I know this is not a problem exclusive to Hopwood, but the greenstaff do not have the time to repair pitchmarks and by the time we come across them, it's too late anyway.
Ideally, the marks should be repaired immediately, as this speeds up recovery. If more than an hour passes, the turf is as good as dead.
At this early stage of the season, we need all the help to preserve our surfaces.
This is a photo from a couple of years ago of the 8th green. Each ball is on an unrepaired mark or a scar form a pitchmark. I think it really shows the impact.
Mark I play most evenings and also notice the amount of pitchmarks on the greens. The front of holes 1/2/5/7/8/11/13/14/15 and 18 at times look like a teenagers chin. I have to stop myself repairing them at ten a green otherwise I would not get more than about four holes in before dark. It is the membership doing this as it is every day especially wednasday. When there has been work done on the greens like tining and dressing I must say it is almost impossible to find your pith mark as the surface is already terrible so hopefully as you tine less we can find more and help in the upkeep of the greens
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments Paul. From my experience it seems to be a problem with the membership. You really notice the marks on Thursday/Sunday mornings after really busy days. I don't think we are the only club, as at lot of course managers are saying the same. The pitchmarks are really noticeable early in the season when growth and recovery are slow, but it certainly doesn't help when your trying to achieve smooth surfaces. As for the tining, the use of micro tines actually helps restore surfaces and is an essential part of our summer maintenance programme.
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