The hose pipes are out on the course to ensure the turfed areas we laid over the winter doesn't dry out in this glorious weather. The temperatures have certainly improved and the course has responded, greening up day by day and the growth on the greens slowly levelling out. The worst areas on the course seem to be areas of semi rough, mainly rye grassed areas which are tufted from the poor winter gone by. These will slowly fill in as the year passes, however it does produce some unpleasing lies at the moment. Overseeding with rye grass is a possible option for the future if we could purchase a disc seeder and budget for the extra seed costs. It certainly would be a step forward in terms of recovery and playability in spring.

As the course is dry we topdressed some of the tees we levelled in the past few years to help maintain levels and also sanded some of the drained areas on the fairways.

Today, with rain expected later in the afternoon we started applying the merit turf insecticide to control chafer grubs. This has been the driving factor for badger damage this winter. Adam, Scott and Alistair applied 4 hectares worth of insecticide, by hand, using rotary spreaders, quite a task but worth the effort if it limits damage in future years. Most of the insecticide was applied over holes 3-6, however the left of the 22nd was also covered.

This morning we also applied the second compost tea solution to the greens, 1-18 greens were treated with the 200 litres of tea solution. The 25th and centre section of the practice green was also treated with wetting agent as they were showing signs of dry patch, irrigating in afterwards.

This morning we noticed a number of leather jacket grubs on the surface of the front putting green, a clear sign that we need to treat the green with chlorpyrifos this winter. This insecticide has to be applied any time from November to March for effective control. Fortunately no damage is being done at present however pecking by crows can sometimes be an issue as they search for the grubs.