Today Rob continued with the first cut of the season on the tees with the Toro 2000 mower, we start off cutting around 13mm until growth is vigorous then reduce the height slightly.

When the dew had burnt off Mark and Scott cut the greens with the JD triple greens mowers. They are set just below 5mm, with the greens recently top dressed we try to ensure the greens surface are dry when we cut and at 5mm it ensures no top dress damages the blades of the mowers. With the greens top dressed every 2-3 weeks they will run faster and smoother each time they are dressed, we do this until they reach a satisfactory level where we can reduce amounts of sand applied on each application and then the height of cut can be reduced slightly to around 3.75mm - 4mm.

The 15th

Will watered all the trees we planted this winter to ensure they have the best start possible, especially when the weather is currently so dry.

Yesterday all the recently laid turf was thoroughly watered to ensure the turf doesn't dry out and shrink during this hot spell. The renovated bunkers are looking great now they have established and are full of sand.

 15th above and below

13th

23rd green bank update

The last couple of days we have been working hard leading soil, contouring the bank and laying turf to form the new surround on the 23rd banking. The weather has been ideal for this work as the ground is very dry and firm leaving hardly any mess. We have moved over 400 tonnes of soil from the surrounding areas from the start of the project to improve this green, but hopefully when it is all finished it will be worth the effort. We have built a bunker into the bank to add a little difficulty from the tee, which we have made easier adding the banking. By the end of the week we will have the bank raked and seeded. The majority of the bank will be sown with a dwarf rye mix and the bunker turfed to aid stability during the grow in period.

Toro Propass Topdressing

Once the initial frost had lifted, conditions were ideal to apply the second dressing of the season. We apply a straight sand dressing with the Toro Propass pulled behind a Kubota 2110 tractor. The sand was applied at approx 1/2 tonne per green. Now we are into the start of the golfing season we apply topdressing light and often to promote a dry, smooth surface. Here's Adam on the 11th green.

Mark took the high lift trailer around to fill the top dresser out on the course which saves a lot of time, topdressing 30 greens can be completed in around 4 hours. Once the topdressing has had time to dry on the greens Scott followed on behind with the drag mat, working the sand into the sward. The greens are heavily irrigated during the night to further work the sand right down into the sward.

The 19th green

23rd green improvements

Today we continued to build up the banking to the right of the 23rd green. We started this project at the end of last year but unfortunately the weather took a turn for the worse meaning ground conditions were too wet to finish. The weather forecast this week is for hot dry conditions which is unheard of in March. Hopefully we will have the area ready for seeding towards the end of the week.

When we get the initial shaping done a bunker is to be built into the bank side

Bunker sand checking

Today we have been putting the second 29 tonne load of bunker sand in the bunkers. We have filled all the renovated bunkers and the majority are back in play. The 5th green side, the front 13th and the right 15th green side bunkers are the only ones now that are still GUR. These were turfed last and are still a little way off been brought back into play. We are continuing to water the renovated bunkers due the extreme dry weather.

Next week will be the final 29 tonne load of bunker sand, we will put this into the bunkers that need it the most, however we should have enough to ensure all bunkers are checked and topped up.

On Monday the tees will be back to summer grass tees across the course. Given the recent warm dry weather the summer tees have come on well,with dense grass cover. Although many members will be wondering why cant they play from them more, it is very important given the amount of play at Malton and Norton Golf Club, that the summer tees are healthy, actively growing and soil temperatures are high enough to ensure divot repairs germinate successfully before they are used on a daily basis. Although the summer tees will be in use the white tees will still be for competition use only until the 1st April.

Blog reaches 1000 hits!

The blog was launched mid December and has now reached over 1000 hits, thank you very much to all who take an interest in what we do at Malton and Norton Golf Club.

Job Vacancy

Mark is leaving our team at the end of May, after over 20 years of dedicated service to the club, to pursue other interests, so a vacancy for a Greenkeeper has arisen. This advert has been placed in a number of local papers.

Malton and Norton Golf Club

Require a

GREENKEEPER

Malton and Norton Golf Club is a 27 hole, parkland golf course with 12 bay driving range and dedicated short game practice area with a strong membership and many repeat visitors year on year.

 An opportunity has arisen for an experienced greenkeeper to fit seamlessly into our existing well established team of 7.

Qualified to a minimum level of NVQ Level 2 or equivalent you should ideally be based locally and proficient in the use of all green keeping machinery and equipment.  You are hardworking and need to be strongly committed to helping maintain the golf course to the highest possible standards at all times.

In return we offer a competitive rate of pay, pension scheme and staff membership.

Interested?

Please forward C.V. in the first instance to

Mr Nick Redman

Managing Secretary

Malton and Norton Golf Club

Welham Park

Norton

Malton

North Yorkshire

YO17 9QE

Closing Date for Applications 15^th April 2012

Today we continued with tree pruning, we only have a couple of holes to finish, the trees are near budding out so it is good that we have nearly finished our extensive efforts to check nearly every tree on the course.

We also marked out the car park, we have to spray paint the lines 2 - 3 times a year. First they are brushed off, then relined using an aerosol.

We cut the greens this afternoon when they were completely dry, as we did not want to pick up sand from topdressing last week. With the warm weather they are improving day by day.

The 6th green

We cut tees, unfortunately our tees mower has an electrical fault which needs attention, so we cut tees with a tee side mower set at tees height. Before they were cut they were brushed with a tractor mounted green tek brush to stand up the grass and remove any worm casts.

Scott on the 8th tee

This week we have been filling the new and renovated bunkers with sand, another 29 tonnes is due next week and a further 29 tonnes the week after. This should be enough to fill all the bunkers old and new. Most of the renovated bunkers will be brought back into play. The greens were top dressed lightly Monday, drag matted in and cut today. They will be lightly top dressed several times at the start of the season until 'normal' growth starts. Hedges are continued to be cut, we should be finished doing these by the end of the week. The surrounds, tee sides, semi round greens and fairways have been cut. Tomorrow new flags, cups and flag sticks will be put out for the season. In a couple of weeks the course will revert back to 'summer' set up, with markers going back on tees, and summer furniture going back out, bringing in hoops and ropes.

Spring renovations and irrigation tests

This week we continued with some essential spring aeration work. All the greens were solid tined with 8mm tines to a depth of 200mm at 100mm x 75mm spacings. Here I am operating the weidenmann on the 18th green

Rob followed after with the vibrating rollers to smooth the surface.

This week we also continued with irrigation work, irrigation control boxes were replaced where broken and reinstalled where they had been removed to replace valves. All cycles were tested on the irrigation computer and sprinkler heads were tested on greens and tees. Here's Adam on the 14th green testing a sprinkler head for operation, rotation, spray quality and coverage.

With the weather being a little warmer and with the heather 'in flower' the clubhouse borders are looking fantastic thanks to Brian Dunning the clubhouse handyman/gardener.

Tree work

Today we had a stump grinder on hire to remove all the tree stumps we had left from our winter work.
It is a remote controlled self propelled machine which works quickly through any size stump. Al and Adam worked the stump grinder and Mark and Rob followed behind tidying and turfing. Here it is in action on the 10th

Mark also finished fertilising the rest of 1-9 tees

Scott started blowing off 1-9 fairways with the tractor mounted blower, in preparation for cutting, spraying with iron and fertilisation later in the week.

Will continued with hand cutting hedges at the 7th whilst 1-9 holes are closed for the week.

And I cleared some of the pines surrounding the men's white tee at the 15th to allow more light and air to the turf which was showing signs of stress due to shade. Other tree work continued in front of the stump grinder

This week the weather has been excellent for the time of the year, since finishing off the turfing job in front of the 5th green we have concentrated efforts on tidying 10 - 27 holes. Mark rejoined the team after his 3 month winter break and was thrown right into the the thick of it with fairway and tee maintenance. We blew all fairways and tees off, cut fairways and cut tee tops at a increased height until growth really starts. Following cutting the fairways, they were sprayed with sulphate of iron by Scott, and 5-6 month sierra blen 28-5-5 applied to all areas in need of extra growth this year by Mark and Rob. They also treated the tees with a 4-0-8 spring fertiliser. The irrigation system was finished off and opened up by Full Circle Irrigation, Adam and Alistair have been moving some of the tee sprinklers where they were incorrectly positioned. I have cut surrounds and greens, making subtle changes where I thought appropriate. Will has continued hand cutting hedges and is making great progress with the end in sight. Next week a stump grinder is coming to tidy up all stumps left from tree work throughout winter, following this areas will be filled with soil and turfed. Hopefully if the good weather continues the greens will be solid tined using 8mm tines, followed by a roll. 1-9 holes will be closed so work will continue on those fairways and tees.