Friday Update.

Well what a fantastic week, weather and work wise.

If only July & August had been this good.

We started some drainage work across the 5th fairway on Monday which was left over from last years winter work programme. Its a diagonal drain which runs from the end of the buggy path to the large hollow on the R/H side of the fairway. It should dry out an area thats sits wet following heavy rain. We have also dug out an area of old path which is no longer used. The drain is finished and marked GUR, but the work on the path will need more work and some turf.

The spoil from the drainage work was moved to the front of the 8th tee to create a base for a winter turf tee. This tee has been finished as well and seeded. Please avoid walking on this area until the seed germinates.

The seed was given to the club to trial by DLF (a seed house). It is a coated seed which should speed up germination and growing in.

We have managed to thin out more areas of rough (R/H 1st, between 6th & 7th, R/H 11th). If the dry weather continues we will carry on with some other areas.

We are still completing a full cut during the week to maintain conditions for as long as possible. 

There have been signs of disease on the greens, but on Tuesday I sprayed a nutrient cocktail to harden the turf against any outbreaks. If this does not work, I'll have to apply a fungicide.

Have a great weekend.

Mark & the Greens team.

Friday Update.

Another busy week aided by some good weather, we still have damp mornings due to 

the heavy dew, but that’s typical of September.

We managed to put around 5 tonnes of sand onto the greens on Monday morning, which 

was washed in during the day (5mm fell).

This small amount of sand is enough to smooth the surfaces, but not enough to interfere 

with play. 

I hope to continue this little & often approach right into the winter (weather depending).

Can I remind players to repair their pitchmarks on the greens, as at this time of years the 

surfaces can soften and recovery from the damage is slow.

The start of the week was dominated by a round of essential bunker maintenance. This 

consists of flymowing faces, trimming edges, weeding, moving sand around to manage 

depth, blowing and final raking. 

Its a labour intensive job that can take 3-4 staff up to 3 days to complete. Usually, we finish 

this work and a deluge arrives to undo all the good work. Fingers crossed etc.

The course is still receiving a lot of cutting due to the mild weather. It is also the time we 

keep our eyes peeled for any signs of disease on the greens. Any significant scarring now 

will take a while to recover. 

With this in mind, I will spray a nutrient & trace element cocktail early next week, followed by 

an application of Compost Tea. This should help the turf build up its natural defence 

mechanism and hopefully reduce the need for costly chemical applications.

One treatment we have applied this week is a worm suppressant & Iron mix. Earthworms are 

essential to the soil eco-system, but their casts smear the surface, introduce weeds and 

create bumpy surfaces. The tees, winter tees, approaches & temporary green sites have 

been sprayed to reduce their impact.

The course has received a full divot this week.

We plan to carry out some essential drainage work on the 5th hole next week and also start the 

construction of a winter tee on the 8th hole. Please be patient while this work is completed.

Enjoy your games.

Mark & the greens team.

Friday Update.

Hi All,

Another busy week on the course.

We have tried to carry out more thinning of the rough this week, but due to the wet conditions (dew & rain) it has not been possible. The turf has to be really dry for the Amazone to pick the debris up. You can cut it, but it just lies on the surface in clumps. We will try again next week.

The application of top-dressing was postponed on Monday and will now be applied next week. We will again be out with the Air2G2 aerator treating 6 or 7 greens. This has been a regular Monday task throughout this season.

At the moment we are trialling Fairway mowers as ours is coming to the end of its 6th season. We have tried the John Deere and this week the latest machine from Jacobsen. Cutting technology really does advance quickly. 

Due to the good weather, we are still cutting the course as if it was high summer as the grass is still growing strongly.

Tee banks have been cut this week and next week we have another round of bunker maintenance. 

Have a great weekend.

Mark & the Greens team.

Friday Update

A settled week weather wise has allowed us to get stuck into a few outstanding jobs this week.

The greens were sprayed with a nutrient cocktail on Tuesday to continue growth and help keep any disease at bay. The grass cover is excellent following the recent renovation work. The new bent grass seedlings are blending nicely into the putting surfaces.

The dry conditions have allowed us to stone pick in many of the bunkers. I know this is not a permanent solution, but still worthwhile. 

The thick mown rough throughout the course has been scarified heavily using our tractor mounted Amazone unit. This rips out the thick growth and collects it. This process should (over time and repeated operations) reduce the thickness of the grass. The removal of the grass reduces the available nitrogen in the soil from the clippings, following weekly cutting.

We have also managed to spray more areas of Himalayan Balsam throughout the course. This virulent weed will  quickly take over if left unchecked.

A light top-dressing is planned next week to help maintain smooth surfaces.

Have a great weekend.

Mark & the Greens team.

Weekly update.

Hi All. As you can imagine, it's been a busy week. Monday's task was to restore the bunkers following the weekends deluge. FYI it took 25 man hours to get them somewhere near playable. It usually takes 3 rounds of raking to get them fully sorted.  Paths are another huge labour issue. At present I am looking into more cost effective ways of maintaining some of the paths. The rest of the week has been cut, cut and tidy. The greens have continued to improve following the recent renovation work. The germination of the new bent grass seedlings are clearly visible on every green.  The greens have been ironed twice this week and will be smoothed further over the weekend.  The height of cut has been reduced gradually to 3.5mm to improve their pace. So fingers crossed weather wise, everything is ready for Captains weekend.  The Captain and I selected the pin positions on Tuesday, a beautiful morning, with all of Hopwood's wildlife in attendance. Sadly, some of the pin positions will have to be tweaked slightly over the weekend due to unrepaired pitch marks.  A sheet will be given to competitors before their round commences. Good luck to everyone who qualified.  Mark & the greens team.  Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

Anthracnose on the greens.

Following the recent outbreak of Anthracnose on some of the greens, I thought his may be of interest.

Copy and paste the link below.

http://weather.headlandamenity.com/category/mark-hunts-weatherblog/

Mark Hunt;s weather blog is widely read by many course managers.

New members of the Greenstaff.

Following the departures of Aaron and Tom, the club have been looking for replacement staff to join the greens team at Hopwood.

Our first new team member is Gareth Callaghan. 
Gareth has worked at Didsbury, Chorlton and The Mere. He has been in the greenkeeping/turf industry for over 8 years.

Our next new member of staff is Arran Leach.

Arran has worked at Greenmount GC since he left school 7 years ago. He is a keen golfer with a 12 handicap.

It has been the clubs policy for a number of years to employ casual greenstaff on the course in the summer months. We have decided this year to employ a Greenkeeping Apprentice, to help introduce a newcomer to the turf industry.

Sam Greenhalgh applied and started with us after Easter. Some of you may recognize him as he is also a member of the club and a regular in club competitions.

We welcome all the new lads to Hopwood and hope they enjoy their time here. Please say hello when you see them out on the course.