Greenkeepers Report

A much overdue rainy day has enabled me to get in the office and update everyone on what has, and what will be, happening on the course. Through August and September, the grass was growing like crazy. With just the 4 of us, we struggled to do anything except for mowing. 

Firstly I’d like to thank you for your patience through this time as some things did suffer as a result. The growth has finally now slowed down, which has freed up some time for us to catch up on other jobs. The first thing was to weed and edge the bunkers which instantly improved the general tidiness of the course.

 With a couple of weddings booked in the hotel, we also had to spend a considerable amount of time tidying the gardens.  We’d barely touched them all year as we’d been concentrating on the course, so this was quite a big task to get them back to an acceptable condition. We then tidied around the clubhouse, as when arriving at the club, the first thing anyone saw was overgrown shrub beds and weeds.

 Our workman utility vehicle broke beyond repair in August. This is what we use for spraying and top dressing.  As a result, no spraying or top dressing has been done since. We are getting a replacement but at this moment in time, I’m not sure exactly when it’ll be. Hopefully soon! 

The lack of spraying has caused the greens and tees to suffer slightly and so we ordered some granular fertiliser which arrived yesterday. We applied a slow-release fertiliser to the tees and aprons yesterday which is being watered in as I’m typing this.  Prior to this, on Tuesday, we verti-cut the tees. This will help thicken the sward and aid recovery in the last couple of areas that dried out earlier in the year. 

My aim is to keep the tees growing well for as long as possible. Its inevitable that the use of winter mats will be needed, but this will only be done when, and where, its unavoidable.  During the next couple of weeks, we’ll also solid tine the tees to help keep them as healthy as possible.

Next, the greens...

On a positive note, below the surface, we have made a massive improvement to the soil structure this year.  Until September we’d carried out monthly aeration using solid tines, and followed behind with a light dressing of sand. All this was done in one day and completed ahead of golf with very little disruption. 

By keeping good air and water movement through the thatch layer, it has naturally been breaking down and releasing nutrients, the way nature intended. It hasn’t all gone, and you do actually need a certain amount of thatch, but its definitely headed in the right direction.  I’m confident that by carrying on with this approach we can keep things well balanced in the root zone for the long term health and quality of the greens. 

The plan was to have a vertidrain for this winter to do some deeper aeration. As we haven’t got one yet we’ll be slitting the greens as often as we can to aid drainage and get air as deep down as we can. This will help with deeper rooting which will provide an improved water and nutrient source.  As mentioned, the lack of spraying has caused a deterioration of the green's surface. 

Next week we’ll be applying the granular feed on the greens.  This will give them the nutrients needed to fight the current disease outbreaks we’re getting and will get them growing for the disease scarring to recover.  If needed we’ll start using contractors for the spraying until we get the new workman.

Other jobs we’ll be able to do, now the mowing has slowed down, include divotting of the tees, collars and aprons. Earlier in the year we started spraying an animal repellent on the repaired rabbit scrapes around the greens. We had some slight success with this so will be doing this regularly now we have time.  We’ve also spiked, seeded and dressed the main bare areas on greens and will be moving onto smaller areas next week. A full irrigation audit will also be carried out to see what the current situation is with fairway sprinklers, electrics, and broken irrigation boxes.  A long term plan can then be made to get the issues rectified. Whilst the ball washers are out of action we plan on restoring these back to a good condition.

And finally, thank you for all the kind words said to us out on the course. The whole team has been working incredibly hard to present the course in the best condition we can.  We take great pride in our work and the positive feedback and gratitude make it all worthwhile.

~Richard