After the rain we received around two weeks ago growth has exploded. With short working weeks and a lot of golf being played its been difficult to keep up with all cutting, some areas have had to be cut and then blown to keep the playing areas tidy. The team have done a fantastic job and deserve a lot of praise, the course looks fantastic and we have heard lots of positive feedback.
We have now
adjusted heights of cut for summer maintenance, current bench settings:
Greens : 3.5mm,
Surrounds: 10mm, Tees: 10mm, Fairways: 14mm
‘Bench
setting’ is the term we use to describe the height of cut set with a gauge bar
or setting bar on each unit. The actual height of cut of the grass plants can
differ from the bench setting due to the type of rollers on the machine, ground
conditions, weight of unit and set up of cut. For example the greens mowers are
set at 3.5mm, however the actual height of cut is around 3 - 3.25mm. The actual
height of cut is measured using a prism gauge.
To continue our maintenance of the greens a dressing of sand will be applied next week, this will be matted in to the sward. Following the dressing of sand, we will continue applications of liquid Urea (7kgN/hect), biostimulants, growth regulator and phosphites. 
The fairways
have now all been sprayed with a selective weed killer and fertiliser, we had a
contractor to spray them as it was a more cost-effective way of treating them
on a bi annual basis. We had to close the course for this, thank you for your
understanding during that time. We have sprayed all areas of semi rough with a
selective weed killer to control mainly clover, daisies and buttercups.
The drainage and ditch work on 16th is now complete and all areas are now in
play, however the drainage work on the fairway is to be top dressed to level out the
turf over the next few weeks. The ladies 22nd tee is yet to be
finished, just some seeding to complete. The tee top has been turfed and will be in play as soon as I feel
it’s ready. We have started tidying and seeding all damage done when installing the irrigation
The tree
work has now been completed, GBL timber have done a great job of thinning and
clearing all the weed trees in the copses on 26th hole. This should
allow all the other trees room to flourish. The dangerous ash tree on the 15th
hole has also been removed.
The
irrigation system is just about complete, all the new pumps and electrics are
installed and up and running, we have been using it over this recent hot spell
and to put how good the new system is into perspective here’s some numbers to
help:
Old
New
Time to fill
water all greens (3mm) 8.5h 2.5h
Time to
water all greens and tees (3mm) 14.5h 4.25h
Time to fill
tank 12h 2.5h
Pressure of
system 7.5
BAR 9.6 BAR
Max flow
rate of system 12
m3 40m3
Number of
stations running at once 1 6
As you can
see not only is the system capable of cutting time by over half it enables us
to water, if needed above ET (evapotranspiration) rates. Once there becomes a
water deficit situation this can lead to drought stress within the plants. The
system also enables us to carry out cycle and soak applications, for example,
if we wanted to apply 6mm of water per m2, simply putting on all that water in
one go would lead to run off and the distribution of the water would be uneven.
We now can apply the 6mm in 3 stages, applying 2mm letting it soak in then
another 2mm and so on. This method of irrigating ensures the water goes deeper
into the soil profile and to where the roots can take it up and where there is
less chance of evaporation.
Irrigation
is also being applied to newly planted trees, seeded and turfed areas during
this dry spell.
All bunkers
have been edged and tidied on 1-18, 19-27 will be completed next week, we are now routinely checking and tidying bunker
edges for rabbit scrapes daily, however it’s the golfer’s responsibility to
rake footprints and ball marks in bunkers to keep them in a good condition for
your fellow golfers.
