Tuesday 18 December 2018

September Course Report


Course Report – September 2018



Over the last month we have had typically seasonal weather. The end of august and into September brought cooler nights which felt like autumn was beginning. Shorter days and blustery conditions have started turning some of the trees golden and the leaves starting to fall in some areas. It did stay relatively dry, in this area we only received 24mm of rain during August; some parts of the country had 4 to 5 times this amount. The course is the driest I have seen it in the 20 years I have worked here, it is very difficult to see something, all the green staff work so hard to make the best we can, be at the mercy of mother nature. The drought conditions have left the turf very patchy and aesthetically poor compared to what we are used to at this time of the year.

We were incredibly lucky with our yearly renovations, each week we worked on the greens we had dry, windy weather which is perfect for ensuring the sand fills the holes correctly. Any rain during the work would have slowed the pace and not incorporated the sand into the greens as desired. At this point I would like to give a mention to all the volunteers that turned up to assist us with the greens maintenance on the 10th of September. Around 16 members assisted in clearing and collecting all the thatch that was removed from the Derwent 9 greens. Without these volunteers we would have not been able to complete the clean up and get the Derwent greens open for the following morning. To put how much the assistance helped, the same task done on holes 10-18 took 5 hours longer with just the green staff doing all the clearing and repair work. Amazing effort from all that helped, and I’m sure some sore backs in the evening.

Overall the work was a success, however shortly after the tining had finished on holes 1-9 we had an outbreak of anthracnose on a few greens (the 2nd and the 5th worst effected), this is a disease that affects mainly poa (Annual meadow grass). It infects stressed and bruised grass leaves, turning them straw like before the plants die back. There are two types of this disease, the first is foliar blight, this affects the leaves only, and giving the plant a chance of re-establishing again, the second is basal rot. This is the more severe case of anthracnose this enters the plant and kills the root system as well, leaving no chance of recovery. We had mostly foliar blight, but in some areas the plants did completely die back. I believe the working of the sand in to the wet areas of the greens has probably bruised the grass plants leaving the susceptible to disease ingress. On first sight of the disease all the greens were sprayed with a fungicide to prevent further spread. Unfortunately, any plants already infected could not be affected. Over the last couple of weeks, they have recovered well, with most areas filling in. Long term we need to be considering installing drainage and improving the structure of the soil to allow improved drainage. We are microtining the worst areas again and brushing sand into the profile

During the next month and into winter the greens will be aerated with 8mm needle tines, to keep the surfaces from sealing and to aid root growth/ plant density going into the winter, followed by another light topdress. This will not affect play and is important to ensure the greens are healthier during the end of the season.

Following the renovation work we applied a liquid fertiliser to boost recovery times, with the good temperatures we have been having, growth on the greens has been strong. However cooler nights lead to heavy dews and increased worm cast activity which cause problems cutting on a morning. Currently we are having to clear casts and debris every morning prior to cutting. Casts are particularly bad on tees and surrounds, however with no real cost-effective chemicals we are using sand to dilute the casts and iron to try and deter them. We are noticing the most cast activity on wetter and poorer soils and on high wear areas. We have trialled 4 different products on the market which claim to suppress worms, 2 of those had no real effects to the cast activity, 1 had an immediate effect but its longevity was limited to a couple of days and the final product which is an organic soil conditioner showed the best results, however its longevity was limited. It claimed to have an effective suppression of 3 months, however after 3 weeks casts have started to return. This product is over 5 times the price per hectare than carbendazim, so reapplying to large areas simply won’t be affordable.



In a couple of weeks, we will begin to cut down all the long rough once more. The Amazone machine will be geared up to start the collection in all areas. At this time of the year we have seen a noticeable difference in the thickness of growth. Albeit a dry year, the rough is far more playable than previous years, given a couple more years of cutting and collection we should see a big difference to our natural areas on the course.



The pond in front of the 8th green is very low, so we have taken the opportunity to clear some of the weed from the water, ideally, we could use an excavator to remove the rest of the reeds and weed around the edge, this is something we may do later. The pond on the 24th is now full, with no issues with water collection the dam has been lowered to reduce the water level.

Most of the damaged trees have been made safe, the poplars on the 2nd and 24th are still to be trimmed by a tree surgeon, hopefully these will get done in the next month.

As we approach winter we will start to think about course work over the next few months. The focus will be on tree management, small repair work and renovation of bunkers. More on these will be discussed in 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 -   

October -         55mm                                                  October -        

November-      52mm                                                  November -    

December-      45mm                                                  December-     



2017 Rainfall - 655mm                                                           2018 Rainfall – 297mm

Average annual rainfall- 620mm                                           



                        Richard Jacques

                                    Head Greenkeeper






About Me

Im the Head Greenkeeper at Malton and Norton Golf Club. I began my greenkeeping career at Malton and Norton Golf Club straight from school as an Assistant Greenkeeper. Wanting to climb the greenkeeping ladder I gained my NVQ level 2 and 3 at Askham Bryan College. I continued with my education gaining a HNC in golf course management and took the position of Deputy Head Greenkeeper at Malton and Norton Golf Club in 2005.In 2008 I was promoted to the position of Head Greenkeeper, leading a team of 6 hard working and dedicated Greenkeepers. Our aim is to continue to improve the condition of the course year on year maintaining our high reputation within the area.