow this area, which has been dressed and seeded, time to recover.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 



 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2nd Green Drainage and 7th Green Drainage Prep

At the end of October we broke ground on the 2nd green in order to install new drainage. We hope to drain all the remaining greens over the next couple of years, starting with the 15th at the end of the season.

We used the turf cutter to cut the lines of turf. Then a trencher was hired to cut the trenches down to a depth of around 450mm.

A small amount of gravel was placed along the trenches so that the pipe could sit cleanly on top of the trench floor.

Then 60mm pipe was installed into the trenches from left to right along the length of the green. A main deeper trench was installed at the lowest part of the green, a long the right hand side, and all the 60mm pipes were connected into a larger outlet pipe, which then ran out into the nearby ditch.

Gravel was then placed on top of the pipe and firmed.

Then rootzone was placed on top of the gravel and firmed to avoid too much consolidation.

The turf was then replaced and levelled. It was important to take time with the crucial relaying of the turf as then the turf edges have a better chance to knit back together.

Regular checks were made to make sure there was no siginficant drop in turf levels and the green is now back open for play.

This particular green missed out on the autumn renovation and so will be cored as soon as possible. We will also be running a machine called the Sandcat over it, which slices the ground and installs dried sand into the profile. More about this when it happens in February.


In preparation for draining the 7th and 11th greens at the end of the season, we have already installed an outlet drain to carry the water from the area. This will be tapped into next time and gives us a good reference point for where the main greens drainage needs to go.

 

We used the digger to remove the material, including a massive boulder right in front of the 7th green. Then, with a similar process to the 2nd green, drainage was installed in front of 7, between the 7th and 11th greens, as well as putting a drain at the back of the 11th to catch the run off.

New rootzone was placed on top of the gravel before adding turf.  

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Maintenance week

Maintenance on the course is always an issue for the golfers, especially when the greens have been in such good condition this summer. However, in order for us to keep the greens in the best possible condition throughout the whole year, as golf is played all year now by the majority of members, it is necessary for the green staff to carry out some major renovations on the surfaces from time to time.

Having been discussed at committee level, it was decided that by completely closing the golf course on the Monday, it would give the staff the best possible start to their maintenance plans going forward. The cooperation by the members on this matter was greatly appreciated by all the staff involved.

Spiking deep

As the course was very quiet on the Sunday evening, we actually started spiking the greens then, only doing six so that we could be ahead of the rest of the tasks come Monday morning.

After Sunday evening, all the greens received a deep spike using the Wiedenmann GXi8, punching holes of 12 mm diameter down to a depth of approximately 8 inches. This is a vital aeration procedure to help alleviate a lot of the compaction which builds up after a summer of play and machinery use.

Greens dressing

This was followed by giving the greens a roll with the turf iron to firm up the surface. The greens were then topdressed, which was followed by another spiking operation, this time with the Procore, using 8mm tines down to 3 inches. This operation not only helps to close up the larger holes, but also assists with working the dressing into the greens profile.

Procore spike on the dressing

Dragmat use

The dragmat was then used to move the sand around nice and evenly. We then decided to lightly use the sweep and fill brush to try and work the sand in a bit better.

Finally on day one we gave the greens a little bit of water to aid recovery after all the disruption. Again, this all wouldn't have been made possible without the course closure.

Onto the Tuesday and we started with giving the greens another dressing, this time a lot lighter as well as applying bent seed to the greens. This was mixed in with the sand and distributed in the dressing for better coverage.

Bent seed

Then the greens were spiked again using the Procore, this time only punching down an inch. Again the greens were then matted and, in the dry afternoon, were given a cut.

Not a bad finish after the procedures

Tuesday also saw us start to carry out procedures on the tees. The front nine tees were spiked with the Procore, this time using 15mm solid tines, dressed, seeded and brushed. The back nine tees are then done the same on the Wednesday.

Tees dressed and seeded

As you can imagine it has been a very busy week so far as not only have we been carrying out all these procedures, we have also been cutting tees, approaches, fairways, semi rough and rough, spraying bunkers for weeds, as well as spraying the greens, approaches and fairways with feed.

We have also resumed out rough management work with the Super 500 going out and cutting down a lot more areas which were unplayable. These areas will be raked through so that in time more playable, wispy rough will take over.

17th rough removal

The staff have all worked hard to keep disruption to a bare minimum and we do appreciate the patience of the members during this time, especially during the course closures.