Over the last few days we have had a badger causing a lot of damage to a couple of the holes, we have wasted a lot of time repairing the damage that is continually getting ripped back up. They are looking for food which for them are chafer grubs and worms, which we have in plenty supply. The damage is the worst i have ever on the course, we have had damage in the past which has been repairable with little work , however this year has been far worse.

Before the next wave of wet weather comes tonight we got all the fairways cut, tees cut and we cut the greens.

We made a start to the drainage problems around the course, where we have drainage installed test pits were dug to test if the old drains were running ok, areas that can be drained into existing drains will be, other areas will be connected to ditches and ponds. Thankfully most of the old drains are running ok, the problem being when the drains were installed the original soil was returned on top of the stone, after nearly 30 years this has compacted, making penetration of water into the drains very slow, and in some areas impermeable. This winter in a lot of areas we will be removing the original soil and replacing it with root zone, which will drain much more easily.

Today we have been battling with the mass of leaves that are falling at the moment. The cold winds are blowing leaves across the course making it difficult for us to collect them, keep the course in good condition and its making play difficult due to lost golf balls. We are constantly rounding and clearing leaves however our efforts are not making an impact when the winds are strong. Next week when more leaves are down and the winds are lighter we will start to clear the course once more.

Other jobs today have been picking up the range balls, cutting 1-18 greens, cutting the surrounds, moving the holes, brushing and cutting the fairways. We usually stripe the fairways but in winter we cut them half and half to minimise turning with the machines, plus some of the stripes are difficult to see as the fairways are not cut regularly enough.

Start of the leaves

At Malton we are a parkland course so we have A LOT of deciduous trees, and it has come to that time of year when they all fall off. For the next 2-3 months leaf litter is a real problem for maintenance of the course and for golfers trying to locate their balls. We routinely blow leaves from greens and tees to ensure they are clear each morning. Other areas are cleared with the back pack blower and also the tractor mounted blower which can clear larger areas of leaves. The leaves are falling fast so areas need to be cleared daily, the leaves are rounded into piles and then sucked up using our 'in house designed' leaf collection unit. The leaves are then composted, which make excellent compost in 5 years time.

Scott, Rich and Alistair on the 5th

Now the leaves are falling, we have marked all dead trees so we know which are for removal once all the trees are bare in winter

Other jobs we have done over the last couple of days is to cut all the greens, height of cut at the moment is 4.5mm.

In the background Adam is spraying the fairways with iron sulphate and carbendazim(separate applications) to help reduce worm casts and kill moss.

Following on from spraying the fairways he started spraying the greens with carbendazim and seaweed, again to reduce casts and the seaweed to aid in stress reduction and health of the turf.

 



17th green alterations continued

On Friday we continued with the green alterations to help remove standing water after the heavy rain we have been having this year. We finished shaping the soil to create the run off, as we were doing this we discovered an old soakaway type drain that wasn't doing a great job of removing the standing water, to ensure we didn't cause further issues of the turf burning off in the summer we dug out all of the stone and filled the area with a rootzone material.

Once the soakaway was filled, the area was prepared for the turf to be relaid by covering the area with rootzone and raking the surface of the whole area with a nail tooth rake to allow good root penetration.

Once we were happy with the levels the turf was relaid, ensuring it was as level as possible to help recovery. We topdressed the area and marked it as GUR, next time we have rain we will monitor the green to ensure the work has solved the problem.

17th green alterations

Today the course was closed again due to heavy rain overnight. This gave us time to repair all the badger damage on the 22nd hole and roll it down. We also continued strimming around the trees on the course and cutting the long rough in areas where the ground conditions were dry enough. We are having to spend a lot of time blowing all the debris and leaves from greens and surrounds and off tees due to the recent strong winds. Blowing leaves around the course is a continual job for the next few months as we have a lot of trees on the course.

As the course was closed it was an ideal time to start the green alteration at the 17th green. Every time we have had heavy rain water collects at the back of the green as the surround is too high preventing water running towards the drain.

We cut the turf and laid it out in order so it went back easily. Then took measurements to ensure we removed enough of the surround to allow the water to flow from the green to the drain.

Using the measurements we started to reshape the surround to blend in to the existing contours

We had more overnight rain that closed the course first thing this morning, however we managed to open at 10 am after pushing water of the greens. This year we have had to remove water from the greens more than we have ever done previously, this is obviously due to the severe weather experienced this year. The water table is still very high and it takes little rain to shut the course. We have done a lot of work over the years to the greens to help them drain more freely during and following rain. Below is a hole cutter sample from the 9th green showing the greens profile down to a depth of 250mm.

Firstly it shows what we are up against with the drainage characteristics of the green, the top 120-150mm is fairly sandy rootzone material that has been added over the years, this is fairly well drained material, the lower 100mm is native soil which is more compact, heavier and slow to drain. This year the amount of rainfall has caused the inefficiently draining native soil to 'back up' water to the surface causing playability issues. The only way we are going to improve the rate of water dispersal on the surface of the green is to install drains which will pull water away from the saturated rootzone. Rooting is very good, the majority of roots are within the top 150mm, due to the availability of space, nutrients and moisture, however it is clear that some roots extend into the native soil, visible in an old tine hole to the right of the picture. Deep tining helps us to penetrate through to the native soil, to prevent root sheer at the point of material change. To the left of the picture, beneath the sward, it is obvious where the sand has been added over the past 3 years, this gets more diluted further down the soil profile. Thatch isn't a real issue anymore as the aeration work has helped to breakdown any 'old'thatch and the regular sand dressings through the season has ensured that any added organic matter is constantly diluted.
The greens were cut again yesterday whilst they were dry enough for the triple, they are filling in well and hopefully will improve further over the next week or so.

As the course is very wet we have started some jobs which will make little mess with machinery, the long rough on the course is being cut back for the winter, it has been very thick this year due to the amount of moisture and growth. In the thickest areas we have had to collect the grass following cutting.

We have also started to strim around the trees on the course to tidy them up, we will also do some of the more inaccessible banks that are long during the summer.

Hollowcoring breakdown

Yesterday we were stopped in our tracks when a torsion spring broke on the weidenmann, a replacement was dispatched immediately however we couldnt get it fitted until this morning.

We finished the greens we had started by topdressing and seeding, when the sand had dried we then brushed it into the holes.
Today we continued with 10-18 holes, sand, seed and brush them and then we started on the 19th and 27th green. The 19-27 greens are alot newer greens, when built they were not built using a 'rootzone' mix, simply built using the native soil.This has resulted in poor turf on a number of the greens for a few years, this picture illistrates our need to deep hollowcore to remove the deeper native soil and replace with sand.

The picture shows where the tine has penetrated down the side of a hole cup on the green, the top 3 inches is sand/ thatch that has accumilated over the past 20 years. Beneath that is the native soil, which on this green is very silty causing root and drainage issues.

Here is a core from the same green clearly showing what I  described above. It also shows the work we have been doing in the last 3 years, the top inch of the core is sandy and the thatch is more diluted than deeper in the soil profile.
Also today we cut the fairways and fertilised some of the 10-18 greens that have been cored recently.

Recovering greens

Its been over a week since we started hollow coring the greens, today we matted and cut 1-9 greens to tidy the growth and to ensure they recover fully. In the next week or so we should see some signs of germination which will fill a lot of the holes in. Following this we will top dress again in certain areas to ensure the surface heals fully.

We only have 3 greens left to do on holes 10-18 and 5 greens on 19-27 to complete.

Hollowcoring 10-18

Today we started coring 10-18 greens, the weather looks good for the next couple of days so we will hopefully get these greens done and top dressed. We will start matting, rolling and cutting the initial greens we did, this week, The sand is bedding in well, however we keep lifting the sand back out of the sward when holes we have made start appearing, lifting the sand enables us the drag it around the green.

Currently we are having problems with badger damage around the course, they are digging up the turf looking for food, mainly worms and grubs. We can not do a lot to stop badgers digging the turf at the moment, other than spray carbendazim, a worm suppressant. We regularly treat the turf with a product that kills chafer grubs and another product that kills leather jackets, unfortunately we can not treat all of the course and the badgers search for areas that are high in food sources. We routinely put back any ripped up turf however there are some areas on the course that will need seeding when conditions are right.

More rain fell last night which made the course very wet again this morning, we were initially closed until the green staff had cleared the water off the greens. They drained reasonably well after the rain had stopped, however the greens that we had previously cored were a little softer.

This afternoon it dried up well and we started to brush, mat and roll the greens on 1-9 to smooth them down ready for cutting next week. Usually we would not use a heavy roller on the greens however after severe hollow coring I feel this helps re establish the surface firmness. The sand is starting to bed down into the sward and the fertiliser is greening them up aiding recovery.

Hollowcoring continued

We finished 1-9 greens yesterday, seeding and topdressing them before brushing in. A light application of 6-0-28 was put on to the cored greens to aid recovery. We have now moved on to holes 21-24, after a little overnight rain coring wasn't as easy first thing this morning, however once the sun got out and dried the surface the operation was running more smoothly. Tomorrow we will sand, seed and brush these greens and start rolling the initial greens with a heavy roller. Next week we will move on to holes 10-18.

All the staff working hard to ensure the coring of the greens runs smoothly and efficiently.

Hollowcoring continued

Today we started coring the greens on 1-9 holes, we have the use of a core collector this year which is saving a lot of time and effort, which can be redirected on to the course.

Below is two core samples, the first is taken from the surround of green 9, as you can see there is no friable material where the roots are. It is compacted soil, which is one of the main reasons for aeration and soil exchange.

The second is taken from green 9, this core has a lot of friable rootzone, ideal for healthy turf and rooting, the top inch of the core is al ot lighter in colour where we have added sand over the last 3 years. The thatch level is good and the rootzone smells healthy.

We will finish holes 1-9 this week, then sand, seed and roll before bring them back into play.