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.