Happy Christmas

Well that's me signing off for 2013, it's been another tough year. Weather wise it's certainly been an improvement from 2012. Let's hope it continues into 2014 and the golfing season is as successful for Malton and Norton golf club as this year. It's not often we have the men's and ladies Yorkshire amateur champions in the same year (Chris Halley and Emma brown), Emma also winning 5 other prestigious trophies. Chris setting a record of winning the Yorkshire order of merit with victory in 6 of the 7 events, along with a number of other trophies. We also have strong ladies and gents sections which also did the club proud. 

On the course I have to give credit to the green keeping team, as without there efforts we couldn't achieve the standards we all have been acustomed to. 

I hope all have a good Christmas and new year and I'll continue blogging in 2014.

A tidy up before christmas

Yesterday we cut the greens as there was a little growth after the recent mild period. 

Still cutting with the triple mower at 4.5mm. Ground conditions yesterday were still firm so little damage a nd compaction occurs. Before cutting some of the greens had to be blown off as the wind had blown debris once again. 

The greens are still putting well for the time of year. Areas around the greens and tees are getting worn through play and no recovery. We have put out a lot of traffic management ropes and hoops to help reduce wear to areas that are in play during the season. Please ensure members and visitors abide by the measures in place, if any are removed please replace them afterwards to ensure other golfers don't enter restricted areas. It does make play more difficult but are essential to keep the course in good condition come spring. 

We also have given the summer tees a trim, these are still used for competitions only, again to reduce wear. 

We are cutting the summer tees with our tee side mower as it causes less damage to softer ground. 

The leaf collection trailer was dismantled as collection has finished. Any further areas of debris will be collected into a normal trailer. We have started to blow sand from around bunker edges and will continue tomorrow, along with raking and sand depth checking. 

Driving range collection

At Malton and norton we have a fantastic 12 bay covered driving range which is used by a good percentage of our members. As members or visitors want balls it's a simple of a token in a dispenser however for the greens staff many hours go into keeping the range running smoothly. 

Firstly the balls that are hit need collecting, in summer around 10000 balls are hit every week, around 7000 in winter.  Balls are picked up using a tractor mounted disc collector. When ground or grass conditions are not suitable then balls can be collected by hand. During summer the range outfield is cut following collection every week.

Once collected the balls are tipped into the ball washing machine

Where they go through a rotating brush and clean water. Into the elevator which lifts them into the dispenser 

And finally into the dispenser ready to be hit again. 

Collection takes around 3 hours when cutting is involved as every single ball needs to be cleared for the mowers to cut safely. Other tasks involve maintenance of the outdoor tee, cleaning out the building and ensuring baskets are returned

Having this facility ensures golfers have somewhere to fine tune there swings even if the course is closed

We have carried on the clear up project from last week and the damage the winds caused. More areas have been blown off with the tornado and collected. The felled trees that were cut up and made safe were collected and branches from the 3rd wood thinning were collected and burnt. 

Today the EGGS had there Christmas competition on the welham course, so we raked bunkers, moved holes and started cutting surrounds with the hand mower as slopes are very soft. 

The willow at the 14th was cut up and cleared the 14th ditch was cleared of debris. As air temperatures are still good for the time of year, giving soil temperatures of 8 degrees c, growth is still ongoing. It also creates higher disease pressure, fusarium is the disease to look out for at this time of the year. Fortunately preventative sprays seem to be keeping it at bay on the course. However the front putting green was trailed with a new chemical called interface, this hasn't prevented fusarium from starting and growing causing quite a lot of patches of disease. The trial has given us data that we can use in the future and proves the chemicals we are using work effectively. 

Wind!

Yesterday brought the most extreme wind and battering hail we have experienced at Malton for a long time. A 24 hour period of damaging gusts brought down trees, scattered leaves and sticks every where. This morning, after a harsh frost we set about making the course safe, playable and tidy. All the staff have put in maximum effort today to prepare the course for play, all but 3 greens were covered in dense debris and two green staff have spent all day ensuring they are clear. 

Large branches were scattered everywhere, another two green staff have had over seven 2 tonne trailer loads cleared away. 

Other larger trees that suffered damage have been made safe, cutting any damaged limbs off or felling cracked or split trees. These will be collected next week. 

The worst fairways have been blown off with the tornado blower. Next week we will continue to clear debris to return the course to normality. 

Christmas is just around the corner, trying to get in the spirit the green staff have put up the outdoor lights on the tree near the club house. Every year that passes makes it harder to get them to the top !

Looking better as the light falls

It feels like the leave collection is coming to an end, we have had another clear up and with very few leaves left on the trees it feels like we are winning the battle. Once all leaves in priority areas are clear we will clear hedge backs, ditches, longer roughs and hand clear inaccessible areas. 

Other jobs have been to put out more traffic management aids ie hoops and ropes to help spread wear. More markers have been put on winter positions to give the tees and access routes a rest as there is no recovery at the moment. 

The greens were cut this morning, current height of cut 4.5 mm. We started early to beat golfers, ideal conditions this morning, the course looking great for December. The greens have started to take up the fertiliser application showing green up and look and play well. Tees have also been divoted and hand hedge cutting continues. 

We'll done to all you winners

Prize night tonight, well done to all the members that have won competitions/ trophies this year, a long season of golf comes to a close. As we head in to the winter golf season it can become a little more unpredictable, today the wind was howling across the course spreading leaf litter once more. It's a tireless job, on Wednesday the course was completely cleared now it looks like we haven't been out all week. On Monday we will start once more. Each week that passes is a step closer to the end of the leaf fall season. Yesterday we applied the 2-0-10 fertiliser to greens and surrounds, as this takes effect they will improve in colour, we tried to cut them today however the fertiliser hadn't broken down enough and caused blackening on the 9th so we will hold off until next week. 

Tining cont.

We have been making good progress with tining of fairways. 1-9 fairways are complete, yesterday we blew the tined fairways off before cutting them to tidy the surface and smooth down any areas disturbed by tining. 

We also have completed micro tining of 1-9 greens, rolling after. 

Today work continues of fairways and greens on 10-18, along with leave collection and hedge cutting.

Tomorrow a granular fertiliser (2-0-10) will be applied to the greens with 10% slow release iron to harden and give colour to the grass in cooler conditions. 

Tining

Today with 1-9 closed we started routine tining of greens and fairways. The greens were micro tined with 8mm tines to a depth of 100mm they will be rolled once we have finished to smooth the surface and shouldn't effect play. Tonight is forecast a severe frost so we might have to delay continuation of micro tining in the morning. 

We started slit tining fairways, this process involves slicing the turf using a tractor mounted slitter we have done them twice using 2 different machines to give the desired result, they will look slightly messy and disrupted until we roll, blow and cut them once finished. Slit tining will create new rooting creating more growth in spring. 

We also have been continuing with hedge cutting and blowing leaves on 1-9 

Mow-vember

As the wintery showers rolling in off the east coast begin we are still out on the course making it as playable as possible. Today the weather has been dry enough to get out with a triple to cut the greens, we're cutting at 4.5 mm bench setting, so slightly lower on the greens. Still looking and playing well, we will turn to the hand mower as soon as conditions dictate. 

We have also started putting in another drain on the right hand 13th green bunker. 

This will be finished tomorrow. 

An open drain has been installed to the left of the 10th green in a wet spot

Earlier in week Adam worked on some tee sprinklers ensuring the system works when we need it

14th bunker drain

As the weather is turning colder the leaves are falling fast, hopefully after this week the majority will have fallen and collected up. It's a continuous task for the staff up to christmas. We hope now that we are on top of it. Other work on the course has included tidying up after the hedge cutting contractor, will is now beginning the task of hand cutting all the areas that can't be reached by the machine. Adam has continued with tee sprinkler replacement and we have moved on to the 14th first fairway bunker to install drainage.

Ready for pipe and stone now, more to follow!

9th bunker completion

This morning the 9th fairway bunker drain was completed, originally the drain was dug with a large bucket on an excavator so a lot of stone was needed to fill the void. Normally a narrower trench is all that is required, say 150 - 200mm wide, the trench we uncovered was over 400mm wide, goes without saying it should have no problem draining now.

A cracking job, next week on to the 13th and 14th bunkers

After the vertidraining of fairways it was time to give the weidenmann a little TLC. It was washed down, cleaned and inspected for wear and damage. The machine is designed to be very durable however constant use for a month takes its toll.

Heres a small selection of the repairs, in total 3 springs, a reweld of worn supports, numerous bolts, 2 catches, 2 pins, a damaged tine holder and adjustment of height supports. This is expected to some degree and not all caused just by vertidraining fairways, but by general use over the life of the machine.

On the plus side the vertidraining of the greens in September has given space for new root development as seen in the picture below.

 

9th bunker drain

This week we have Neville Maw, our ever trusted hedge cutting contractor here to cut all the courses hedges rnd ditch sides. Neville comes every November to work on the course for 3 days, he does a fantastic job and knows the course well. This is a job we cant take on in house as we do not have the equipment. Once Neville has finished Will then cuts any areas that cant be reached with the flail.
As leaf collection continues but vertidraining of fairways has finished we have started to look at smaller tasks which can improve the course as a whole. Today we started to look at the drain in the first 9th fairway bunker, as this bunker is quick to stand water during rain. Adam and Alistair first had to inspect the existing drain, find why it is not draining correctly, then correct the problem.

 Removing the sand

 Inspecting the problem, which turned out to be contaminated sand/soil resting on the old teram

 Digging out the soil/sand

 Uncovering the clean stone under the teram

topping up with clean stone

to be finished on Thursday.............

Drain on the 8th green

A small project but an area on the 8th green that constantly stands water needed attention.

 The 8th green after heavy rain last year, during constant rain water gathers in an area on the right of this picture.

We installed a drain around and into the bunker last winter which we have extended on to the front of the green.

Drainage about to start

Tapping into the existing pipework

 Filling with rootzone

Finally relaying the turf, and tidying the site.

Else where vertidraining of the fairways continues, with only 1 and a half fairways remaining on the 1-18 course.

Great views from the 3rd fairway