Course Update

The weather is starting to deteriorate after a very mild period.

 The mild weather combined with the heavy dew and rain is perfect weather for fusarium which we have sprayed for. 

Spiking will continue on a regular basis throughout the winter months to aid drainage and to continue to breakdown the black layer and thatch. 

The greens are also being treated today with a granular turf hardener to give them some extra resistance to the threat of disease.

Ropes have been put up around the course so we would appreciate if people would respect and not leave them lying around on the floor.

 They may be annoying but they’re there for a reason and for your benefit. 

Washed sand has been spread around the course to help cope with the heavy traffic. 

It would also benefit the course if people could carry when possible and if using trolleys please stick to the paths and stay well away from the greens.

The temporary greens have had a first cut and have been marked out so please take the appropriate relief.

Work has commenced on thinning out trees in areas where we cannot access with the ride on mowers and in some areas leaving larger gaps in between to get the mowers in. 

The stumps will be ground out when we have finished all the removals to save on keep hiring the same machine. These stumps in the meantime are G.U.R.

Many thanks

James

Course Update

We are cutting the Temp Greens which will be marked with Yellow Spray if your ball lands upon one you MUST take a free drop away from them

Thanks

James

Course Update

It has now been just over a week since we started the maintenance on the greens and after applying more dressing yesterday the work is now complete and we can focus on getting the remainder of the course up to scratch.

The work didn't go as smoothly as planned with late deliveries of the sand and top dresser forcing us to close more greens at once than anticipated. We are of course sorry for the inconvenience caused and I have certainly learnt a lot from the week. Am sure the next time we do our maintenance certain elements can be changed to ensure a smoother process.

The kiln dried sand which we do have to have delivered last minute to ensure it remains dry has been worked into all the greens using a total of around 38 tonnes and the dresser we normally hire has agreed to be purchased which will give us more flexibility in the future.

Greens were fertilized on Thursday to aid the recovery and are now being cut daily at a slightly higher cut. Once the sand has completely disappeared from the surface we will continue cutting at a reduced height with our new mowers.

The greens are currently being ironed and will continue to do so to improve the surface.

The greens are also being pencil tinted at around 2 inch depth which will help with the recovery process.

General maintenance is back under way and we can get back on top of the cutting and defining the course once again.

Would like to say thanks to all the greens team for their extra efforts last week as well as a thank you to Adam, Ian and John for their help.

Also a big thank you to all the members for their support and patience during an unpopular process and am sure we will all benefit from this week for months to come.

Thanks again

James

Last week we unfortunately had another leak on one of the mowers which I'm sure you have noticed on the 11th green. The hydraulic fluid was quickly washed with wetting agent and water to minimise the damage.

The greens were sprayed with a pre competition mix on Tuesday and with a fungicide cocktail for some diseases which are prominent at this time of year.

Dry patches have been hand watered again using wetting agent

The majority of the bunkers have been topped up using a total of 32 tonnes and hopefully this will bed down nicely.

Thank you for all the golfers who are repairing their pitch marks as a noticeable improvement has been made. Please continue you to help us out.

The aeration work will commence today and hopefully the weather is on our side. Temporary greens will not be in use so please pick up and go to the next hole if the green is being worked on.

Thanks

James

Course Update

After another busy week where we had 2 shotgun starts and a two tee start in which it is difficult to work around the golfing schedule we overcame a few obstacles. Difficulties with the greens mower at the start of the week caused us problems but having the hand mowers fully serviced in the winter and the greens iron saw us through okay.

The old mower was scalping which is what you may have noticed on the greens but also mechanically wasn't working at full capacity.

We have now upgraded our greens mowers with two more modern mowers which will help us with busy schedules and also competition preparation. One of the mowers will allow us to cut at heights which we have never been able to achieve which gives us more options.

A big thank you to John Pownall for his continual support.

The greens have been sprayed with a liquid feed and some plant sugars to maintain health and the tees have been sprayed with a pgr/ fertiliser mix.

The leaks have been fixed whilst I have been on holiday and the mixed weather allowed us to do this as we to drain the system.

Sometimes when we're a staff member or maybe two down some areas of the course do slip and I have heard a few grumbles regarding this. Don't forget it is not the green staff that put the footprints in the bunkers.

We now have a bay full of sand and will be topping up the bunkers as time permits. The bunker master will be used when it is required and not just for the sake of it. It is the ideal tool to use during wet periods after the bunkers have drained.

This week we will spike the greens and verticut the greens and catch up on jobs from last week.

I know some of you may be frustrated in knowing that the greens maintenance is quickly approaching. This will benefit you all in the long run and we don't do it for the sake of it. If the weather is kind recovery should be relatively quick and we should reap the rewards. The process will be as follows:

Cut green

Double verticut

Micro core at 2.5 inch depth and at 2 inch spacing’s (increasing to 2.5 if required)

Top dress with 100% kiln dried sand

Brush

Iron

Fertilise and water

We may pencil tine after wards to aid recovery.

Continuing ironing every other day

In the meantime enjoy your golf

Thanks

James

Course Update

July so far has proved to be a busy month and the diary shows no change is on its way so please give a thought when we're trying to prepare the course

Last week started with a disaster with a big hydraulic leak on the putting green with the affected area now cored and dressed. Some more dressing does need to be worked into the holes.

We managed to get a lot of work crammed into the three days we had to work on the course with the other two just solely based on course set up.

This week we have tined the greens and been out with the hose pipes applying wetting agent through a hose connection. These operations are essential but time consuming so sometimes other jobs are left as the greens do and will remain our priority.

For those who practice you will notice an improvement to the practice facilities. Hopefully this is just the start as we aim to maximise the use of a limited space to create the best we can.

The muntjac deer have been spotted on numerous occasions so keep your eye out for them.

In the meantime please repair pitch marks, rake bunkers and replace divots. There is only so much we can do and whilst it is extremely frustrating for us to see course damage it doesn't affect our rounds.

Course update

Summer is officially here and apart from the dry patches the greens are looking relatively good. The dry patch can be caused by several different factors such as tree roots, undulating ground or the soil profile being hydrophobic. We are trying to address this problem by watering and using wetting agents which have been sprayed and also administered through an adapter attached to the hose.

 Pencil tyning and using the slits on the greens iron will also help with water penetration.

The greens will have been slightly slower this week due to our cutting cylinders being taken away for sharpening and having to use older cylinders which don't cut as fine. The freshly sharpened blades will be in use from Monday onwards.

We are continuing to try and tidy up areas on the course as time permits and also try to cut the course as well as possible.

The 4th tee unfortunately had a hydraulic spill on it after a pipe split and this has been covered with seed and dressing

We have a number of leaks in the irrigation  system  mainly on the 3rd and next to the bridge on the 14th. If you look at the ground under the pipe on the 14th you will see how brown the ground is due to the iron content in the water.

These leaks will be fixed when we are confident of rainfall as we will have to drain the system and at the minute that is out of the question.

In the meantime enjoy the sun and a big thank you to all the members who supported the green staff last Saturday and throughout the year.

Thanks

Course Update

The weather has now brought us some growth on the greens and they are steadily improving. We're continuing our pencil tining as often as possible which will aid thatch removal, root development and water filtration as well as making the greens more receptive. Verticutting is also being carried out to promote truer surfaces as well as removing some lateral growth. The greens iron is also allowing us to aerate as well as improving green speeds.

The greens were last week sprayed with a wetting agent and seaweed mix to help break down surface tension and to aid with stress.

The tees have again been sprayed with a chemical cocktail and the par 3 tees top dressed.

The mound on 16 has now taken root and we are steadily reducing the height of cut to bring it down to fairway height. As stated on the scorecards newly sown areas are G.U.R.

Trees have been cleared round and we are gradually trying to tidy other scruffy areas on the course.

A light dressing will be applied to the greens next week which roughly works out at 5.5 tonnes for 19 greens.

Please continue to help us by keeping trolleys and buggies away from the greens and by replacing divots and repairing pitch marks

Thanks

James

Course Update

The greens have now finally started to grow and are looking a lot better. I appreciate the fact that they are slow and woolly but until we have got the greens smoother and truer what is the point in speed.

The worse thing we can do is have fast bobbly greens. They will be top dressed this week and will be heavily dressed in the bad areas to promote a truer surface as we encourage the disease scars to heal. Unfortunately there isn't any magic in a box but all the aeration work should see an improvement in the playability.

The fact that we do have healthier greens which are now draining better it will allow us to maintain speeds once we drop the cut. This along with verticutting and rolling can speed greens up to suit the occasion

The 16th has now been turfed and the other surrounding areas will be tidied as soon as possible.

Other areas will be tidied as time permits

Can all golfers continue to keep trolleys and buggies away from the greens. It is quite evident that white lines do not work as I continue to see trolley wheel tracks in the dew going across the greens.

Would it also be possible for members to repair their pitch marks. It has been suggested that people with the surname beginning with A to look after the first green and B for the second and so on to help combat the problem. There were 20 pitch marks in the front 3rd of the second green on Thursday.

Thanks

James

Course Update

I'd like to start off by dispelling any rumors that work that has been done on the greens has had a negative impact.

I for one can't wait for the greens to be running well and true to see the results of a lot of time and money invested in improving them. This time last year we had unhealthy bobbly greens which is a fact and now we have a lot healthier bobbly greens. The processes that we go through and the cultural practices will continue and we will try our best to do this with as little disruption as possible. This work is absolutely essential to the future of the golf club as we strive to improve all aspects of the golf club to help make a good golf course great.

We have in the past week seen an improvement in the appearance of the greens due to a chemical application and have verticut and pencil tined this week to help the greens improve. A granular fertilizer has been spread on the greens and this along with the warmer weather which has finally started to come should see our season kick forward. I don't like and won't hide behind excuses but grass especially the greens due to the make up and hammer that they take are always the last to grow and until temperatures average at least 10 degrees we will see minimal growth.

We are continuing to try and present the course to a high standard with the cross cutting of fairways and the second cut complementing them. We will also be hoping to see an improvement in the tee boxes after more work being implemented into there maintenance program.

Other areas which we feel look a bit scruffy will be addressed and now that temperatures are on the increase can now seed and dress bare areas.

Divot bags are on the 1st and 10th if people could kindly help.

The mound on 16th has now been graded and we have obtained a quote for a company to come in and turf it. We shall seed the other areas.

If people could keep all trolleys and buggies away from the greens it would be great. If people want the aprons to look like greens then they should treat them the same way

The bunkers are an on going issue which I will always agree with to a certain extent. I feel that unless we start a complete refurbishment of the bunkers the issue will never be solved so the committee have agreed to start the improvement program this winter.

A big thank you to the majority of golfers who have supported me and the team through the 1st year.

Thanks.

James

Course Update

April has brought us some mixed weather so far with heavy rain to start and now dry periods with cold starts.

The greens are not yet growing at a consistent rate and therefore not recovering from the winter months as quickly as hoped.

 The greens have shown an improvement but these bobbly patches will remain until the weather really kicks in and the disease scars recover and the pitch marks start to be repaired. See pictures 1 and 2.

The greens have been verti cut and tined this week and been sprayed with seaweed and wetting agent which will all help the greens become healthier for the future weeks ahead.

Top dressing has been ordered and will be spread next week and brushed in with our new brush which the company has purchased after a successful demonstration and trial period.

The rest of the course is growing well and I feel the course is looking well despite having some technical issues.

 There are however some little areas which are letting the course down which we will address as soon as possible.

The white lines are back so please observe these it will benefit you all in the long run. It is disappointing to see members not paying attention and not looking after their course. See picture 3.

The bin on the 11th will be repaired after it was vandalised one Sunday.

 On the same day somebody took divots out of the new tee on the 1st. I know it is a minority causing the problem however it is still frustrating for us all.

Work is underway on the practice ground to install a 3 bay practice range and a new net is on order for the practice nets. There is a plan in place to make the most of our practice facilities.

The 16th hole is a very sore subject for most including myself as the foreman is constantly breaking deadlines and making false promises.

The developer has been on holiday and Ian has contacted him wanting results and fast.

I hope he is true to his word and we can start enjoying the 16th again.

Hopefully you're happy with the progress made and like me looking forward to playing on good greens in the sun.

James

Course Update

All the greens have now been hollow cored, tined, Top dressed and brushed.

This maintenance took 4 days and I must thank all the staff for their efforts and the majority of the members for their patience and understanding.

All the greens have since been "ironed" and are running as true as expected.

We have changed the top dressing from a 80/20 sand soil mix to straight dm35 sand which will improve drainage and the firmness of the greens.

 A micro granule fertiliser will be applied next week to help aid recovery and give us a kick start for the new season.

The cores have been placed in areas where we can use them and are all ground under repair.

 The new irrigation pipe work has been installed on the 10th and 15th tees and has been tested.

This design of irrigation is a project we will continue to install over a number of winters due to the time and cost of the job.

Work on the tees will commence shortly and now that the grass is starting to grow we will be able to present the golf course at a higher standard.

GOOD LUCK TO THE CAPTAINS FOR THEIR COMING YEAR

James and the Greenstaff

Course Update

We have started to Hollow Core the Greens this Morning as Planned we aim to finish this by the end of next week this will be the main focus of our work for the coming weeks we will be using 40 tons of Sand on them we are trialing a new Machine called sweep and fill this should enable us to get the sand in Quicker and more consistently

please bear with us while we are working on the Greens it will benefit you in the long run 

James

Course Update

The main focus over the past weeks has been the greens with them continuing to be aerated every week to try and reduce the thatch levels and get rid of the black layer.

 This has also helped us to stay mostly on main greens with increased drainage capability. Greens will only be placed onto temporary greens if there is any potential damage to the green or surrounding areas.

The car park area has been tidied when weather has stopped us from working on the course and area around the practice nets has been cleared.

We will continue to spread washed sand in the wet areas which hopefully will make these problem spots more hard wearing over time.

This week we are spiking and coring the tees and aprons in preparation for the season. This will be followed by a light dressing with a mixture of chemicals already being sprayed.

We have also made a prototype bin which has been put on the 2nd tee and with some slight adjustments in design more will be made when time permits.

Thanks

James

We are in the process of completing the paths