Testing weather

After the last serving of snow around a week ago we were treated to another very light covering, only a cm in total but enough to cause issues once again.

With the course being partially closed for the last week we have taken the opportunity to start pruning and removing dead and dying trees. Travelling around the course has been a real issue as we don’t want to cause any damage. We have been working around the 11^th, 12^th, 13^th and 14^th holes, where we are near to the fire and minimises travelling. All trees are being assessed and pruned with maintenance and playability of the course in mind.

The team have worked hard to continue in some pretty bad conditions, however just as the course is closed it doesn't mean we take it easy. Sometimes the poor conditions on course can be used in your favour, for example the soil conditions are very wet across the course but after a severe frost travelling with heavy loads are not so much of an issue due to the frozen ground.

On the negative side, the severe frost has had a big impact on the condition of the course, the freeze/thaw pattern has left the greens waterlogged and covered in ice. The shorter the grass is cut the less insulation the sward provides to the soil. Greens for example have the least insulation, therefore after the recent overnight temperatures of -6 Celsius the frost went into the soil around 25-35mm, whereas the semi rough only penetrated down to 5-10mm. Any rainfall on top of frozen ground hasn’t anywhere to go, this is when the conditions deteriorate quickly. The surface water then refreezes creating sheets of ice and dangerous golfing conditions. It also poses a greater threat to the turf. As temperatures rise during the day the surface will begin to thaw slightly, with the lower profile remaining frozen, any play or maintenance on the turf during these conditions will create an issue called root sheer. This is when the top surface moves from the lower surface breaking all rooting from the grass. No roots = no recovery for the grass plant, resulting in long term and potentially severe damage. Obviously, the greens are the highest priority areas, and these must be protected during these circumstances, however we need to make a judgement regarding the playability verses long term damage for the rest of the course.

Normally at this time of the year we expect to see a little wet weather and even some closures through  the amount of rain, however the relentless summer rainfall totals have taken its toll.

The total rainfall we have had this year isn’t the highest I have personally recorded but it’s the timing of the rainfall which has had a significant impact to the playability of the course. The year started off really dry with only 175mm rain through to the end of May. From then on, we received the average winter’s rainfall throughout summer and into Autumn. This created several issues, firstly the grass growth through summer was at times uncontrollable, but secondly and the problem we have now got, the soils were saturated going into Autumn. Normally after a relatively normal summer the soils are dry and can absorb the rains of Autumn and Winter, this year they simply could not.

The information regarding the leylandii hedge changes is now on the website and in the locker rooms for all to see before work starts on those in January.

An overdue round up

Apologies for the severe lack of updates during the last 3 weeks, very little time has left me unable to keep up with all that is going on around the course. So here goes a full round up of all the happenings, firstly we have had our first taste of a real winter with around 50mm of snow falling on the course and around the region around a week ago. This was short lived but did close the course for a few days.

The snow fell on already saturated ground so when the thaw came there was a lot of water standing. We have managed to dry out now and all 27 holes are back open after a period when we were only 14-18 holes.

During the thaw period there were some cold nights, freezing the wet soft snow and saturated ground, perfect conditions to  cause long term damage to the turf should the course have been near playable. In those circumstances we will have to apply restrictions to prevent damage.

As you can see frozen surface with a very soft top layer on the turf.

The thaw also brought the first flood event on holes 21-24, this section of land is only around 1m above the River Derwent's natural level. As soon as excess water and snow thaw enters the river the levels soon begin to rise. When this happens the 21st and 24th greens become unplayable and we have to use winter cups to keep play going.

Once dried out our focus has been on collecting the last of the leaves now all are off the trees. This is a time consuming task but worth it in the long run to ensure the turf is in the best condition possible come spring. The ditches have also been cleared of debris to ensure all drainage can work as efficiently as possible.

Around tees and greens get a thorough back pack blow to remove any leaves settled in the grass, below is the finished result, the 5th green /6th tee is notorious for leaf issues, but the team have spent a long time ensuring all are blown and collected.

Some tees like the ladies 9th take a lot longer as they are surrounded by trees and permanently have leaf clearance issues, however now all leaves have fallen we should start to see these being tidied.

The team have also been busy starting pruning trees around the course, working where we can due to the ground conditions

All the range divider wires have been replaced as they were rotting from being exposed to the elements for so long, we have also started to replace the bolts holding the mats down and turn them to ensure they do not wear from play.

Before the wintery weather arrived we managed to get some winter fertiliser on to the greens after they were cut. This should strengthen the plant going into winter and help resist any further disease attack. Most of the greens are holding up well, we had a bit of disease on a few of the wetter greens, such as the 5th, 10th, 12th and 19th, this has been treated however a few scars remain. We hope to do some aeration to the worst greens before Christmas, they will benefit from aeration as the soil is so saturated. This is as long as the weather conditions allow.

Hopefully I will try and update again before Christmas