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.

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.