Weekend Update.

Well what a fantastic spell of weather, much better than the week I had in Italy!! But on my return (Wednesday) the predicted thunder storms arrived and devastated the course. At its peak, rain was falling at an hourly rate of 138.8mm/hr!!

The course apart from the paths and bunkers stood up to it amazingly well, with hardly any standing water 4 hours after the rain. 

Aside from the storm, the course has come on very well. The greens have still suffered from the seasonal seeding of the meadow grass, but hopefully, this will soon be less of a problem. To further combat this the height of cut has been reduced to help remove the uneven growth.

Extra areas of rough have been cut back to speed up play and lots of other areas have been tidied. 

There are still some outstanding jobs, but due to running 2 staff light at the moment, it may take some time to fully catch up. 

Next week will see us preparing for the Hulbert Trophy, with a light scarification and top-dressing to fine tune the surfaces. 

Fingers crossed for a quiet weather weekend.

Mark & the Greens team.

Weekend update.

Bit of a mixed bag weather wise this week, but it's not stopped us completing our planned works.
Monday saw us giving the greens a light verti-cut, followed by another light sand dressing. After this was brushed in, the surfaces looked significantly smoother, despite the seeding of the meadow grass. Due to a damp Tuesday morning, we ran the iron over the greens, as the cutters were picking up too much sand in the dew.
On Wednesday, they were cut and then given a light application of soil amendment (Calcium, magnesium & manganese). These trace elements are a vital part of the soil profile and keep the rootzone in balance.
The bunkers have had another round of fly-mowing and edging. The sand has also been moved around following the heavy rain over the weekend.
Building up to this weekend, it's mainly cutting to prepare everywhere for a busy Bank Holiday.
The next few weeks will be spent tidying and trying to catch up with some unfinished jobs. This has been made harder by the fact we are 2 greenstaff down at the moment, due to people moving on to pastures new.

Have a great weekend.

Mark & the Greens team.

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.