Improving conditions

The end of last week brought us some much needed rain, well only a few millimetres but it has boosted the colour and growth on the course. The temperatures are still cold but there is enough warmth and strength in the sunshine to encourage growth. Last week we made good progress with the badger damage repairs on hole 6, one more day and we should have completed this area. The seeded areas we initially seeded are germinating well, these have been fertilised with the same slow release fertiliser we put on the fairways in early March. This only leaves the 22nd hole to tidy and seed. On Friday we had a hail shower which put a stop to play for around 15 minutes, not unheard of at this time of the year but strange to see never the less.

We cut the fairways again on Friday trying to 'burn' in the stripes for summer, after a couple of cuts they are really starting to stand out. After a month of cutting in one direction the second angle of stripes will be then cut into the fairways, creating the diamond/chequered effect.

Over the weekend the course is steadily greening up, so this week we are concentrating our efforts on cutting some grass to ensure the course is presented nicely even though there is little growth. The semi rough is patchy as the winter wear is still evident, where golfer foot traffic is less the semi has grown a few inches. All the semi rough will be cut this week to reduce the patchy growth, this is the first time ALL the semi rough has been cut, over the 15 years I have been at the club this is latest we have had to cut the semi rough, putting in to context the serverity of the winter we have just experienced.

We have also been cutting the driving range, tees, surrounds, copses, pathway edges, fairways and cutting and grooming all the greens. The greens at this time of the year get some lateral growth from bent grasses, this can lead to bobbly greens later in the day as the lateral growth gets spiked up by foot traffic. To control this we groom the greens with the groomers on the John Deere mowers. The groomers are set flush to the surface of the green, this ensures that lateral growth is lifted, cut and removed. The greens are then cut to take off any uneven grass and leave a smooth finish. They are being cut at 3.5mm actual height of cut, as the fertiliser we applied last week has started to take affect and growth is much dense than a couple of weeks ago.

Other jobs have been to turf the bunker tops on the 6th hole, collect range balls and water the turf on 25th tee and 21st green.

This time last year!

These pictures are from the 20th April 2012, trees in leaf, blossom on the cherry trees, and lush GREEN grass.

The picture below is from 19th April, just a few days ago.

I don't need to state the obvious but it is evident how the weather affects golf course condition and influences the maintenance practices we carry out on a daily, weekly and yearly basis. I think every golf course will be affected to some degree, we have been very cautious with the practices on the greens, to ensure they are in the best position come some more favourable weather.
The weather forecast for the weekend is for cooler conditions which wont help any growth, however it is possible we may get some rain. To help the density of the turf we applied an extra granular fertiliser application yesterday. By this time of the year we would only apply liquid fertiliser, for the reasons stated in the last blog entry, the latest application was a 4-0-8 granular fertiliser applied at 30g/m giving 12 kg/N per hect and 24 kg/K per hect. Irrigation was then applied to ensure the fertiliser was washed into the soil profile, usual response for this type of fertiliser is within 3 days.

Yesterday we applied some liquid fertiliser, seaweed, wetter and growth regulator to the greens. The fertiliser we use is 100% ammonium sulphate, which is a readily available source of nitrogen for the grass plants. This is essential at this time of the year as the soil temperatures are low and any form of nitrogen that is released to the grass plant dependant on temperatures rising or are slow to uptake into the plant will take time to work. We want an instant yet controlled growth pattern to ensure we get surfaces that are relatively fast with out the need to cut excessively low or having to roll every day to achieve the speeds we desire. Applying 3kg/N per hect every 3 - 4 weeks gives us this. The greens are not as dense as they normally would be at this time of the year due to the cold and windy weather we have had for the last month or so but when you look around the course every thing is about 3-4 weeks behind where it should be, flowers, trees and adjacent arable crops are barely out. I'm sure a spell of warm and damp weather will kick things in to action. The growth regulator was applied at a very low rate(100ml per hect), this will help uniform the differing growth rates of different species of grass as the soil temperature slowly rises.

We have been cutting the greens every two days due to the lack of growth, we hope to start cutting every day from Friday. The height of cut is still around 4mm, again we will lower this to the normal summer height of around 3mm when the turf starts to show signs that is in full growth.

Cutting the putting green before irrigation is applied

 

What goes into Augusta to make it special!

Augusta - Behind the Scenes
Thanks to Chris Lomas and Rob Sandilands, Head Greenkeeper, Grange over Sands Golf Club for this infomation

Here are some great behind the scenes photographs showing not only what goes into making Augusta and The Masters such a spectacle, but also how far apart it is in so many ways from member's clubs like ours where most of us play our golf. 


For the time outside of the tournament, the course is closed from May-October. During normal times of opening each hole has 2 full-time greenkeepers, this swells by over 100 for the tournament. The course even has its own Creek Manager for it's famed water features!
The picture below shows the greenkeeping facility; a building that has 2 full time receptionists as well as a trial green and bunker for products and testing



Those 100 greenkeepers need a big room for team briefings as well as lots of tea and coffee!

Below is the chemical store, putting into perspective just what it takes to achieve what is presented out on the course.

Many of you may think the pine straw beneath the trees is all naturally occurring on the site, but in fact hundreds of bales of it are imported and spread out on the course. Below is there dedicated storage area.

Many parts of the course are given a helping hand with systems such as the 'sub-air' which is capable not only of drawing water down through the surfaces but also blowing air back into them. Not only is this system installed on the greens, but also on the grass walkways so as to keep the patrons feet dry! This system costs over £1 million. Below is another tool used to help growth and condition; these lighting rigs give grass an added boost when sunlight is at a premium. You may have seen them in action at football grounds in the English Premier League over the last couple of years.

Nurseries serving the site have a replica tree and shrub for each one out on the course that is covered on TV and feasible to replace; monitoring their health as well as that of the hallowed turf requires a dedicated on site turf laboratory, pictured below.

Out on the course, you may well have seen the famous shots of the 15 or so fairway mowers all cutting in formation going from green to tee to make the ball roll 'into the grain' and slow it down, although each on of these machines cost £45,000 breakdowns do happen and the picture below shows how a tennis ball is carried by each operator to throw into the path of the operator in front of them in the line if they develop an oil leak. A great idea!

I'm sure you'll agree that it is an impressive amount of resources and a real eye-opener. The most important thing for us all to remember is that these things are all relative and each club has their own individual level of resources which they must use in a sustainable way that ensure they live within their means, whilst also being mindful of their role in the landscape and their responsibilities to the environment.

 

Windy

The last couple of days has seen winds of up to 40 mph whipping across the course, this has caused a lot of issues. Firstly the dry conditions has made it easy for sand to blow from shallow bunkers on to faces and fairways, this will need washing brushing back in to the bunkers next week before they are raked. The winds have spread debris across the course, fairways and semi has been covered in large branches and pine cones, greens covered in sticks and smaller debris which we have had to blow off with the back pack blower.

The fairways and semi have been cleared with the tractor mounted blower and collected up by hand.
Some trees have suffered worse damage than just loss of a few small branches. This maple at the 3rd hole has been split in two, again this has been removed with the chainsaw to ensure it is safe.

We have been continuing with the badger damage, collecting balls from the range, moving holes, cutting greens, tees and starting to put some stripes on the fairways, which look fantastic and nice to see some real definition on the course.

 7th

9th

The application of top dress is settling slowly, however with little natural rainfall growth is slow and the irrigation system cant be used when the winds have been as strong as they have in recent days. For the time of the year they seem to be running well given the weather we have been experiencing and the speed is acceptable taking in to account the current height of cut of 4mm(actual height). I feel that the work that has been done to the greens over the last few years has improved the 'playability' of the greens year round, meaning the natural pace, firmness, smoothness, organic matter, grass species and health(reduction in disease pressure) has improved from an agronomy point of view. There is no doubt we have still work to do but we are certainly taking them in the right direction.

 

High winds over the last few days have caused slight problems with sand blowing out of the shallow bunkers and spreading debris over the course once more. The lack of rain with the warm conditions has meant growth is struggling to get going, the course is greening up, however the winter wear is still present and the semi rough is very 'patchy' in these areas. The irrigation is only on greens and tees and is used over night when the winds die down making application possible. Any where away from these areas are reliant on nature to do its best. Repairing of the badger damage is ongoing, these areas are been seeded so we need some warm and wet weather to ensure we get quick germination and recovery. We have been cutting tees, teesides, greens, surrounds, semi rough around greens where the irrigation has reached, also rolling greens, divoting tees, setting mole traps and checking sprinkler head arcs, rotation and application. Next week we hope to reopen the grass tee on the range now we have some growth.

The team busy on the 9th

Topdressing

At last we were able to apply the first dressing of the year to the greens, with the temperatures higher and rain forecast on Wednesday, we took the opportunity to get them done today, even though we were pushed to get them finished before a ladies competition this morning. First we cut and groomed the greens with the John Deere mowers, the groomers on the mowers were set at flush, this means the vertical blades are rotating just about on soil level, some might say this is actually scarifying however the terminology can be used in different ways to explain the methods we use. As we aren't removing thatch, soil or sand I tend to describe light verticutting/ grooming as grooming, a deeper pass over the green that removes thatch, soil and sand say 3mm below flush then i would describe this as scarifying. Scarifying is usually done with more width between the blades as this can cause damage to the crown of the plant, and sometime roots (usually meadow grass). Grooming removes some of the lateral growth that can build up over winter and when the finer grasses start to grow in spring.

We then applied around a tonne of straight sand to each green with the toro propass topdresser, fortunately today there was no dew and there was a constant breeze which dried the sand within 15 minutes. The sand was then matted into the green, with virtually all of it being incorporated into the sward, this operation is done around 6 times a year to ensure the greens are kept smooth, help increase pace, dilute thatch accumulations, help drainage, improve firmness, reduce disease pressure and fill in aeration holes. We use around 150 tonnes of sand per year over the 30 greens at Malton and Norton Golf Club.
Other jobs on the course have been moving holes, collecting balls, moving markers, repairing badger damage, watering trees, edging bunkers and servicing the stiga rotary mower.

Tea time

This year we are trying compost teas on the greens at Malton and Norton Golf Club. For those who are not familiar with compost tea use here are some of the details:

 

Compost teas introduce life into sterile soils and growing media when compost application is not practical.
Sadly most sports turf rootzones are relatively low in the organic matter needed to support microbial life even though a lot of microbial food leaks from the roots during photosynthesis so fairly regular applications are needed. In an 80/20 rootzone you will need about 100 litres of compost tea per application.

Frequency of application depends upon what you want to achieve. To clean a chemically compromised rootzone with iron bands, black layer, barriers of fines and root breaks will need up to 10 applications per year starting in spring. If you have a relatively healthy rootzone and want to get good early growth, help manage dry patch and strengthen the grass in autumn five or six applications appropriately timed may suffice.

In summary compost teas are a simple inexpensive way of getting soil biology, chemistry and physics to work in harmony for healthy sustainable fine grass growth.

Why do we need living soil
Typical sports turf root zones that have been used as a receptacle for chemicals over the years are effectively dead see picture of typical dead rootzone, these rootzones contain the limited biology suitable for poa annua, a grass that survives because of constant seeding and high nutrient water and pesticide inputs.

All plants rely on relationships with soil microbes that promote healthy growth. These symbiotic plant microbe systems, in which grasses, except poa annua, apply about 20% of its energy to root formation and leaks about 30 per cent of the energy they produce through their roots to feed the microbes forming the soil food web, have evolved over millions of years. In return the microbes convert the proteins and carbohydrates that leak out of the root back into plant food available at the right time for optimum plant growth.

Soil microbes have a range of mechanisms to protect the grass against pathogen attack, aid in the decomposition of toxins, and produce plant growth hormones. The net result of this is that grass grown in a healthy food web is stronger, needs less inorganic fertiliser and water, suffers less from disease, fairy rings and dry patch and tends towards perennial grasses not poa annua.

Compost tea allows you to match the correct biology to your grass from the day the seed germinates, so exceptional growth can occur.

 

Compost tea is a liquid extract of compost containing.

• Enzymes and amino‐acids
• Bacteria, fungi, protozoa and beneficial nematodes
• Water soluble nutrients and organically bound nutrients

Making the compost tea

Each batch you make will be different depending upon the ambient temperature, pH of the water used, brewing time, compost quality and nutrients added. It is best to make tea at the ambient temperature so you grow the microbes that will survive in the soil temperature to which they are applied

Step 1 - Fill the brewer with the desired amount of water. If using chlorinated water run the air pump for an hour or two to release any chlorine in the water.

Step 2 - Add the nutrients to the water.

Step 3 - Add the compost to the basket or for smaller brewers into the water.

Step 4 - Brew for the required time.

Step 5 - Switch off the brewer and allow the compost tea to settle for 20-30 minutes.

Step 6 - Decant the compost tea via and extra filter if necessary to your spray tank or irrigation tank and apply as a soil or foliar drench.

Step 7 - Thoroughly clean the brewer.

The final brew is 100% organic and can be mixed with other organic products, we will still apply our normal 'inorganic' fertilisers, wetters and growth regulators to ensure the turf is healthy.

 

Compost Tea- brewing in progress

Elsewhere we have tidied up the soil on the 14th, creating a small mound. We have also started collecting up dead turf from the badger damage and reseeding the bare areas.

 

We finally have a night without frost, the cold east wind continues however with much cloudier conditions we could run the irrigation system to irrigate the greens to take some of the 'crispiness' from the surface. The drying winds aren't good for the grass when temperatures are so low, the grass plants go in to a state of dormancy as there is limited water within the plant to promote growth. The rootzone is still moist so a large volume of water is not required. We calibrate each green to 180 and 360 degree turning circles to ensure consistent coverage across the whole of the green. The spacing between sprinklers, pressure, number of sprinklers per green and angle of throw can alter greatly the water applied. The calibrations are then set into a irrigation computer which then can be altered to apply how much water we want on each green. Depending on the evapotranspiration rates, current moisture levels and sometimes chemicals applied will determine the setting for each application. Sunday night we applied around 3mm of water with a wetting agent to help penetration into the rootzone. The recent aeration will also allow water to penetrate into lower rootzone where it is more beneficial.

 



On Monday Alistair and myself  took part in some 360 degree excavator training, with test to follow.

 

Without frost we brushed, cut and rolled the greens, along with moving holes and starting to repair the badger damage onn the course

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Were not the only ones having problems with badger damage!

I feel there pain, but i have been assured by Natural England that due to the lack of food due to wet weather last year and a cold winter this time around that they are searching for what ever they can find. Hopefully a warmer spell will bring a halt to there destruction.
Have a look at these other sports areas:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-22039731
http://hockleygc.blogspot.co.uk/

With the season trying to get underway we are getting the John Deere greens mowers geared up for the early morning starts, by installing lights to the front of the machines. Until now we have used alternative machines or waited until the sun started to come up. The lights came as a kit from John Deere which included an extension to the wiring harness of the machine to ensure we can fit them in a safe and professional manner.

Other work on the course has been levelling and preparing the old hedge row on 18/19 for seeding, an excavator was used to level off and remove any excess soil where the hedgerow used to be and fill in any areas which are low. Poorer areas were filled and topped up with soil from elsewhere on the course. It is essential we level this area thoroughly as we both holes to be incorporated together (with the trees for separation).

Where the hedge row has been removed along side the 19th tee, the path way material was cleaned off and re edged. We also have checked all the trees with stakes and ties across the course to ensure they are not to tight, in good condition, removed where they are not needed and and dead branches removed. I also finished solid tining the greens with the 8mm tines, this will help improve the rootzone and health of the grass plants, especially when objects like this are removed from the rootzone.

Spring tining on the greens

With the weather not warming up, according to the forecast until the middle of April, our 'normal' spring maintenance on the greens has been delayed. We would normally start our maintenance by tining the greens with 8mm or cross solid tines in mid march, following this with scarifying of the greens surface 3mm below flush, thatch away to flush and finally topdressing with straight sand, applying around a tonne per green. This year with the air and soil temperatures so low for the time of year (soil temperature currently 3 degrees) we are taking a more cautious approach as any severe disruption and damage to the grass plant when there is little chance of recovery early on in the year will set the greens back months, even loss of coverage could be possible. Currently there is little growth across the course so scarification of the greens has been delayed until soil temperatures are high enough to promote recovery. We have continued with our solid tining as this action does not stress the grass, if anything can promote growth as air and further root growth can be allowed in to the tine holes. We aim to top dress the greens with straight sand next week, however with a little and often approach in mind as not to smoother the surface, but to help smooth the surface.

Following solid tining, the greens were cut and rolled to help smooth them out once more.

Else where on the course the staff continued edging bunkers and tidying up leaves in the shrub area near the clubhouse.