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.

9th green seeding/ golf etiquette

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

Towards the end of the week we finished off the remainder of the clubhouse plants and after the 10mm of rain we had Thursday night cutting was main priority as growth is now strong.

Greens were groomed, cut and double rolled, surrounds, teesides, fairways, semi and tees cut once more, the course looking fantastic and many good comments from members and visitors which is always good to hear.

We raked the bunkers again on Friday and strimmed the ditch at 10/13/14 and the 8th pond. We also started plugging some of the damaged turf on the 6th and 9th green where the drainage work was done through winter. Although the drainage was a success the amount of time water was stood on the turf last year did permanent damage to the finer grasses in the low areas. Next week we hope to overseed the poorer bits of turf. Whilst plugging the green there is clear evidence the work we have done in the past has increased the sand content of the rootzone, improving the drainage capabilities during wet weather.

Next week we also will be making our routine application of growth regulator to the greens, along with seaweed, wetter fertiliser and iron.

New toy!

I'm delighted to inform all viewers and members of Malton and Norton Golf Club we have purchased and received delivery of a ride on bunker raking machine. We have been without a ride on machine since March 2012, due the old machine being unusable through wear and tear after over 25 years of service. The machine was beyond reasonable repair so we hand raked bunkers when we had time over the last year and a half. The new machine is a Toro 3040 and makes a fantastic job.

The staff checked and adjusted sand distribution and raked all the bunkers this morning. Now we have the machine we will regularly rake the bunkers to improve this particular area of our course. From checking bunkers this morning we have identified a number of bunkers which require sand to ensure the depth in the bunker is consistent. This has been ordered and will arrive in the next few weeks, delivery is delayed on this particular sand (Devilla) due to a slow manufacturing rate in the glass production industry at the moment. The Devilla sand is an waste product from glass production. The bunkers will be topped up as soon as it arrives.

Else where we have finished micro tining the greens, all greens have been tined, groomed, cut and rolled.

Subsequently we have cut and rolled each day to ensure the greens are as smooth as possible and maintain the speed, currently at 10'6''.

Once the work on the greens had been completed we sprayed them with a compost tea brew, this application was brewed for 38 hours to compare to previous brews, which were brewed for 24 hours. The literature says compost tea brewed for this length of time will create a more fungal dominant liquid, which is what I am looking to apply to improve the perennial grasses on the greens.
The surrounds were deep scarified using the thatchaway units and groomed afterwards to remove coarse grasses and any lateral growth. Following this we sprayed them with iron, fertiliser and primo to aid recovery.
Copses have been strimmed, clubhouse plants are being replaced, excavated soil from winter drainage is being transported to the end of the range, some of the fairways have been divoted and regular cutting across the course continues.

Summer micro tining

As we had a small window of opportunity where there were no visiting parties, few members playing and no competitions, we started to solid tine the greens. We want to keep disruption to a minimum as we have the greens running fast and smooth at the moment so we use 8mm tines with no heave on the machine and aerating to a depth of 100mm.

No heave on the machine ensures the holes are as small as possible and the greens surface is not adversely disrupted. On Friday we solid tined the two putting greens, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 17 and 25. Following on behind the vertidrain we groomed the greens, cut and double rolled. Solid tining can be seen as very disruptive by golfers, but this is only the case when using larger tines, needed for decompaction or hollow tines used for soil exchange. Now we have got firm surfaces that can support play in wetter conditions we will use small micro tines like this more often to ensure we get the rootzone aerated to promote better drainage, increased rooting which overall will produce better greens for the members.
Else where we finished repairing the bits of badger damage and water damage on holes 1, 10, 19 and 21 and fertilised the seeded bits. We have also topdressed more drainage work done this winter with straight sand now we are seeing some regrowth of water damaged grass.

Maintenance, the key to success!

We all see the end result but I think that the actual work that the green staff put in behind the scenes is not thought about by the majority. As the work load increases on the course to raise standards the strain and wear on machinery also increases. We are constantly fixing breakdowns and servicing machinery to ensure we stay as efficient as possible. Our machinery fleet are all serviced 'in house' by all the staff which are trained to carry out greasing, basic serving of air filters,, checking and topping up oil levels and carrying out reel to blade contact checks to ensure they are cutting correctly. We carry out pre inspections of all cutting machinery to ensure there are no oil leaks or any thing else that would be detrimental to the operation required. Check service intervals and marked to indicate any other attention or that the next service interval is reached. Depending on the piece of equipment and its use, work on them may be required such as changing of blades. This is needed on the two greens mowers which are used every day through the cutting season, applying sand to the greens also has an affect on the wear of bottom blades.

As the age of equipment increases the likely hood of repair will also increase, this year so far we seen an 25% increase in repair costs over last year.
We are always planning ahead to firstly to ensure budgets are put in place to fund any course or capital expenditure and secondly to ensure we can present the course in the best possible condition with the budgets set. Currently we are looking at 2014 and 2015 in respect to our aeration work and drainage needs, we are trialing renovation on the 19-27 greens in late August and early September this year with the possibility of a renovation week or fortnight at a similar time of year in 2014 for all greens aeration. The reasoning behind this is to ensure good recovery from tining, correct germination from overseeding and a lengthened golfing season on good greens. Our previous work in October has seen slow recovery although has been very beneficial to the long term health and playability of the greens.
Drainage of the course has also been discussed in respect of improving the drain down time and decreasing the potential of course closure, works on the course will continue and we are implementing a mid to long term plan which is yet to be finalised.
Our seasonal maintenance also has to be timed into the day to day running of the club, currently we are spraying selective herbicide across the course, strimming trees, edging bunkers and spraying grass off on paths. Correctly timed the results speak for them selves.

A good kill on pearlwort on the 25th green.

The last few days we have had really good comments and feed back from the visitors playing in reciprocal, charity day and the seniors open. Regular rolling for these competitions saw the greens running at 11' on the stimp this morning. Malton and Norton Golf Club is a course to be proud of.

View down the 6th

Fantastic week at the office!

Its not bad having a golf course as your office when weve had wall to wall sunshine this week and the course is looking the best it has for some time. Even last year with the weather we struggled to really get on top of things to make Malton and Norton Golf club look and play at its best. The green keeping team we have here always work hard to produce the best course we can offer and now we are in to our summer groove the members at Malton should be proud of what we have. To be honest my camera doesn't do the course justice!

The greens are increasing in speed due to regular rolling and the dry weather firming up the surfaces. This morning running at 10'6'' on the stimp meter.
We do still have some poor areas still from the water and badger damage but even those are recovering slowly and are class as GUR

 

The two pictures above are where we had severe badger damage throughout winter, now seeded and just about fully recovered. Below is what it was like after the damage has finally subsided.

Ouch, it still frustrates me to look back at these pictures. Fortunately as a club we have been proactive by applying insecticide to a lot of areas of the course to limit damage in the future.

The hedge that was removed is also recovering well after initial seeding however is still GUR

 

I think its finally here!

Summer could be here, sunshine, warmth, growth and the course looking great. For the coming days it looks like the good weather is here to stay, for a bit. Now we have strong growth we scarified the greens with our thatch away units set at 2mm below flush, this is to remove any organic matter that can form at the surface from dead grass material and to lift and remove lateral growth which can be a problem with bent grasses.

Following a pass with the thatch away units we then cut and groomed the greens with the groomers set at flush at the John Deere greens mower. Finishing with a clean up cut with the other John Deere greens mower. Following this procedure the greens certainly look smooth and given a week of dry weather the surfaces should increase in speed. Later this week I will test them with the stimp meter once more.

Other jobs today were to cut fairways, strim trees, test the irrigation leak fixed at 17th and continue with edging the bunkers.

 

Adam, Rich and Scott hard at it today !