Now that storm Emma has just about passed through the country its time to look at how it has effected us at Malton and Norton Golf Club. There's no doubt the whole country has been effected in some way, the coldest start to March we have seen for some time, and certainly the highest snow accumulations for a number of years.
The 'Beast from the East' started on Monday night with light snow cover, initially around 20mm, however through Tuesday and Wednesday the snow fell thick and fast. Accumulating up to 150mm in places. This obviously has closed the course and with temperatures remaining low, the prospect of opening in the following days was not looking good. Along with the bitterly cold temperatures, due to air originating from Siberia, came very strong easterly winds. Gusting up to 40 mph, and averaging around 20-25 mph for a duration of more than 48 hours, this hasn't caused any real damage, but has drifted the snow fall into irregular depths, for example the entrance lane was covered in up to 400mm in places.
The team worked wonders on Thursday to clear and salt most of the car park and entrance lane to make the clubhouse and shop accessible, where they have hosted a few fun events to give golfers there daily fix of coffee and golf. On the course work is obviously limited, however this doesn't stop the staff getting on with machinery servicing, repairs and painting/staining course furniture. A lot of unseen work that keeps the course going takes time and weather like this is ideal moment to get on with it.
So what does this week have in prospect for us? It looks like the temperatures are going to rise and the winds ease, which will start to melt the snow. Unfortunately with the volume we have had that snow will turn to water and I would think we will have localised flooding and a very wet course. There will also be a high likelihood the River Derwent will rise quickly when the melt starts. This may well effect the holes (21-24) in the low lying area. There will also be a lot of debris blown from trees that will need clearing, this will all take time, so I don't expect the course to be instantly playable once we can see the turf once more. As usual the course information line will be updated daily, so please ring before making your journey, the information line will be updated at 7 at the latest from 1st March.
So lets rewind to before storm Emma arrived. Work on the course was continuing nicely, we managed to turf the areas at 13th tee and 7th tee where the hedges were removed, unfortunately we ran out of time to finish the 7th area so we will continue with that once we can access the tee once more.
We have been aerating the greens again using the air2G2 machine, this has been a vital piece of equipment to keep the greens aerated this winter. We would not be able to go onto the greens with the tractor regularly due the conditions. The Air2G2 is a lightweight machine that we can get onto the greens, and creates very little disturbance. We managed to get over half of the greens done before the snow came. We still have the machine so we are hopeful to complete the greens this week.
We started spraying the fairways with a penetrant wetter and iron, again only 7 fairways were completed. All greens were sprayed with a penetrant wetter, iron, calcium and potassium to help strengthen them for the upcoming bad weather.
Tree work has continued, pruning of low branches to ensure we can maintain the course during the summer. Tree work has been minimal over the last few years as we have had other projects to work on. That has given real problems for the staff trying to maintain areas around trees, the machinery we use is big and getting bigger, once the branches are loaded with leaves they get very low, making it dangerous for access. Woodland management is all part of maintaining a parkland course, without maintenance there would be a lot of issues, not only with safety of staff, but turf quality, efficiency and playability. More detail of the overall woodland management plan is in the course strategic plan available online for members. I would just like clarify some of the comments that have been mentioned to me during this winter regarding trees.
Trees and drainage/flooding - many members are concerned that some of the trees we have lost/removed have resulted in the course being flooded more. This is simply not the case, trees do use moisture in the soil, however most of the moisture they require is during summer, or when the leaves are on the tree and the temperatures are warmer. During winter they do require minimal water to stay healthy, however the issue with the amount of water on the course has very little to do with tree work that has been carried out. As mentioned in other posts its simply due to the amount of rain that has fallen over the past 6 months and the fact that the climate is changing, something that is out of our control. Some trees will use more water than others, for example willow, poplar and leylandii are very thirsty trees, unfortunately this aggressive water hunting nature is bad news for golf course drainage systems and the need to manage fine turf. Any trees, especially the ones mentioned, will block drains and create root systems on nearby greens and tees where irrigation is applied. So we have to take a balanced and objective approach when considering tree management.
