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.