On Wednesday a branch cracked on the sweet chestnut tree to the right of the 10th tee. This tree is very old with a trunk diameter of at least 2m, it has lost several limbs over the last few years. Some of the limbs are getting very brittle with signs of decay through some of the wood. 3 years ago our tree surgeon Gary Liversidge cleaned out the crown of the tree, removing any dangerous, dead and unwanted timber. Over those years the canopy has recovered well, unfortunately this last limb is large and has left one side very open. I'm sure the tree will recover once more.
Today the rain fell most of the day, fortunately it was steady rather than the usual torrent we seem to get these days, so cutting and play on the course were largely unaffected.
We have everything cut and looking great once more, credit to the team, ready for visitors in the first invitation day in the morning. Other jobs we've done are, raked bunkers, clipped around sprinkler heads, cut copses, picked up range balls, solid tined seeded and sanded front of 6th green, solid tined wet areas on fairways and surrounds, sprayed weeds on 19-27 and applied fertiliser to divoted areas on fairways.
When the practice green was extended 6 years ago the center section was constructed by contractors to a 50/50 rootzone specification. Unfortunately the other areas of the practice green are native soil based. This causes a big difference in performance and reaction to balls rolling and landing on the surface. The soil based green is a bent/ poa mix with little fescue, the sand based portion is fescue/poa and a lot firmer. This is only the practice green so the problem is only differences in turf management. But the difference is as clear as night and day.
The sand based green requires a lot more fertiliser to start, another application was made today of everris all season 18-6-18 providing 45 kg N over 8-10 weeks, we use this as it is a slower release than a conventional fertiliser to reduce leaching. In total the sand based section receives around 200kg N per year, compared to the 50 kg N the soil based section requires. Other than nutrition the sand based section requires less grooming and less topdressing, the soil section due to the bent content is groomed with the other greens at least once a week to reduce lateral growth. The sand based section needs more water and a lot more wetting agent to keep the grass healthy There are pros and cons to both construction types but simply down to cost it is in our interests to improve the soil based greens we have by aeration, sand dressing and drainage, along with the right nutrition we can produce some excellent surfaces.
