Course Report – October 2018
It’s been a mixed month
weather wise, the pattern of very little rain continues, generally dry with
spells of breezy and warm weather with the occasional cold spell thrown in. For
this time of year, the ground is very dry in places after the warm and dry
summer we have just experienced. However, I would take a drier spell through to
Christmas after last year’s continuous wet weather that started in September
and didn’t relent until March. Reflecting on the wet period from last year, the
fact the turf was severely wet for so long would have caused considerable
stress to the grass and possibly caused increased compaction increasing the
damage we have seen through summer, as the grass plant had very little time to
recover.
Growth on the course is slow,
we now have the opportunity to start to de-compact some of the areas, to allow
better rooting and encourage more vigorous grass growth. Hopefully we will
start to see some recovery before the real winter weather approaches. So far,
we have micro hollow tined some of the poor approaches and surrounds, which
will be done again, weather permitting. Following those, we have micro hollow
tined some of the poor greens again, selecting the worst areas, the 2nd,
5th, 10th, 12th and front putting green have had sections
tined and backfilled with sand. We have seeded the 2nd, 5th
and front putting green to improve the sward composition. These greens are very
poor primarily due to the drainage characteristics of the soil, other factors
that make these worse than others on the course are shade, shape and air flow,
all these can be improved over time. During such a dry year it is hard to think
that a green struggles to drain, but due to the amount of irrigation that has
been needed to keep the high areas of the green alive the low areas have really
struggled on such greens.
The fairways are being disc
seeded, using the disc seeder will cause short term disruption to the surface,
however the action of cutting through quite a thatchy upper surface will allow
water to penetrate into the soil freely and it will also help create new grass
growth. The fairways will be sprayed with liquid fertiliser once the conditions
become suitable.
Next week (w/c 15th
Oct) we will start the aeration on the greens using the Air2G2. With use of the hired machine we can
penetrate up to 45cm, blasting air into the soil structure which will cause
fracturing and allowing pockets of air where water and new root structures can
penetrate. The great benefit of this machine other than aiding drainage, is
that it causes very little disturbance, so from a golfer perspective we can
keep the greens in a good condition for winter golf.
A granular fertiliser has been
applied to the greens and surrounds (except 19-27), 4-0-14+Fe applying 9kg/N
over a 4-5 week period. At this stage of the year it is important not too over
stimulate growth as it leaves the grass plants more susceptible to disease,
however some nutrition is needed to keep the plants healthy to enable recovery
when growth is slow. A preventative fungicide has also been applied to the
greens (except 19-27). Now chemicals are becoming less toxic to the
environment, and rightfully so, fungicides are becoming very specific to the
target. Rather than being able to treat curatively, they are now applied
preventatively to stop initial disease infections. This is far more time
consuming and overall more expensive to ensure turf is under the minimum risk
of attack. Once the turf shows sign of disease it will not recover fully, we
can only limit the damage. Fungicide applications will increase from 4/5 to
around 6/7 mainly throughout winter for fusarium and during July and August for
Anthracnose. Applications will be made at intervals of 21-28 days based on
potential disease pressure. The increased applications would increase costs
significantly. To stay within the annual budgets, greens on 19-27 are not being
treated in the same way, I would expect to see increased disease activity on
those greens this winter, we have also reduced other expenditure on the Derwent
course to stay within allocated budgets for 2018.
The greens that were scarified
during summer are now fully recovered on 10-18, not quite as knitted still on
19-27, this is mainly due to the reduction in fertiliser applied. The whole
process has been interesting from a turf management point of view. Initially we
were happy with the amount of organic matter the machine removed, we estimate
the GKB machine removed 4 times the amount we removed via hollowcoring, the GKB
machine was faster and less labor intensive, however, and this is the big issue
we are faced with in planning next years renovations, recovery was slower. From
a golf point of view, we need to balance both sides. I still feel it is too
early to make a judgement as we may see significant long-term improvements to
the greens using the new method which outweigh the short term negatives.
Elsewhere we have cut all long
rough areas with a tractor mounted rotary mower, these were the areas which
could not be accessed with the Amazone machine during spring.
The leylandii hedges are being
cut, the hand cut areas are being started initially then a contractor will come
to finish any areas that he can access along with sections of thorn.
Now the leaves are starting to
fall we will constantly be clearing priority areas, the tractor mounted blower
is used to clear large areas of leaves, the back pack required for small, more
difficult areas. Once the volume of leaves starts to increase they will be
collected using the Amazone. Currently the tractor used to pull the Amazone is
tied up disc seeding the fairways. The local rule regarding lost balls due to
leaf litter is now in play. I stress this only applies to casual golf only. If balls are lost it entitles the player
to drop a ball without penalty in the area which they feel it was lost. This is
to speed up play and not to punish the golfer during casual play.
Preferred lies are now on (1st
Oct) due to the aeration work which is under way and for any poor conditions we
now may experience coming into the winter period.
Unfortunately worm casts are becoming a real issue
once more, as previously stated there are no cost-effective chemicals to remove
worm casts, we are continuing to apply sand and iron to deter activity.
Winter tees are being cut in preparation for use and
mats will be taken out onto the course in the next few weeks where needed but
will not be in use until weather and growing conditions dictate the need for
them. The use of winter mats does shorten the length of the course but without
the use of them the course would suffer greatly and remain unplayable for
longer.
The winter programme of tree work includes removal of
all dead or dying trees and branches marked with white paint and removal of
obstructing and interfering branches with reduce playability from certain areas
of the course. Some woodland is also to be thinned such as left of 5th.
Other work in the winter programme will be finalised for the next monthly
report.
2017 2018
January - 23mm January
- 58mm
February - 52mm February
- 30mm
March - 41mm March
- 75mm
April - 18mm April
- 40mm
May - 41mm May
- 26mm
June - 66mm June
- 6mm
July - 112mm July
- 38mm
August - 82mm August
- 24mm
September - 68mm September
- 64mm
October - 55mm October
-
November- 52mm November
-
December- 45mm December-
2017 Rainfall - 655mm 2018
Rainfall – 361mm
Average annual rainfall- 620mm
Richard Jacques
Head Greenkeeper
