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.