December flooding

Tues 29th December

Well I thought it was worth squeezing in another blog before the new year. This period is usually a quite one but this year has been far from quite. From 10am on Christmas Eve , Christmas Day and the next 48 hours we received around 100mm of rain. This is an unbelievable amount of water in such a short period. To put that into context it's a quarter of the total rainfall for the previous 11 months. The course simply could not take that volume of water. I went to the course on Boxing Day whilst the rain was still beating down. I have never seen the devastation of flood water in my previous 18 years. Even the wettest year on record, 2012 did not have such volume in one period of rainfall. The ditches on the 1st, 8th, 9th and 10th are all linked and fed from a stream that enters the course left of the first. This comes from welham road. The volume of water entering the course was dramatic, far more than the outlets could discharge. This led to a back up of water within the ditches until they reached breaking point. The water came out of the ditches, over the banks and flooded large portions of the 9th fairway and 1st hole. Within hours of me being at the course on Boxing Day it flowed like a river down the 9th and across the tee towards the 12th hole. After another hour the water was rising so fast it reached the height of the road near the 10th green. Crossing the road it then flowed in front of the green and found it's way into the 10th ditch. 

Walking the rest of the course it was a similar scene else where. Water flowing like a river down the 10th fairway across the front of the 13th and towards the 14th pond and ditch. 

The new section of ditch on the 20th has saved a lot of flooding. It was full to bursting flowing into the 17th and into the outlet ditch at the 14th. The derwent holes, 21-24 are underwater, the river derwent is rising quickly. The flood defences holding back a lot of water but still very wet. 

A very sad scene. 

Returning to the course each day the flood water across most of the course is receding. A number of wet areas are land locked and will probably need pumping out. The ground is saturated and although the standing water is reducing there are a lot of areas still too wet for play to resume. Walking the course yesterday there are a few holes that are starting to become playable. Unfortunately there are only 5 that are consecutive and accessible. The main areas still holding the course back in terms of getting some play going is around the 19th green to the 20th tee and the 27th tee area. If these improve then we could get around 10 holes back in play. The majority of greens would be on temporary greens however. The staff have a lot of work to do to return the course back to reasonable condition and unfortunately the weather forecast isnt great. Areas that are going to take a lot longer to recover are the 1st due to flood water and saturated conditions, 9th tee and fairway, 11th tee is inaccessible due to flood water, 11th green and 12th tee saturated due to springs discharging. 4th approach, 5th fairway and 1st green due to springs discharging, 14th green, 15th/17th tee due to wet/ saturated ground conditions, the areas around 19/20/27 as mentioned above and obviously the holes on 21-24 effected by the flooding. The course is inspected daily and the staff making every effort to get you golfing again. 

Anyone who walks the course whist it is closed might think there's no water on the greens so why can't we play?

Unfortunately it's not that simple, we need to ensure there are at least around 9 consecutive holes to play( these don't have to be the normal order of play), but the main point we have to consider is how golfers would access each tee, green and how traffic would flow around the holes that are open. If areas within the route are wet enough that play would cause irreversible damage then we can't allow play. We can use ropes and divert traffic as much as possible, if there is nowhere to send golfers we have no other option. The long term condition of the course has to be considered and if I feel that would be compromised opening the course in unfit conditions would be irresponsible. I can understand golfers frustrations at the present time, can I just remind all that up to Boxing Day we were only closed 4 times for the rest of the year. 

Please ring the course info line on 01653695955 or the pro shop for daily updates. 

Below are pictures taken from Boxing Day.  

Here are some pictures from yesterday (29th).

Merry Christmas

The last post of the year, before I sign off and take a break over the Christmas period. 

We have a couple of days of dry weather so we have cut greens, moved holes and tidied a couple of areas of the course. 

We have planted some small pines around the new 20th tee these will add to the screening and create a nice area of woodland in years to come. 

More mature trees will be planted in the new year. 

Ditch clearance has continued, with only a small section remaining in the new year. 

From all the staff at malton and norton golf club have a fantastic Christmas and I'll see you in the new year. 

Hole moving

The process of moving holes on the greens isnt a long or difficult task but is a very important one to ensure that wear gets spread evenly across the green and to allow golfers a different challenge as they play each week. I thought I would show how the hole is moved and what the staff have to think about during the task. 

Above is the equipment we need to take with us each time. There is the hole cutter, cup remover, changing board, scissors, depth gauge, towel, alternate flags, mallet, spanner and hole position guide. 

First the new position is selected using the position guide. This ensures that the hole is positioned across the whole green over 6 moves. This helps spread wear and having a guide helps staff know where the pin is roughly located each time the hole is moved. Other things to take in to consideration is damage to the green, old plugs, weather forecasts and potential debris issues.

Once selected the hole cutter is knocked into the green and the plug is removed. 

The old cup is removed and the new plug placed in the hole. 

Once put in it is important that the plug sits level in the green so the turf is not scalped off when cutting.

The new hole is trimmed with curved scissors to remove excess growth

The cup, cleaned, is replaced and set using the depth gauge and the flag colour is changed to it's corresponding colour.

The pin replaced and onto the next green

The holes are moved twice a week in winter and three times during summer. 

Today we have cut greens again before more rain arrives, continued with ditch clearance and painted markers. 

Tidy up ready for Christmas

As we approach the Christmas break the temperatures are increasing not decreasing due to a southerly air flow which is caused by a deep depression of cold air over the Altlantic ocean. The short term forecast is for higher than average temperatures as the jet stream created by the cold air over the poles is sitting right over the uk. This creates a series of low pressure systems inevitably bringing moist air across the country. Currently the wave is set to last until just after Christmas when they predict temperatures will dip slightly but it certainly isn't going to be a hard period of cold weather. 

So what does this mean for the golf course. Firstly the grass is still growing, cutting areas is still a challenge due to wet ground conditions. We have been able to keep the greens, surrounds and approaches tidy. Still soft in places but overall looking ok for the time of year. 

The higher temperatures has also brought out more golfers, which for is means increased wear. Fortunately we are able to utilise the fact we have 27 holes and can close 9 to carry out essential maintenance which does spread wear also. Unfortunately the wet weather also leaves a lot of areas which are now becoming very sticky. 

Please could I remind all golfers, specifically buggy users to take care on the course. 

Finally due to moist air disease pressure is also high. Any grass disease is initiated by constantly moist, warm weather. The main disease problem at this time of year is fusarium patch, mainly effecting poa or annual meadow grass. Spraying fungicides (chemicals that reduce disease damage) is difficult. Systemic fungicides, chemicals that enter and stay in the plant are slow to work at this time of the year but with constant growth are the most effective option at the moment. Usually in December we would normally spray contact fungicides which don't enter the plant, simply stick to the outer leaf, when there is no growth this is ideal but during growing conditions it would be cut off the leaf within a week of application. So the question is what do we do to prevent disease? Spraying fungicides is expensive so until the weather changes to ideal conditions we won't be applying any fungicides to the turf. Until a preventative fungicide can be sprayed cultural maintenance is carried out. Cultural methods include removing dew daily, not over stressing the turf and appling nutrients that harden the turf to naturally resist disease ingress.  

Elsewhere a final tidy of the course is ongoing before Christmas. Removing leaves and other debris from around greens and tees and other large branches from copses and woodlands. 

Ditches are also being cleared across the course. 

Wind down

As we approach Christmas the major renovations are slowing down and we are getting tidied up ready for a period when we have reduced staff numbers. We have had holes 10-18 closed this week so work has concentrated around this area of the course. Tree pruning has continued. The 11th tee area is one that we have pruned the trees back hard. They were effecting turf health and reducing the usage of the teeing area. A total of 15 large trailer loads were removed from between the 11th and 12th holes. 

The overall result is going to benefit the playability of the course and the quality of the turf. 

Following work around this tee and green we have tidied leaves, sticks and debris using the back packs. 

The only bunker requiring turfing on 10-18 was the right green bunker on 15. 

The wooden benches have been brought in to allow them to dry over the festive period. We have also started to make some more stained fence posts. 

Over the last week the course has been battered by constant rain and is very wet in areas, more winter cups have been installed and today 4 were in play. I know they are not ideal but are effective in keeping the course open and playable without causing long term damage to the course. 

Dry enough for a cut

IAt last the weather dried up enough to get a reasonable cut to the surrounds and approaches. It has been nearly a month since we were last able to cut them due to wet weather and debris constantly battering the course. Even now we weren't able to cut all of them. A mixture of hand cutting and triple cutting. Some areas are just too wet, once again highlights how effective the drainage we have installed is and how we need to improve other areas. We have also cut greens and fertilised them with a 2-0-10 fertiliser with slow release iron. This will harden the sward heading into the Christmas period. 

We have finished our bunker repairs on holes 1-9, rich and Sam doing a great job. There aren't too many to do on holes 10-18 bit they will be tackled next week when we have those holes closed. 

We have been continuing with tree pruning. On to holes 10-18 again we will 

Concentrate on those holes again next week. 

Moles are always a problem, one job that is never ending. We regularly set traps which reduces numbers. Catching around 60 per year. This has reduced a lot since I took over 7 years ago. The first couple of years we caught around 150 per year, so we are getting on top of them however they will always come on to the course from perimeter land to find food. 

Colder winds of late have brought down the rest of the leaves so we have had a final clear up and taken the cage off. A lot of debris has also been collected, mainly sticks and branches from copses. 

We have also made a start cleaning out ditches and drains to ensure they run freely. 

Turfing

The last couple of days has seen the projects we started get tidied up. The bunkers on the 4th and 7th have been turfed. This has repaired the worn areas on the faces. It has just left the 3rd to complete next week. 

We have also completed the open drain installation on the 8th green surround. The lads have done a great job and will save a lot of work and add to the health of the green. 

We have also continued with tree pruning  on holes 1,8 and 9.