Recent cold and wet weather, last week we had average temp. of just 6 degrees with rainfall of 37mm, has meant growth is not what we would want or expect for this time of year. With that being the case we have tried to level the green surfaces with some light top dressings until the growth evens out, this will also help to protect the crown of the plant from the cold winds.
As soon as better temps. are forecast our first summer fertilizer will be applied and the summer solid tining programme will also commence. Once steadier growth is acheived we will then start grooming and refining the sward, if this is started before we have good growth, the sward would become thinner.
Here’s hoping the long range forecast of a cold May does not come true!
Recent work to the golf course:
Greens
- Top dressed with a light sand dressing
- Fertilized with a granule with added biostimulants and amino acids
- Wetting agent and seaweed program started
- Brushing and rolling of the turf has taken place
Tees and Aprons
- Fertilized with a spring start granule
- Tees heavily top dressed and brushed
- Aprons lightly top dressed
Fairways
- Scarifyed and debris blown off and collected
- Lightly fertilized with a granule
General
- Winter walk ways and greens verti drained
- Paths edged and topped up
- Bunkers edged and sand added as necessary
This weeks main work is the scarification of semi rough, the main reasons for this being carried out are highlighted below.
- Stimulate fresh growth
- Aerate and loosen thatch
- Tear out moss
- Lift matted grass
The last reason is why we scarify in the same direction, from green to tee, against the run of play. This lifts up the grass that has been matted down over the winter months by the flow of traffic.
The process is as follows,
Scarifying rake lifts grass
Debris is blown into rows
Finally picked up and dumped
At the moment we are applying rubber crumb to walk ways, end of paths and any other heavily trafficked areas. The reason for applying the crumb to these areas is quite simple, it is impossible to compact rubber!
We first core the area, clean off the cores, then apply the rubber crumb and finally brush the crumb in.
The benefits are as follows:
- Crumb that remains on the surface helps reduce damage to the crown (growing point) of the plant
- Improves drainage
- Encourages stronger and more active root growth as it improves aeration within the rootzone by resisting compaction
The main 18 hole greens will be verti drained with 8mm tines to a depth of 150mm with no heave. The reason for this is to punch holes through any consolidation that has built up over the winter, allowing good drainage and keeping plenty of air in the soil structure. The drier we can keep the rootzone the quicker the ground will heat up as spring arrives.
I don’t forsee the 8mm tine, with no heave, causing any significant surface disruption and we will run the turf iron over straight after.
Hollow tining of the West Water greens has taken place. This is essential to the continuing improvement of these greens.
We have to physically remove a black anaerobic layer that is present. As this is caused by a lack of oxygen in the rootzone these holes will also allow air down to this layer. The holes will then be filled with a courser grade of rootzone material again aiding more oxygen movement to the black layer.
Above is a plug of a West Water green, note the black layer and fresh coarse sand from a previous core hole
The plug was left out overnight, note how the black layer is not so prominent after the oxygen in the air started to break it down
This week we have seen some nice mild weather with a top temperature of 14.9 c. This has allowed us to do some work on the greens, they were cut on Tuesday and followed up with a light top dressing with sand. Throughout the spring we will continue to apply light dressings when weather is favourable, to keep greens firm and to try and level out any surface imperfections that have occurred from aeration,pitch marks or winter damage. We then sprayed the greens on Thursday with a liquid organic feed, which consists of processed manure, seaweed, iron, trace elements and amino acids to aid recovery of the plant from the winter.
We have a stump grinder in on hire this week to grind down the stumps that were left after wind blow and general thinning. Once ground down we will then add soil and then either turf or seed, preferably turf where the stump has been in an area that is in play.
Stump grinder in action below,
The re-cladding of the storage sheds is done. The only thing left to finish the job is to stain the wood and paint the roofs, this will be done in due course.
Before
After
Due to the excessive wear this winter from the 18th green to the shoe cleaner, I have roped off this walk-off completely. As a result of this all golfers are being asked to leave the 18th green by the right hand side and walk through the car park.
Whilst I realise this is not the most convenient route, the wear that the existing walk-off is showing is not acceptable. If we do not try and alleviate the volume of traffic over this area at the moment, then by the spring time the level of damage sustained might be too much for the area to recover, as it is constantly under pressure from traffic. With this being in full view of the clubhouse this would definitely not be desirable, nor would it be anywhere else on the golf course and indeed we have had to rope an extra area at the 5th green for the same reason.
We will install extra drainage and aerate this area to try and aid recovery.
Your cooperation is very much appreciated.
Graham Mackie
We have thinned between the 2nd and 3rd on the West Water to enable us to plant some broadleaf trees and allow morning sunlight to hit the 3rd green/4th tee.
Views of the 2nd and 3rd holes as the golfers would play them. Still enough trees to make the holes feel tree lined and hence play the same way.
Above a view of the 3rd green flooded with morning sunlight. Note how the trees have been thinned on the angle so allowing the sunlight through, but when you play the hole the gap is not visible.
Sunlight is vital to encourage the ground to warm up quickly and therefor get the grass plant growing especially in the cool spring mornings.
Below a look at the 7th green and you can see how much shade is cast by the stands of pine and spruce trees around the golf course, this photo was taken immediately after the photo of the 3rd green.
Now that the new turf on the bunkers has had time to settle and begin to root, we can now shape the base and fill with sand
Digging out the base.
Compacting the base with a vibrating plate
Filled with sand and compacted.
The finished bunker!
