August Renovation

This year was the first year we have done a major renovation in August.  Usually we have carried it out towards the end of September however results can be varied depending on weather conditions.

You are now benefiting from the August renovation which has and will extended good green conditions threw to the 2nd week in November when we begin Winter aeration on them.

The Renovation Work in August included carrying out the Following

Double Scarifying

 

 Hollow Coring to  a 7 Inch Depth

 

 

Topdressed Greens - 80 tonne was applied in 3 days before a further 20 tonne was applied after seeding took place.  100 tonne in7 days not bad!

 



 

 

Power Brush - Our New machine enabled us to get the Sand into the 7 inch deep tine holes before they started to close. We  did not get bridging of the holes like we do when we use the drag mat.  It did cause a few complaints over the first couple of days with members thinking we had not done any topdressing as it was so efficient at its job.

 

 

Seeded Greens - Double Passed with the seeder applying Velvet Bent to the surface continuing our ongoing program of reducing the poa annua % in our putting greens.



 

 

Rolled Greens - To assist in getting the greens smoother and aiding soil seed contact.

 



 

 

Fertilised the Greens - To assist with Green Recovery and to give vital nutrients to the new seedlings.



 

 

This process took less then 1 week to complete and greens had recovered with within 14 days start to finish.

 

Course In May

 

Above pic - cannot wait to remove those horrible leylandii at the back of the green next winter

 

New 1st Tee Maturing

 

14th - Preparing for the Seniors Open Rhoddies finally out in the background

 

View from Clubhouse - Hand Mown Approach and the Blossom and daffodils still out in the Middle of May, Crazy!

Results of Spring Maintenance

The following Pictures show how the Spring Overseeding program has worked.  Pictures were taken approx. 14 days after overseeding towards the end of April

Picture showing the Overseeding working across a sand band Line on the 2nd Fairway

 

The Picture shows the Bent Grass coming through a scar on a green.

 

The Picture Below shows seed coming through on the Tees after only 8 days of germination

 

 

Spring Renovation

The last 10 days has seen intensive renovation work being carried out to all areas of the golf course.  This has included the following :

The Verti Draining of all Tee's & Approaches, and the completion of all the fairways.  This has been done using 25mm x 300mm Solid Tines.  This should assist in de-compacting area's from the winters play but will also enable the topdressing that followed to get through the profile assisting by creating vertical drainage lines.

Scarifying on the fairways was also carried out once the snow had left the course, we used a 2metre wide machine that also collected the debris to leave as good a finish as possible.

While the Fairways were being Scarified we also scarified the Greens, Tees and Approaches using a Triple Machine, scarifying in two directions.  This will help to reduce any thatch build up but also help to create an improved seed bed and stronger turf.

Once the scarifying was completed we began Over seeding all area's.  This year has seen us put down seed to just about all area's of the course.  Different cultivars of seed from different manufacturers to best serve the areas its been planted.  Over 140 20kg bags have been put out over the golf course to improve turf quality.

 

 

 



The Fairways were overseeded (Picture above) using a Mix of Fescue and Rye, this year we have used a greater percentage of finer grasses on the fairways as a contrast to the use of a more wear tolerant mix last season.

 

 

Pictured above is the machine we used to overseed our Green's, Tees and Approaches, we double passed all these area's to achieve a more uniform coverage.  It will be the first year we are concentrating on an overseeding program on the greens.  This is because we now have a soil profile that should give us  success with the cultivars of bent grass we are using.

 

For the Tees we used new cultivars of Rye Grass that have a creeping form of Rye in the mix which will help aid Establishment and recovery from devoting.

 

The Approaches were overseeded using a Bent Fescue Mix and the Semi Rough has been overseeded with specific cultivars to aid wear tolerance and improve winter colour.

Once the Overseeding was completed we topdressed all the Green's Tees and Approaches with Straight sand and topdressed the fairways with a Humas Material the same as last year which will assist with growth and seed establishment.

 

Once the topdressing was dragged in using  the drag mat and new Brush all the areas have been fertilised,  The Greens, Tees and Approaches have been fertilised with a quick  release product which Is proved to release nutrient at low temperatures.  The fairways have been fertilised with a slow release product that should last around 3 months.  We have had the rain to assist and now all we are waiting for is it to warm up as soil temps are still low for the time of year. 

This has been a mammoth task over the past couple of weeks with unfavourable weather conditions and I know it has caused disruption to your golf however the efforts will be well worth it and should become visible over the next week to ten days.

Thank you





 

New Topdressing Brush

The New Topdressing Brush has arrived.  This will help to get sand into the profile much more quickly.  It will also help to fill the hollow coring holes more efficiently then the old drag mat/Coco Mat.  These will still be used however not as frequently.  The Brush will also act as a groomer and will occasionally be used to stand the grass up before cutting to reduce any graining/nap formation standing up lateral growth to allow for an improved cut.

Drainage Work Coming to an End

The drainage work carried out this Autumn & Winter is finally coming to an end.  Many area's have been tackled across the whole site.  (Well over 700 Metres) a full list of area's drained has been emailed to all members in my monthly report.  It also details what results can be expected from the hard work carried out by the team.

Major work has included the draining of the 7th Fairway/Rough, the bottom of the 4th Fairway,  right of the 9th Fairway to the 7th and across the 14th Fairway.

Many of the smaller area's tackled such as the 30 metres of drainage to the right of the 13th Green or the work behind the 3rd green have been dug out by hand.  This has been a hugely physical job for the team, working up to there necks in water and mud.

 

 

Then we have had so many old clay drains begin to pull water again due to the permanently high water table which has cause major problems were they are blocked. Again most of these repairs have involved hand digging into working plastic drainage as its just been too wet to get machinery over to the area of work.

 

We have also added a Steel Drain across the 1st Road to try and trap all the water that sheds off the 8th hole which then floods the 1st Tee Path and starters Hut.

 

 

 

The 7th has had 50 Metres of 150mm pipe installed across it to hopefully catch all the water that runs across the hole via old drainage and surface water.  The picture below shows the water flowing out of it already.

 





Verti Draining Fairways

 

The Fairway's are now dry enough to get the Verti Drain on them, (at last!). Solid Tines are penetrating the soil 10- 12 inches down using inch wide tines.  This work would have been done on regular basis throughout the autumn and winter however due to the rainfall this year it is only now that we can get on the fairways to carry out the task cleanly. 

Some of the basic reasons for Verti Draining include the break up of soil compaction from the years play, it also provides desirable conditions for healthy root growth. By breaking up the compaction, both roots and water penetrate more deeply into the soil and better absorb water and nutrients.

 

Benefits of verti draining are:

Enables the absorption of water from the surface to the drainage system below (if present), preventing run-off and surface water lying in undulations

Facilitates quick drying of turf to extend playing time

Improves and maintains good soil structure

Improves and maintains sward density giving a better playing surface and preventing the invasion of weeds and moss etc.

Improves the durability of the sward and recovery from surface damage