Work is turning to more renovations as the main golfing season is coming to a close, we have finally got round to filling in the test pit we dug at the 13th hole to inspect the drainage in that area. As we are not continuing with drainage in this area in the foreseeable future we decided to tidy the turf to make the area playable once more.
Tomorrow we will begin to renovate the turf practice tee on the range, for the next few weeks we will allow golfers to use the turf in front of the practice tee until the weather turns colder. The area will be clearly marked, please remain in the marked area for safety reasons.
On the course we are continuing to work on the greens to ensure disease pressure is minimised going into cooler, humid, moist conditions where disease is more likely. We have applied a phosphite product which, as mentioned in my last blog is to strengthen the sward against disease attack. Micro tining is to start on 1-18 greens next week so a preventative fungicide will be applied to the greens before the end of the week. This will take us through till November when the climatic and turf conditions will be assessed once more to see if another fungicide is needed.
Other areas are now slowing down so cutting isn't quite as intense as a few weeks ago, however we have a number of swans that seem to have taken a liking to one of our fairways, slowing down progress!
On the 18th September I posted this image of the current soil profile of the greens and the impact the sand we are adding is making
I came across this picture in my office that was taken just before I was appointed Head Greenkeeper, it is the same green 6 years ago.
Sorry about the quality of the picture, it is a picture of a picture. However it does show how far we have come in improving drainage, aeration (little black layer), rooting and thatch reduction. The old plug has NO root past 50mm and layered thatch accumulations, the blackening in the soil is a clear sign of anaerobic conditions. It is also clear to see the depth of sandy material we have accumulated in the 6 years. A reason why the surface of the green is much firmer than it use to be, plus roots are protruding from the base of the current sample. Continual but less disruptive aeration will see the greens improve further over the years to come.
