Sunday afternoon we had some very heavy down pours (19mm) which saturated the course late in the day, first thing Monday morning and there was barely any standing water on the course, proving the work we did over the winter has proved to be successful. The water damage on the 9th green from the horrendous summer of 2012 has been slowly recovering. We installed a drain into the low section of the green which has solved the water logging problem, however the finer grasses in the low point have been reduced leaving the area weak and thin. To improve the grasses we have oversown the section, firstly we solid tined the area to a depth of 250mm at 50x 50mm spacing with 12mm tines, spread bent/ fescue seed and applied kiln dried sand over the area until the holes are filled. Brushing the sand and seed together should create an ideal seed bed for germination.
The sand has to be kiln dried to ensure it does not bridge the holes leaving them unfilled. By using 12mm solid tines it ensures sufficient sand is placed within the rootzone, aiding drainage and creating deeper rooting.
We started to topdress all the other greens on the course, 10 finished today, adding another 15 tonnes of straight sand to 30 greens once completed. This ensures we keep the surfaces smooth, firm and help dilute thatch deposits. Once finished we will topdress some of the approaches and tees.
We have been without our vibrating rollers for the past 4 days as one of the pulleys had been wearing on the shaft causing damage. This has now been fixed and we will be rolling greens regularly to keep the pace of them up. Incidentally with the rain we had and no rolling the speed of the greens was back to 9' for the last couple of days.Once again the team are working hard to produce a fantastic course.....
However only an hour after raking the bunkers I saw 3 bunkers that clearly had not been raked by golfers playing that morning
Please can all golfers help us to help you maintain our course by carrying out simple golf etiquette:
1. Rake bunkers
2. Replace divots
3. Repair pitch marks
Thank you
