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.