Tree work

Over the last couple of weeks the weather has remained dry, the cold northerly winds have continued which has caused more problems for the green keeper than a golfer maybe would appreciate. Firstly northerly winds are usually drier as they are not bringing moisture in from across the Atlantic as per the prevailing direction would. They are also cold as the air is generated from the Artic. These two factors coupled together can dry the ground and surfaces very fast compared to a southerly or westerly wind direction. Evapotranspiration is also a lot higher than it would be, say in the early spring when this wind direction would be considered more expected., due to the strength of the sun. Getting water on now is not so much of a problem with the new irrigation system if we didn't have constant strong winds. The relenting winds make applying irrigation tricky. The application uniformity is decreased during windy periods, leaving hand application more likely.

The hard ground conditions have allowed us to finish one of the last winter tasks, tree thinning on the 20th and 25th/26th holes. GBL Timber, a local tree contractor has been brought in to complete this work, they have the right machinery which saves valuable time and money for the club. The machinery they use is heavy, agricultural and will need to be taken across the course a number of times to access the sites. A week into the work and they have made great progress, all the trees to be removed are down and the trees have been tidied. the brash that they have removed has been piled into the copses to be mulched with a specialist machine which is tractor driven. The reasoning behind thinning those particular woodlands is firstly to allow the remaining trees room to flourish, also the copse was dense and limited any light to the floor so there was no grass growth. This then has attracted rabbits to burrow and I felt that opening up the trees would limit further damage. We will also be able to access between the trees to cut at the end of the season.

Trees are part of maintaining a parkland golf course however they do cause problems. As stated above they need to be managed to be able to grow good quality turf. Below is another example of problems we face. Its the rear of the 2nd green where there is a line of leylandii trees near to the green. The irrigation contractors have had to go past the rear of the green to install the irrigation mains, cutting through he roots in doing so. This has left the turf on the right enough moisture to thrive, whereas on the left the roots are still taking all the moisture even though its water regularly from the greens sprinklers. root pruning can be done anywhere on the course using a specialist machine, seeing how it effects turf is maybe something ill plan into the maintenance of the course in the coming years.

I'm pleased to welcome Lynsey Frost to the greens team, she has come to work part time throughout the summer to help carry out all the tasks and help improve the consistent great condition of the course.

We have started to edge all the bunkers again, the edges of the bunkers grow in over time making them look untidy. We use a strimmer to go around the edge of the bunker to remove any long ends. The sand is then shimmed to remove any underground stems and weeds, before the sand is checked and redistributed to any low areas. The sand is still very soft as we have had little rain since filling the bunkers back in March. Hopefully it will integrate better after some rain. The type of sand that we have in our bunker is naturally soft and free draining, something that cant be changed without changing the type of sand. That would be difficult as not all sands are compatible when mixed.

The dry weather has improved rooting on the greens, all roots will be fighting for any moisture available, the deeper they go the more moisture present. This photo shows that deep tining helps the roots go deep in the soil, and therefore remain healthier during dry periods. It has to be said there are only certain varieties of grass that will root to that depth. Generally the bents and fescues will out compete poa during dry weather as there roots will extend deep into the soil profile. Poa roots are general very shallow and love wet warm weather, or when moisture is in abundance.

Today we have started to groom and cut the greens slightly lower, the bench setting has been reduced to 4mm giving an actual height of cut of around 3.5mm. The groomers are now being used to remove lateral growth.