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.
