Springtime

The last week or so has felt like spring has finally arrived, there is strength in the sun and the grass is beginning to show some signs of steady growth. I think in this area we have once again been very fortunate with the weather, as all around us have had heavy rain and even snow. Over the last two weeks we have only had around 7mm of rain and no snow or even sleet. The course therefore is taking shape and is looking great. We have now completed all bunker edging and have topped up all 1-18 and a couple of the practice ground bunkers with sand. I have ordered another 29 tonnes of sand which should be enough to fill the remaining bunkers on the Derwent course. I have to emphasise that putting fresh sand in the bunkers will, at first be very soft. The new sand needs time to settle compact and integrate with the existing sand.

The irrigation work is continuing, all control boxes are now complete, the armoured cable has been installed to power the pump station, which should be arriving the start of next week. Once this is in place it can be connected. The contractors are going back to any snagging issues across the course, so this may be damaged, raised or sunken turf, or simply tidying up. I am marking all areas which I feel need attention. The crossing of the access road near the 8th tee and the suction well on the 24th is still to be done but is scheduled for the next week or so.

We have started to mark out the car park, this will be finished next week.

Four of the team took part in a chainsaw refresher course through Linda Bower Land Based Training on Monday and Tuesday of this week. The two day course covered all aspects of safe use and effective cutting techniques.

Over the next month a forestry contractor will be coming to carry on the tree thinning which was started in 2016 to the left of hole 26. The pine copses in this area are severely overcrowded and need reducing to allow light and air movement around the turfed areas. He will also be removing a dangerous ash tree near the ladies 15th tee. This has rot through the heart of the tree and must come down for safety reasons.

Next week we will be tidying all areas of the course again, depending on the weather we hope to start scarifying and grooming lateral growth on the greens. The bent grass at this time of the year starts growing at a different rate than the poa. This causes patchy looking growth, although we try and encourage bent grass to grow as its more disease and drought resistant than poa and once groomed makes a very good putting surface, it does need maintenance to improve its fineness. During spring I feel it is best practice to wait until we see consistent, strong growth before trying to groom. Grooming and scarifying grass involves vertical cutting and removal of organic matter which stresses the plants. If this is done too early the health of the greens goes backwards and can lead to thin disease prone growth. Once the greens have been groomed another application of fertiliser will be applied to help boost recovery before we start aerating, tining and topdressing in April.

Trees and bunkers

Another week into the year and spring is most definitely here, this week has seen sunny but showery conditions, temperatures have been better and grass is starting to grow. We have been getting machinery maintenance work complete ready for the next stage of course maintenance. Machinery work left mainly consists of smaller items, such as the tee side mowers and deck mowers, all cylinders and blades have been ground and are ready for the season.

Most of the greens are being cut with the triple mowers, we are still cutting at our winter height of 4.5mm, currently the  conditions are too soft to start thinking about reducing height of cut.

The 21st and 24th greens are still on winter greens as he greens are softer and the area around the greens is incredibly wet due to constant flooding issues from the River Derwent. Those two greens, along with the front putting green are being cut with the hand mower at a similar height. The greens are getting a lot of play, and to be honest not in the most ideal conditions most of the time and that is taking its toll the 2nd green in particular is soft and the surface is suffering. There are a few other areas where the greens are weaker, mainly due to light, shade and traffic.

Whilst moving the hole on the 5th it was a perfect example of the issues some areas of the course have during the winter months. It was a bright sunny morning and due to tree density to the south side of the hole no sunlight was getting to the green. As you can see from the picture the light is reaching the tree line behind the green, but no direct sunlight falls on the putting surface. As the year moves on the suns position will get higher to the point where it will be high enough to shine above the tree line and on to the turf. I have estimated there are 5 months of the year when the 5th green receives NO DIRECT sunlight. Sunlight is very important for grass, firstly grass plants produce their food by absorbing carbon dioxide from the air and fixing it at a binding site within the plant. Chlorophyll, the substance that gives grass its green colour, is also part of the photosynthesis process.
We see grass as green because chlorophyll absorbs red and blue wavelengths, while reflecting a green colour. When grass absorbs the light energy, the chlorophyll molecule goes into a high energy state, providing chemical energy for plant metabolism. No direct sunlight reduces the energy available and produces a weaker hungrier plant. Which is why we see greens such as 5, along with 2, 10, and 25 struggle a little more than some of the others. Lack of sunlight also has secondary effects, such as higher disease risk, due to wetter surfaces (no natural drying) and weaker grass plants. In order to increase sunlight we need to look at reducing the density of the canopy on this particular area of the course.

We have started edging bunkers ready for the arrival of 90 tonnes of bunker sand which will used to fill all low bunkers. Adding sand into the bunkers will make them softer for a period of time until they settle and compact. Any damaged edges are being repaired and tidied as we go around.

The irrigation contractors are doing really well, only 2 days have been lost due to the weather so far, and they are on schedule. They have around 8 valve boxes to refit, this then completes the mains and valve work. They have one final job to do before the tanks and system can be filled with water, that is the well for the transfer and aeration pumps, which is sited next to the 24th pond. We are hoping in a week or so the area will be dry enough to install it.  The irrigation storage tank is now built, we are just waiting on the arrival of the pump houses, one to be sited near the tank and a smaller one to house the electrics for the transfer pumps. Once the pump houses arrive, the pumps and electric can be connected and then tested. On the course there may be some areas we still need the contractors to go back and address, such as any unevenness and settlement, any issues will be dealt with at the end of the project. The system, once fully finished will be pressure tested, as the system is under constant stable pressure (by design) it needs to be 100% leak free, if the pressure drops over a period of time then the system will have to be isolated into zones to discover where any problems may be. These will all be dealt with by the contractors before the work is 'signed off'.

Irrigation Update #6

We are now well into the year and I'm starting to get the feel spring is on its way, grass growth has been much stronger over the last week or so and on the better days it feels like there is some warmth in the sun. Mornings are getting lighter, although there is still a high chance there could be some wintery weather before we reach the golfing season.

On the course we have been trimming most areas as and when conditions allow, greens and surrounds have been cut following the fertiliser application which was put on last week, that is now starting to take effect and we should see some 'green up' soon. Following that application we will now be looking to apply our next preventative fungicide, mainly to reduce the risk of fusarium at this time of the year, but will also help fight other diseases that may be active.

All hedge cutting is now finished, so our focus has been on finishing pruning of shrubs and gorse bushes.

Staining of seating and bins is nearly complete, with only a few left for bad weather days.

Now our attention will be on bunker edging and filling with sand, most of the bunkers need sand, some are worse than others. All bunkers will be strimmed around and any damage or poor edges will be reshaped or repaired. Levels will be checked and sand added where needed.

The irrigation contractors are making great progress, all the pipe work has been installed and they are now continuing with the control boxes. They are having to re-pipe some of the tees as the damage to the pipework has been too extensive to repair, this will be at their cost. The tank has started to be constructed, this is made of sections which are bolted together, there then is a liner which is placed inside and secured around the rim. The roof structure will then be built to protect the water from debris and other contaminants.

The trees are now all planted and secured, we have also planted up where the old 20th hole used to be, Lesley Matthers has kindly donated four trees and Colin Webster has planted a number of small trees taken from off the course. Some more tree work will continue during spring, where trees will be pruned and some thinning work undertaken.

This week we attended a seminar at Pontefract Golf Club, where we listened to various speakers discussing the future of chemicals within the industry. Over the past 3 years we have already seen a number of very effective chemicals taken off the market due to their risk to the environment. EU directives are being tightened to not allow any chemicals that are extremely mobile within the soil to be used, not just on turf but within agriculture also. Their logic is if they are mobile then they have the potential to enter water courses and cause greater damage to the environment. Over the last few years it was just the active ingredient within the chemicals that was analysed and restricted to the minimum safe effective use quantities, but now they are looking at all ingredients which come within the chemical bottle, so adjuvants, wetter's, colorants etc. Some are already being restricted and are having to be remade using safer additives to ensure the active ingredients are maximised. A number of fungicides will be the next to go, they estimate over the next 3 years. For us as green keepers this will make maintenance of a golf course much more challenging. For example the chemicals used for worms, chafer grubs, leatherjackets, rye grass removal and selected fungicides have already gone, with no replacements. As I have spoke about previously sanding will be more common to keep surfaces dry, and reduce cast damage, this will be our greatest challenge going forward due to the land type. As for grub damage, nematodes are still available, however are extremely difficult to apply. There are new chemicals being developed which are safe to use and meet the criteria asked however new chemicals take around 10 years to be fully tested and developed to the point the can be brought to market. I will keep all informed if there is any further news.