Weekend Update.

Make hay while the sun shines the saying goes. Well the sun has put in a few appearances, but we've certainly been making hay. The scarifying of the deep rough on the 2nd, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 14th & 17th holes has produced some large mounds of debris, which we've tried to hide around the course. The idea is to thin out these areas so balls can be found and play is not slowed up.
The greens have received another light application of nitrogen, just to tickle things along. Liquid seaweed & iron were also applied to give more colour. The meadow grass on the greens is still behind the bent grass, which is noticable by its pale colour. The newly germinated Velvet bent grass is clearly visible on every green. This will blend into the surfaces over the next few weeks.
The course is now being cut constantly, but growth is still slow following some early morning frosts.
Next week we plan another light verti-cut & top-dress on the greens (Monday am), we also plan to start spraying any weeds across the playing surfaces. The bunkers will also get another round of cutting & tidying.

Have a great weekend.

Mark & the Greens team.

Weekend Update

A great week on the course with the fine weather making up for our reduced staff numbers.
The scarifying of the fairways and semi-rough was completed and it has really tidied these areas up. We then scarified the tees and gave them a light soil dressing as well as a divot. Again, this has really improved the surfaces.
The greens were lightly scarified on Monday which fined the turf up and again we followed this with a dressing of sand.
The irrigation system is now in use, but still has a few issues to iron out which we will work thru next week.
It was also Bunker faces and tee bank maintenance week, so both these areas have been cut  tidied.
The dry weather is having a negative effect on the newly turfed bunker faces, so some hand watering will be taking place.
Next week we will be spraying the greens with a liquid nutrient to keep them moving forward. Spraying has proved difficult of late with the high winds.
All being well, preferred lies will cease for next weekend. So Spring may well have finally sprung.
Have a great weekend.

Mark & the Greens team.

Weekend Update

What a difference a week makes!

We've taken advantage of the conditions to get stuck in to some outstanding jobs on the course.
We have finally started the scarification of the fairways & approaches, which is a slow job but entirely weather dependant. All the outstanding aeration work on the fairways & tees has been completed and all areas have been divotted.
The full course has received a cut (1st time for some areas) and is starting to show some colour and growth. There are signs that germination on the greens is underway and I expect by the weekend the lines will be plainly visible.
The greens received some liquid nutrient on Monday in anticipation of the good weather and the turf has absorbed it well, promoting a nice flush of growth. Height of cut on the greens & approaches will come down slightly for the weekend, which will help the putting surfaces. The repair of pitchmarks would help the surfaces further, so please make sure you repair yours.
I plan to lightly scarify the greens early next week and follow that with a light dressing, again to move the surfaces forward. We will also continue with the fairway work.
The removal of the winter traffic control lines has allowed trollies much closer to the putting surfaces. Can I ask that you don't take your trollies between the greens and bunkers, as these areas will quick show wear and start to thin out.
Enjoy the weekend.

Mark & the (shrunken) Greens team.

Weekend Update.

We certainly are being tested at the moment, so much so, that golfs governing bodies have announced the extension of preferred lies until the end of May. I've never known that to happen before, so something strange is definatley going on.

We managed to get another dressing on the greens on Monday, which was washed in nicely. No sign of any growth though. Last year we saw evidence of germination within 9 days, this year, no sign and it's 19 days since the seeding took place. Everything is in place for when mother nature starts to play ball.

The tidying up jobs carry on, with many areas strimmed and edged. The big task this week has been to sort out the area around the 1st tee. A single Oak was cut down and its stump removed to make way for a new path to gain access to the ladies tee. The path may be a temporary one, as there are some plans to alter this area later in the year, which are yet to be finalised.
The shrubs and Rhodedendron bushes near the course info board have been removed to open the area up and give people an unrestricted view of the 1st hole. A great improvement I think.

The unexpectadley heavy snow fall on Thursday night/Friday morning has limited prep work for the bank holiday weekend. So I'm expecting a difficult morning tomorrow (Saturday).
Fingers crossed for the weekend.

Mark & the Greens team.

Weekend update.

Sunshine!!!

A very busy week all over the course with lots of tidying up following the recent wet weather. 

The drainage work on the 14th & 15th holes is settling in well with real improvements in these areas. 

The over-seeding of the greens has settled down and I managed to get a nice dressing of sand brushed into them on Thursday, it will help fill the grooves in and protect the new seedlings when they emerge.

Lots of rough areas have been cleared of debris and tree bases have been cut. The recently seeded walkway areas have been dressed with sand, fertilized and deep tined to aid their recovery.

The majority of the course received a cut this week despite some morning frosts, fingers crossed these don't continue as the frost keeps soil temperatures down and slows recovery & growth. The 5th carry has been topped up with soil & seed and there are signs of germination already.

It is planned to allow visitor buggy use from next week (weather permitting) following the recent restrictions on their use.

Next week should see more mowing, dressing and some work being carried out on the new 1st tee path for the Ladies.

Have a great weekend.

Mark & the Greens team.

Weekend Update

A really busy week, dominated by the completion of the weather delayed greens renovation work.

We managed to get 75 Kg of bent into the surfaces on Monday with the hired in vredo seeder and followed this with a dressing of sand, which was matted in. The greens were then ironed twice and cut to help restore the surfaces. I sprayed the greens as well with a cocktail of nutrients to move things along. Now we just have to wait for mother nature to do her stuff.

The rainfall since Easter has led to some drainage issues developing. The 14th & 15th fairways being badly effected. We have repaired the damaged drains and put in nearly 100m of new piped drainage to improve these areas. Drainage work in April is a rare occurance, but we have to adapt to whatever is thrown at us.

The new bunkers are now all in play, but the new turf surrounding them is still GUR to protect it over the next few weeks.
The course in general needs a lot of tidying up due to debris from the recent storms, this will be completed next week along with many other outstanding jobs.
Many areas have shown no signs of growth, so mowing has not really started in earnest. Things should look better when growth and colour start to kick in.

Have a good weekend.

Mark & the Greens team.

Weekend Update

A horrible week on the course with the Easter weekend weather playing havoc with the course. It was even closed for a few hours on Monday morning.
The introduction of Summer rules on Good Friday led to widespread traffic damage throughout the course. With this in mind, I have restored winter routes for all buggies.
The start of this short week saw us repairing damage and tidying areas ahead of the upcoming Captains Drive-in. Some bunker work is still outstanding, due to the difficulties we have had moving around the course and the proposed work to the 1st tee path will have to wait til next week also.
The fairway aeration work will be finished next week and then we can concentrate on scarifying the fairways & approaches.
The greens have softened slightly following the rain, so I managed to apply some compost tea & Roca-stem to help firm them up.
I cut the greens on Thursday morning and started counting pitchmarks. By the time I got to the 8th green I had counted over 100 unrepaired pitchmarks, so I stopped counting. Next time you play and notice some bumps, please think of the part you all have to play in maintaining our surfaces.
Copy & paste the following link for more info.    https://t.co/1I8b7LMDu5
They have been ironed to restore some smoothness.
Next week, we start some renovation work on the greens. Deep scariying, top-dressing and over-seeding will take up to 3 days. Lets hope the weather warms up to aid recovery.

Fingers crossed for a good weekend & enjoy the Captains Drive-in.

Mark & the Greens team.