Winter golf

With the recent wet, cold and wintery weather it feels like the winter golf season is upon us, last weekend we had a very wet Friday into Saturday which left the greens and surrounding areas saturated and unfortunately for the first time since the 16th April this year the course was closed for the day. Even though we battled to push off water and get the course playable there was going to be damaged caused that would be detrimental to the course long term. Thankfully the weather improved late Saturday and into Sunday and we could reopen. With more wet weather likely to be coming across the country over the coming months we will start installing the winter cups and cutting out winter holes which we can use on fairway areas should the greens not be fit for play.

After a couple of frosty mornings I have noticed some golfers are still not keeping to the semi during frost conditions, and knocking ice from shoes before walking onto the greens. We try to present greens in the best possible condition for this time of year, however after only a few golfers have played through the first hole the surface can look very poor due to ice impressions from footwear or buggy damage. Below are pictures taken after just one four-ball has played the 10th hole.

Leaf collection is still high on the daily agenda, however it does seem we are getting through the intense fall period. A number of trees are starting to become bare and in these areas we can thoroughly tidy the grass knowing we can keep it tidy for a while. The other areas are still being blown and rounded for collection.

The greens have been sprayed with a preventative fungicide, the current wet and warmer conditions are ideal for disease and left untreated can spread quickly. We noticed a little on a few greens before application, however weather windows for application are few and far between at this time of the year.

Eddie has now completed installation of winter tees for this winter. We now have winter tees on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 12th and 13th holes. Please give feed back to the sizes used and the playability of them during all conditions when in use.

Certain wet areas around the greens have been hand forked to alleviate compaction, these are usually the areas we cant access or work on very easily with the vertidrain due to ground conditions or slopes.

The path down to the 21st tee has now been re-stoned and covered with a cement based product which I'm hoping will stop the stone from being washed down the slope during heavy rainfall as it previously did.

This week due to leaves, rain and lack of growth we have cut the greens and surround only. Other areas are slowing in growth and do not warrant cutting yet.

The trial I did on the driving range regarding the worm cast irritant and leaving an area untreated to see its effects is now shown the effectiveness and need for worm control. The picture below is part of the area I did not spray compared to an area which has been treated (bottom picture). Although the treated area is still a little muddy from cutting there is very few new casts compared to the untreated area.