Weekend Update

A difficult  week on the course, with persistent rain adding to softening ground conditions. I'm surprised how sticky the course has become in the last week, with evidence of buggy & trolley traffic damage already rearing their ugly heads. Things have been tight staff wise too, as I encourage the team to take holidays at the start and end of the playing season.

We didn't manage to scarify the rough and cut out the winter greens due to the wet weather, so I took the opportunity to spray many areas of the course with a worm control chemical. This may be the last year we are afforded this luxury, as legislation is on the horizon to restrict these products use. Like the recent ban on chemicals for Leatherjacket control, this will have a huge impact on playing conditions on the course. 

The greens were also sprayed with a nutrient cocktail to ward off any disease outbreaks. This will continue thru the next few months.

Next week, should see us catch up with a few jobs prior to the proposed renovation work starting on Monday 10th October.

May I remind players to please repair their pitchmarks while the surfaces are soft and help us retain smooth surfaces into the Autumn. 

Enjoy your golf and here's hoping that we retain the Ryder Cup!

Mark & the Greens team.

Weekend Update

Another busy week of cut,cut,cut. The main areas of the course are still growing for fun with the exception of the greens due to the use of growth regulators.

The areas of rough treated with "Rescue", will be scarified next week to remove the dead material, we will then see which areas require further work to aid their recovery. 

The Air2G2 has been out on the greens again and next week should see the remaining greens aerated. The greens will be left undisturbed until the planned renovation work (week of the 10th-14th October). This work will be extensive, but will be entirely weather dependent due to its late timing . With this in mind, the winter greens will start to be cut out next week and dressed. If the weather turns against us, the renovation work may have to wait until the Spring.

Enjoy the course over the weekend.

Mark & the Greens team.

Well that was a hell of a week!
The growth shows no signs of slowing and with it, our inability to keep up. Tuesday brought a storm I'm sure you all witnessed. The greenstaff did an amazing job on Wednesday getting the course back to some sort of order, but the bunker washout will take weeks  to truly sort out. The sand becomes contaminated and cannot be cleaned and re-distibuted in 1 or 2 rakings. The greens held up superbly, but have softened slightly, so get busy with those pitchmark tools please.
Disease pressure is very high at the moment and it's something we have to keep a close eye on. The pressure from Anthracnose has passed, but Fusarium is always just around the corner. We try to control this culturally, as this allows soil biology to continue working, unlike costly chemical control.
Thursday morning saw an invasion of cattle on the 5th hole. This happens a couple of times a year, but this time it has caused some serious damage. The holes and scrapes were up to 12 inches deep. The area will recover and has been repaired.
The areas treated with "rescue" herbicide are now showing real signs of discolouration. The rye and weed grasses have died back and the fescue is unaffected. The bent grass has been knocked back, but will recover. The plan for next year is to extend this treatment to many other thick & lush areas.
Enjoy the course.


Mark & the Greens team.

Weekend Update.

Well the grass is certainly growing now! I can't remember a spell of growth like it. Adding to this are the daily heavy dews which hamper our cutting routine. Some areas are having to be cut later in the day to prevent the accumulation of clippings.

Disease pressure is also very high at the moment. With this in mind the greens were sprayed with a nutrient cocktail to harden them against any fungal attacks. Fusarium is the main worry, but any small marks should quickly grow out.

As mentioned is a previous post, the thick areas of in play rough have been treated with a graminicide called "Rescue" to kill of the lush Rye and weed grasses. This is part of our rough management programme and takes place at this time of year to aid recovery.

The bunkers have had a full cut this week and the tee banks are being tidied but may not be finished before the weekend. 

I intend to put another light sand dressing on the greens next week as well as another round of aeration with the Air2G2 machine. This work will have little or no disruption to play.

Enjoy the course.

Mark & the Greens team. 

Following our rough management efforts over the last couple of years, it was decided by the Greens Committee to extend our efforts into other areas.
Last week, I applied a selective graminicide (a chemical which kills selected grass species) to some areas of rough throughout the course.
The plan is to kill off the lush broad leaved grasses that create difficult lies, lost balls and slow down play.  The areas which have been treated are as follows:-
R/H side of the 1st hole short of the cross bunker.
Parts of the carry on the 6th hole.
L/H side of the 6th hole.
L/H side of the 9th hole.
R/H side of the 11th hole

R/H side of the 12th hole.with an overseeder.
L/H side of the 14th hole.


These areas should see a die back and discolouration of the turf over the next week or 2.

This will be followed by a run over with a scarifier to collect the dead material and some overseeding.
Hopefully, this work will improve these areas of play.


Mark Jones, Course Manager.