16th drainage continued

Today we continued with the drain at the 16th green, firstly we put 100mm drainage pipe into the trench, and backfilled with 30 - 40mm round stone.

We then put a thin layer of 10mm pea gravel to stop washout of the rootzone, then a minimum of 150mm of rootzone.

The original turf was relaid to ensure continuity of the grass coverage once the area has recovered and is back in play, then topdressed with the rootzone.

Next week we have an excavator on hire to drain the 23rd green bank, bunker and surrounding area.

Rescue update

Its been 10 days since we sprayed some of the surrounds with Rescue and over the last 2 days the effect is starting to be noticable. The Ryegrass firstly starts going a grey colour, eventually turning straw like, what is apparent in the initial stages of the herbicide effect on the Rye and Yorkshire Fog grasses that they do not grow, giving the apperance of a smoother surface. Obviously this means the herbicide is starting to kill the target grasses. The grasses in the rest of the surrounds at Malton are Annual Meadow grass, Bent and Fescue, the AMG and Bent do go yellow before recovering after about 3- 4 weeks, the Fescues stay green.

This is the 6th surround once more as it currently looks, below is the original photo before application

The areas of Rye grass will slowly die away, larger areas will need more intense overseeding when the coarse grass is removed.

A patch of Rye in Fescue

I will update progress as the herbicide takes effect

16th drainage

Given the wet weather recently, it has highlighted a few areas which arent draining fast enough leaving wet stagnent areas causing problems to golfers and our cutting practices. We have prioritised an area right of the 16th green to drain as it is close to the green surface and it is where golfers walk around the green.

Firstly Rich and myself dug a test hole on top of an existing drain near the area  to ensure it was going to drain water away if we used it to drain the area.

We ensured the existing drain was working correctly by running the water from the wet area into the test hole

Once we were satisfied we lifted the turf and dug a drain trench through the wet area into the existing drain ensuring correct fall.

We extended the drainage trench down the side of the green to ensure the area would remain dry even in the wettest weather

Tomorrow the drain will be finished off and the turf relaid.

Today brought more heavy rain, once again closing the course. This morning all the green staff have worked through the worst of the weather to keep up with grass growth and to ensure the course is in good order for the weekend, providing the weather improves.

Rob, Alistair, Rich and Scott looking a little damp after today's efforts.

'Rescue'ing the surrounds

Today we sprayed most of the surrounds on the course with Rescue, a selective herbicide that removes Rye grass from turf. We sprayed 10 surrounds last year with amazing results. This year we have sprayed another 12 surrounds plus the ones from last year as to ensure all Ryegrass in controlled and will not grow back. 1 - 8 surrounds have always been the worst so all those have been done this time along with 11, 13, 17 and 22, obviously when the Ryegrass starts to die away there will be a number of areas which don't look there best, fortunately this is a short term problem. To aid recovery we are going to over seed all the surrounds with a bent / fescue mix to ensure the surrounds have good grass coverage in the future. Once the surrounds have  been removed of Ryegrass they will be easier to maintain and be more playable for golfers.

The 6th surround after the application of Rescue with a knapsack. I will update readers to the progress as the treatment starts effecting the Ryegrass.

Yesterday we finally managed to apply some sand topdressing to the greens. We have been delayed around 2-3 weeks due to the weather. Adam and myself applied the dressing and Will matted it in once it had dried. We applied around 750kg of sand to each green which is slightly more than we would at this time of year but we wanted to smooth out the surfaces following the wet weather. Rich Malthouse groomed the greens prior to application to remove lateral growth.

Yesterday was ideal for getting all the course cut up before the wet weather returned today. Most of the wet areas had just about dried up so we brushed and cut fairways. Brushing the fairways prior to cutting reduces grain and removes dew so we can cut as dry as possible.

We also cut greens, surrounds, tees, semi, tee sides, deck rough and clipped round sprinkler heads

Alistair and Scott in action at the 3rd tee

Today was very wet to start and the course was closed, this afternoon saw spells of sunshine with heavy thunderstorms, in between the rain we used the robin dagger on the greens where water is a constant issue.

Clubhouse plants

Today Adam and Alistair planted the clubhouse border with Geraniums and Brian planted the tubs ready for the summer, if it eventually arrives. The course is drying up well after the 34mm of rainfall that fell in an hour on Sunday afternoon. Preferred lies are in play until all areas have dried sufficiently.

Cloud burst

I thought it was wet before but I've never seen anything like this in June!!

Yesterday saw even more rain and closed the course, around 14mm of rain fell during the day on top of already damp ground conditions. After returning from the course this morning after the course inspection with Adam unfortunately the rain didn't ease up over night. Another 13mm fell from yesterday afternoon to 5.30am this morning, leaving the course very wet again and we had no option but to leave it closed. Adam and I spent the morning pushing all water off the greens to ensure they could dry out as quickly as possible for tomorrow. The forecast looks better for this afternoon and tonight so conditions should improve.

The conditions this morning at 6.00am

I'm pleased to welcome our new greenkeeper Richard Malthouse who started on Friday to replace Mark. He has had worked at Scarborough North Cliff for around 6 years before joining us. I'm sure he is going to make a great addition to the team. We have thrown him in at the deep end as cutting is non stop in these wet, warm times. The course when cut up looks fantastic, however the semi and intermediate rough is still causing players problems so we have taken the decision to lower the semi rough to 44mm opposed to 50mm and the intermediate rough to 100mm opposed to 150mm. It was the seniors open day today so we groomed and cut greens, cut tees, cut fairways, cut semi and moved holes.

 Adam and Will preparing the 5th hole

Heavy rain halted progress around lunch