Blog reaches 1000 hits!

The blog was launched mid December and has now reached over 1000 hits, thank you very much to all who take an interest in what we do at Malton and Norton Golf Club.

Job Vacancy

Mark is leaving our team at the end of May, after over 20 years of dedicated service to the club, to pursue other interests, so a vacancy for a Greenkeeper has arisen. This advert has been placed in a number of local papers.

Malton and Norton Golf Club

Require a

GREENKEEPER

Malton and Norton Golf Club is a 27 hole, parkland golf course with 12 bay driving range and dedicated short game practice area with a strong membership and many repeat visitors year on year.

 An opportunity has arisen for an experienced greenkeeper to fit seamlessly into our existing well established team of 7.

Qualified to a minimum level of NVQ Level 2 or equivalent you should ideally be based locally and proficient in the use of all green keeping machinery and equipment.  You are hardworking and need to be strongly committed to helping maintain the golf course to the highest possible standards at all times.

In return we offer a competitive rate of pay, pension scheme and staff membership.

Interested?

Please forward C.V. in the first instance to

Mr Nick Redman

Managing Secretary

Malton and Norton Golf Club

Welham Park

Norton

Malton

North Yorkshire

YO17 9QE

Closing Date for Applications 15^th April 2012

Today we continued with tree pruning, we only have a couple of holes to finish, the trees are near budding out so it is good that we have nearly finished our extensive efforts to check nearly every tree on the course.

We also marked out the car park, we have to spray paint the lines 2 - 3 times a year. First they are brushed off, then relined using an aerosol.

We cut the greens this afternoon when they were completely dry, as we did not want to pick up sand from topdressing last week. With the warm weather they are improving day by day.

The 6th green

We cut tees, unfortunately our tees mower has an electrical fault which needs attention, so we cut tees with a tee side mower set at tees height. Before they were cut they were brushed with a tractor mounted green tek brush to stand up the grass and remove any worm casts.

Scott on the 8th tee

This week we have been filling the new and renovated bunkers with sand, another 29 tonnes is due next week and a further 29 tonnes the week after. This should be enough to fill all the bunkers old and new. Most of the renovated bunkers will be brought back into play. The greens were top dressed lightly Monday, drag matted in and cut today. They will be lightly top dressed several times at the start of the season until 'normal' growth starts. Hedges are continued to be cut, we should be finished doing these by the end of the week. The surrounds, tee sides, semi round greens and fairways have been cut. Tomorrow new flags, cups and flag sticks will be put out for the season. In a couple of weeks the course will revert back to 'summer' set up, with markers going back on tees, and summer furniture going back out, bringing in hoops and ropes.

Spring renovations and irrigation tests

This week we continued with some essential spring aeration work. All the greens were solid tined with 8mm tines to a depth of 200mm at 100mm x 75mm spacings. Here I am operating the weidenmann on the 18th green

Rob followed after with the vibrating rollers to smooth the surface.

This week we also continued with irrigation work, irrigation control boxes were replaced where broken and reinstalled where they had been removed to replace valves. All cycles were tested on the irrigation computer and sprinkler heads were tested on greens and tees. Here's Adam on the 14th green testing a sprinkler head for operation, rotation, spray quality and coverage.

With the weather being a little warmer and with the heather 'in flower' the clubhouse borders are looking fantastic thanks to Brian Dunning the clubhouse handyman/gardener.

Tree work

Today we had a stump grinder on hire to remove all the tree stumps we had left from our winter work.
It is a remote controlled self propelled machine which works quickly through any size stump. Al and Adam worked the stump grinder and Mark and Rob followed behind tidying and turfing. Here it is in action on the 10th

Mark also finished fertilising the rest of 1-9 tees

Scott started blowing off 1-9 fairways with the tractor mounted blower, in preparation for cutting, spraying with iron and fertilisation later in the week.

Will continued with hand cutting hedges at the 7th whilst 1-9 holes are closed for the week.

And I cleared some of the pines surrounding the men's white tee at the 15th to allow more light and air to the turf which was showing signs of stress due to shade. Other tree work continued in front of the stump grinder

This week the weather has been excellent for the time of the year, since finishing off the turfing job in front of the 5th green we have concentrated efforts on tidying 10 - 27 holes. Mark rejoined the team after his 3 month winter break and was thrown right into the the thick of it with fairway and tee maintenance. We blew all fairways and tees off, cut fairways and cut tee tops at a increased height until growth really starts. Following cutting the fairways, they were sprayed with sulphate of iron by Scott, and 5-6 month sierra blen 28-5-5 applied to all areas in need of extra growth this year by Mark and Rob. They also treated the tees with a 4-0-8 spring fertiliser. The irrigation system was finished off and opened up by Full Circle Irrigation, Adam and Alistair have been moving some of the tee sprinklers where they were incorrectly positioned. I have cut surrounds and greens, making subtle changes where I thought appropriate. Will has continued hand cutting hedges and is making great progress with the end in sight. Next week a stump grinder is coming to tidy up all stumps left from tree work throughout winter, following this areas will be filled with soil and turfed. Hopefully if the good weather continues the greens will be solid tined using 8mm tines, followed by a roll. 1-9 holes will be closed so work will continue on those fairways and tees.