Weekend Update

Why are these updates dominated by weather info you may ask? 

I really wish they weren't too, but the weather impacts so much on everything we do and is the controlling factor regarding play on the course.

As you will all be aware, we are in a prolonged spell of record breaking rainfall. Since this spell started around the  5th November, we have had a total of 484mm of the wet stuff! That's a total of 4.8 million litres on the greens alone in 9 weeks!

Its remarkable that up to today (8th Jan) we have only been closed for 5 days.

The conditions have deteriorated over the last week to such an extent that we are no longer able to move around the course without creating damage. Despite wide tyres, 4 wheel drive and keeping to the deep rough.

The greens have held up surprisingly well, only softening during the last 2 weeks. With this in mind, I did manage to apply a liquid micro-nutrient package to them on Monday, which included a product called Roca-stem, which aids water movement thru the soil profile. The tractor did create some wheel marks, which were removed with a quick micro-tine. The surfaces have firmed up very nicely since, but the greens remain saturated.

We also managed to install an interceptor drain between the 5th green and L/H bunker. This should reduce the washout of sand in this bunker. We have also carried out some small drainage work on the L/H side of the 5th green & 15th fairway. Please avoid these areas until they dry out.

As you can imagine, controlling and minimising traffic around the course is vital when conditions are this poor. With this in mind, we have renewed the white lines in front of the greens and put some ropes out to protect vulnerable areas.

If you are in a position to carry your clubs when playing, please do. It really does reduce damage.

Winter wheels are another option, as  this stops electric trolley wheels spinning and smearing the surface.

If you must use your heavy electric trolley, try to reduce its weight and keep away from any obvious wet or muddy areas.

All the above measures will reduce damage and help us keep the course open as much as possible. Your co-operation is greatly appreciated.

Fingers crossed for a change in the weather soon & Happy New Year.

Mark & the Greens team.

Weekend Update.

Following the storms over the weekend, the course was drying out nicely. Todays rain has set things back a bit, but fingers crossed, we should get things tidied up for the weekend.

We have continued to aerate the greens with the Air2G2 as well as moving forward with the fairway and semi aeration. The fairway work will carry on right up to the Christmas break and then start again in the New Year. The winter greens have had a light top-dressing and next week will have some lawn sand applied to help control any moss.

The tree and shrub removal programme continues, with a Silver Birch on the R/H side of the 2nd removed and others pruned. The tree work along the 15th track is now complete and we have tidied things up. The area in front of the 1st tee has had brash & logs removed.

The track to the 15th has also been scraped to remove mud and level the surface. It is planned to carry out more work to the surface when time and money allows.

Work has started on clearing the ditch on the L/H side of the 15th hole. This drain carries a lot of the water from the fairway and has become clogged with branches and silt. This will continue into next week.

Its also been a week of essential machinery servicing. With much used items getting a tune up.

Lets hope the winter league can run smoothly this weekend.

Mark & the Greens team.

Weekend update

Well there was me thinking the weather couldn't get any worse. November left with a deluge, totalling 231.1mm, the 2nd wettest month in 13 years. FYI, August 2004 (Paul Rocca, Capt.) put down 254.2mm!

The course didn't really stand up to it, with rivers of debris being washed over many parts of the course. The greens were the driest areas of the course and were quickly back in play. I put this down to well timed aeration, The use of the Air2G2 machine and some magic potions we apply to the turf.

Our winter work programme has been finalised and we are currently working through the list of projects. This work will of course be weather dependant, but at the moment we are removing selected trees & shrubs, aerating the fairways and completing some small drainage jobs. When the conditions improve we intend to carry out renovation work on some bunkers, re-profile the 5th carry and complete some drainage improvements.

Our winter course protection measures came into force on the 1/12/15, with fairway mats now compulsory in selected areas. Some ropes have been placed in sensitive areas to control traffic, but it is hoped to minimise their use thru the winter. With this in mind, can I remind golfers to keep behind the white lines as this will reduce wear & tear around our short cut playing surfaces.

As mentioned last week, pitch marks are slow to recover at this time of year and do cause bumpy putting surfaces. Please be aware of this when playing the course.

Have a good weekend.

Mark & the Greens team.

A truly horrible week weather wise, but despite this, we've managed to complete a few outstanding tasks.

The track down to the 15th is now clear and the toilet truck made it there & back safely. There is still some work to do on the surface of the track, but this will be carried out when some suitable material is available.

We had to rest the Air2G2 this week as the ground conditions were either frozen or saturated. But we did manage to start deep timing the greens on Wednesday using 350mm x 12mm tines. We have kept the spacings close together to give an even lift to the surfaces. This will be followed by a hand cut & iron tomorrow (Friday).

I also applied a liquid micro nutrient spray prior to the tining. This also included some Roca-stem which we use to maintain firm surfaces.

The winter greens have received a cut and light top-dressing. They are starting to show some worm activity, so we will apply some iron and suppressant next week.

We have carried on with leaf collection, but are hoping that we are coming to the end of this laborious task following the sharp frosts.

The area between the 6th green and 7th tee has seen a manhole installed. This area has heavy soil and the drains work well, but puddles are still slow to disappear. The manhole should speed things up.

Next week, we hope to carry out some drainage work around the 5th green. The L/H side bunker has had washing issues for a number of years and it is hoped to intercept this ground water. 

Robert Laycock has been back to assess the species population of the greens. The feeling is that the finer grasses are increasing, but his report will hopefully confirm this.

Fingers crossed for settled weather for the weekend.

Mark & the Greens team.

Weekend update

Well where do I start?
The Autumn/Winter has really kicked in.  14 consecutive days rain is really starting to takes its toll on the course. Moving around is becoming an issue and we are now walking hand mowers round the course to get access to the greens. The greens triple, despite having 3 wheel drive is unable to move around the course safely.

Despite the conditions, we managed to get the greens micro-tined on Monday & Tuesday, followed by a cut. The Air2G2 was again out at the start of the week, completing 7 greens.
The greens really are looking good, with little sign of any disease. The preventative measures we have used this Autumn have worked well.
One thing that is evident on the greens are the large amount of unrepaired pitchmarks. At this time of year when the surfaces soften it is even more important to make sure you fix any mark made on the green. Recovery from these marks is slow at this time of year.
Robert Laycock (the clubs agronomist), visited on Monday as was very pleased with the surfaces and grass cover. He did suggest some adjustments to our aeration programme, which he will detail in his report.

We have continued to clear the track down to the 15th tee's. This has turned into a major task, but at least it keeps us busy during the difficult weather conditions.

Next week, we hope to carry out more aeration throughout the course. There is still some drainage work outstanding and some exploratory work around the 5th green. As usual, all these tasks are weather dependant.

Fingers crossed for a change in the weather.

Mark & the Greens team.

Weekend update.

Another busy week which was punctuated by quite a bit of rain.

We applied some granular fertiliser to the greens on Monday which should be the last major nutrient this year. We used an organic based low Nitrogen product with Calcium which is designed to help the break-up of thatch.

On Tuesday the greens were sprayed with trace elements inc a Copper solution. This will help hold back any outbreak of Fusarium. It has been a difficult Autumn for turf managers in this respect. The mild weather has encouraged many outbreaks and some clubs have suffered dramatic turf loss.

On Tuesday we also started installing additional pipe drainage on the 9th green. Around 60 metres of 80mm perforated pipe was placed in 225mm wide trenches. The work was completed on Thursday. The green will probably be out of play for a few weeks. The 12th green (which was drained in October) is now back in play.

An ongoing job for the last 2 weeks has been to widen access to the waterworks & 15th tee. This involves removing overhanging trees and scrub and tidying the verge. This work will continue over the coming weeks.

Leaf blowing and collection is now in full swing and will continue until the last of them have fallen.

Tasks planned for next week include micro-tining the greens,  installation of a new Tee mat on the 6th hole and some more minor drainage work near the 6th green.

Have a good weekend.

Mark & the Greens team.

Weekend update

Despite a wet Wednesday, its been another good week. The course stood up really well to over 10mm of rain. 

Lots of small but time consuming tasks completed this week.

The range tee is now closed and received a good cut and heavy divot to aid recovery thru the winter. Brian has bought some new mats, so play can continue.

The greens were micro-tined on Monday, the 1st time since early September. This was followed with a cut and iron to restore the surfaces. The Air2G2 was again in use as well to breath life into the greens, The drainage work on the 12th was treated to a top-dressing. The turf is already rooting, so the green will be rested this weekend to help the roots establish.

It was a busy week golf wise, which meant continued set up work to fit in as well.

We have a side-arm flail tractor on hire as well this week. United Utilities are paying for it, so we are tidying the verges and routes thru to the waterworks. This will also involve some treework next week on the track to the 15th tee.

The seed on the 8th tee has germinated well and was top-dressed with sand.

We also placed some stone on the newly formed winter tee on the 6th hole. This was compacted and levelled. more work will be carried out next week.

Fingers crossed for the weekend weather.

Mark & the Greens team.