Easter wekend update.

Another busy week.
The construction work on the 5th is now completed. The dip has been seeded and the remaining area will be raked off and seeded early next week. The small depression on the L/H side has been dug out due to the discovery of viable land drains running into it. This should turn into a nice feature thru the year. Pond in winter, wetland during the summer.
The whole area will be G.U.R. for the start of the season. Please take a free drop on the left of the seeded area.
The fairway and semi aeration work is almost complete, with only 2 fairways to finish.
The greens recieved an application of granular fertiliser on Monday and was washed in using the irrigation system which was commisioned on the same day. We don't like using the system this early in the year as it keeps soil temperatures down. But we needed to break the granules down for them to be absorbed into the turf.
We have cut many areas of the course in preparation for the Easter weekend including some alterations to the 14th fairway. The aim is to move the fairway left to create a sharper dog-leg.
Next week we hope to install a temporary path to the Ladies 1st tee. The aim of this is to send all traffic onto the 1st tees from the R/H side, making the steep path near the starters hut redundant.
Fingers crossed for a good weekend.

Mark & the Greens team.

Weekend update

Extremely busy week on the course, especially due to some of the staff using the last of their holidays.

The cold dry weather has really dried things up, to the extent that we have had to water some of the new bunker turf. It's the northerly winds which really reduce moisture levels in the soil.
With the conditions, we've been able to move materials around the course easily. The remaining renovated bunkers have been topped up with sand. Some may still need more, but that will happen over the next few weeks.
The alterations to the 5th carry are nearing completion, with just the spreading of the top soil & seeding to finish. I'm sure you'll agree, its a great improvement to the playability of the hole without altering the character of the area.
The aeration work to the fairways will be finished next week and we will move onto some areas of semi & rough.
The greens received another dressing of sand and also 2 passes with the turf iron. They were also hand cut.

The tee blocks have been cleaned and had some fresh stone as have the steps & benches.

Next week, we will apply some granular fertiliser to the greens and maybe some water to wash it in.  The tees will see receive some aeration and a top-dressing.

Enjoy the weekend.

Mark & the Greens team.

Weekly Update

Not the best week for the greens team, the course was drying out really nicely until 2 days of rain, snow and hail. All the work we had completed on topping up and moving sand in the bunkers has been washed away. 
All the turfing is now completed on the renovated bunkers and next week should see some shape cut into many of them, depending on rooting. They will then get some new sand in them, weather permitting. Ground conditions have deteriorated and moving materials around the course is nigh on impossible at the moment.
We did manage to apply some liquid nutrients to the greens on Monday, which has coloured them up nicely. The plan is to iron them tomorrow (Friday) ready for the weekend.
We have also started the major work to re-profile the carry area on the 5th hole. This will involve some major drainage work and earth moving. The greens committee were really determined to complete this work before the start of the season. The major work will be completed next week but recovery will take a little longer.

Fingers crossed for a dry weekend.

Mark & the Greens team.

Weekend Update

A really busy and productive week on the course depite some early morning frosts.
We have dug out and shaped all the bunkers we are renovating this winter (10 in all), as we don't want to lay any turf beyond the end of February. The remaining turfing should be complete on Monday and the final shaping a few weeks after that. The edging, cutting and topping up of the other bunkers will be finished sometime next week also.
We managed to top-dress the greens over 2 afternoons and followed this up with a brushing and a pass over with the turf iron to smooth and help close over the aeration holes. We plan to apply some liquid nutrient to the greens early next week to further speed their recovery.
The fairway aeration continues and is a few weeks away from completion. When this is finished, we will move onto the tees and approaches.
If the weather holds, we plan to start some work on the 5th hole, re-profiling the carry and improving drainage. The remaining tree stumps will be dug out as well and the holes repaired.
Despite the recent poor weather, the winter league was completed last week, a minor miracle I think.

Enjoy the sunshine this weekend.

Mark & The Greens team.

Weekend Update.

A busy week despite the weather (enough said I think).

Despite our best efforts the greens surfaces have softened to the extent that using them would damage them. With this in mind and taking advantage of a dry forecast, we have put the tiner over them and banged some deep holes into them to help them dry out and firm up. There always come a time during the winter when this has to be done. The holes created go down nearly 16" and will provide drainage channels for the coming spring and summer.

We will follow this up with a quick iron early next week to restore the putting surfaces. If conditions remain dry, I also intend to start top-dressing the greens. Hopefully, following these treatments the greens will be back in play.

We have carried on with the bunker renovation work as well as edging, weeding, cutting and topping up the rest of the bunkers. The renovated bunkers have all had matting installed and have had their faces turfed. When the turf has rooted, we will trim the final shape and fill them with sand. This should take place during early March.

Several other areas have been turfed including some small drainage projects.

Enjoy your golf this weekend.

Mark & The Greens team.

Weekly update

It's getting really boring and depressing writing these updates and making constant reference to the shocking weather conditions.

Sadly, there are still people about who are sort of oblivious to how it impacts on the course and conditions. 

We are trying our best to keep the course open and in as playable a condition as possible. There are many areas on the course that are causing problems, mostly due to the nature of the soils and layout of the course. The holes from the 4th onwards suffer from heavier soil and slower drainage rates. The centre of the course in particular is very wet and slippy. This is the reason play has been restricted to the outer circle for the past few weeks. Even these holes are suffering with mud and standing water evident on heavily played areas. We have been using sand to keep the damage to a minimum, but even our 4X4 vehicles have struggled to travel around the course.

Despite these difficulties, we have still managed to continue our bunker renovation programme. 8 bunkers have been re-shaped and dug out. We have also started installing matting to prevent contamination of the sand from washouts and stones. 4 of the bunkers have now been turfed and more will be completed next week. On the subject of turf, our longstanding turf supplier has lost over 10 acres of turf following the flooding and quality turf is in short supply throughout the country.

Our programme of Fairway aeration is continuing on the drier holes and hopefully will be completed before the start of the season.

Fingers crossed for an improvement in the weather.

Mark & the Greens Team.

Weekend Update

A busy week with some real progress (at last).

The course had started to dry out nicely, with some cold weather keeping the rain at bay. The snow cleared during Monday and the course was fully open by Wednesday.

We have started our program of bunker renovation. The oldest bunkers have raised faces and the sand is badly contaminated following years of washouts. It is our aim to restore the bunkers to there original design and install a blinding carpet to prevent future issues with contamination. The steepest faces will have the "Bunker Mat" material, while the base of the bunkers will have a more economical material fitted. Some slight alterations will be completed were needed to prevent some drainage issues.

The Air2G2 is still being used weekly on the greens to aid firmness and drainage.

We have also re-surfaced the buggy path on the 5th hole as it has suffered badly during the recent floods.

Next week will see more bunker work and the laying of turf in many small areas around the course.

Fingers crossed the weather stays kind to us all.

Mark & the Greens team.