Improving conditions

The end of last week brought us some much needed rain, well only a few millimetres but it has boosted the colour and growth on the course. The temperatures are still cold but there is enough warmth and strength in the sunshine to encourage growth. Last week we made good progress with the badger damage repairs on hole 6, one more day and we should have completed this area. The seeded areas we initially seeded are germinating well, these have been fertilised with the same slow release fertiliser we put on the fairways in early March. This only leaves the 22nd hole to tidy and seed. On Friday we had a hail shower which put a stop to play for around 15 minutes, not unheard of at this time of the year but strange to see never the less.

We cut the fairways again on Friday trying to 'burn' in the stripes for summer, after a couple of cuts they are really starting to stand out. After a month of cutting in one direction the second angle of stripes will be then cut into the fairways, creating the diamond/chequered effect.

Over the weekend the course is steadily greening up, so this week we are concentrating our efforts on cutting some grass to ensure the course is presented nicely even though there is little growth. The semi rough is patchy as the winter wear is still evident, where golfer foot traffic is less the semi has grown a few inches. All the semi rough will be cut this week to reduce the patchy growth, this is the first time ALL the semi rough has been cut, over the 15 years I have been at the club this is latest we have had to cut the semi rough, putting in to context the serverity of the winter we have just experienced.

We have also been cutting the driving range, tees, surrounds, copses, pathway edges, fairways and cutting and grooming all the greens. The greens at this time of the year get some lateral growth from bent grasses, this can lead to bobbly greens later in the day as the lateral growth gets spiked up by foot traffic. To control this we groom the greens with the groomers on the John Deere mowers. The groomers are set flush to the surface of the green, this ensures that lateral growth is lifted, cut and removed. The greens are then cut to take off any uneven grass and leave a smooth finish. They are being cut at 3.5mm actual height of cut, as the fertiliser we applied last week has started to take affect and growth is much dense than a couple of weeks ago.

Other jobs have been to turf the bunker tops on the 6th hole, collect range balls and water the turf on 25th tee and 21st green.

This time last year!

These pictures are from the 20th April 2012, trees in leaf, blossom on the cherry trees, and lush GREEN grass.

The picture below is from 19th April, just a few days ago.

I don't need to state the obvious but it is evident how the weather affects golf course condition and influences the maintenance practices we carry out on a daily, weekly and yearly basis. I think every golf course will be affected to some degree, we have been very cautious with the practices on the greens, to ensure they are in the best position come some more favourable weather.
The weather forecast for the weekend is for cooler conditions which wont help any growth, however it is possible we may get some rain. To help the density of the turf we applied an extra granular fertiliser application yesterday. By this time of the year we would only apply liquid fertiliser, for the reasons stated in the last blog entry, the latest application was a 4-0-8 granular fertiliser applied at 30g/m giving 12 kg/N per hect and 24 kg/K per hect. Irrigation was then applied to ensure the fertiliser was washed into the soil profile, usual response for this type of fertiliser is within 3 days.

Yesterday we applied some liquid fertiliser, seaweed, wetter and growth regulator to the greens. The fertiliser we use is 100% ammonium sulphate, which is a readily available source of nitrogen for the grass plants. This is essential at this time of the year as the soil temperatures are low and any form of nitrogen that is released to the grass plant dependant on temperatures rising or are slow to uptake into the plant will take time to work. We want an instant yet controlled growth pattern to ensure we get surfaces that are relatively fast with out the need to cut excessively low or having to roll every day to achieve the speeds we desire. Applying 3kg/N per hect every 3 - 4 weeks gives us this. The greens are not as dense as they normally would be at this time of the year due to the cold and windy weather we have had for the last month or so but when you look around the course every thing is about 3-4 weeks behind where it should be, flowers, trees and adjacent arable crops are barely out. I'm sure a spell of warm and damp weather will kick things in to action. The growth regulator was applied at a very low rate(100ml per hect), this will help uniform the differing growth rates of different species of grass as the soil temperature slowly rises.

We have been cutting the greens every two days due to the lack of growth, we hope to start cutting every day from Friday. The height of cut is still around 4mm, again we will lower this to the normal summer height of around 3mm when the turf starts to show signs that is in full growth.

Cutting the putting green before irrigation is applied

 

What goes into Augusta to make it special!

Augusta - Behind the Scenes
Thanks to Chris Lomas and Rob Sandilands, Head Greenkeeper, Grange over Sands Golf Club for this infomation

Here are some great behind the scenes photographs showing not only what goes into making Augusta and The Masters such a spectacle, but also how far apart it is in so many ways from member's clubs like ours where most of us play our golf. 


For the time outside of the tournament, the course is closed from May-October. During normal times of opening each hole has 2 full-time greenkeepers, this swells by over 100 for the tournament. The course even has its own Creek Manager for it's famed water features!
The picture below shows the greenkeeping facility; a building that has 2 full time receptionists as well as a trial green and bunker for products and testing



Those 100 greenkeepers need a big room for team briefings as well as lots of tea and coffee!

Below is the chemical store, putting into perspective just what it takes to achieve what is presented out on the course.

Many of you may think the pine straw beneath the trees is all naturally occurring on the site, but in fact hundreds of bales of it are imported and spread out on the course. Below is there dedicated storage area.

Many parts of the course are given a helping hand with systems such as the 'sub-air' which is capable not only of drawing water down through the surfaces but also blowing air back into them. Not only is this system installed on the greens, but also on the grass walkways so as to keep the patrons feet dry! This system costs over £1 million. Below is another tool used to help growth and condition; these lighting rigs give grass an added boost when sunlight is at a premium. You may have seen them in action at football grounds in the English Premier League over the last couple of years.

Nurseries serving the site have a replica tree and shrub for each one out on the course that is covered on TV and feasible to replace; monitoring their health as well as that of the hallowed turf requires a dedicated on site turf laboratory, pictured below.

Out on the course, you may well have seen the famous shots of the 15 or so fairway mowers all cutting in formation going from green to tee to make the ball roll 'into the grain' and slow it down, although each on of these machines cost £45,000 breakdowns do happen and the picture below shows how a tennis ball is carried by each operator to throw into the path of the operator in front of them in the line if they develop an oil leak. A great idea!

I'm sure you'll agree that it is an impressive amount of resources and a real eye-opener. The most important thing for us all to remember is that these things are all relative and each club has their own individual level of resources which they must use in a sustainable way that ensure they live within their means, whilst also being mindful of their role in the landscape and their responsibilities to the environment.

 

Windy

The last couple of days has seen winds of up to 40 mph whipping across the course, this has caused a lot of issues. Firstly the dry conditions has made it easy for sand to blow from shallow bunkers on to faces and fairways, this will need washing brushing back in to the bunkers next week before they are raked. The winds have spread debris across the course, fairways and semi has been covered in large branches and pine cones, greens covered in sticks and smaller debris which we have had to blow off with the back pack blower.

The fairways and semi have been cleared with the tractor mounted blower and collected up by hand.
Some trees have suffered worse damage than just loss of a few small branches. This maple at the 3rd hole has been split in two, again this has been removed with the chainsaw to ensure it is safe.

We have been continuing with the badger damage, collecting balls from the range, moving holes, cutting greens, tees and starting to put some stripes on the fairways, which look fantastic and nice to see some real definition on the course.

 7th

9th

The application of top dress is settling slowly, however with little natural rainfall growth is slow and the irrigation system cant be used when the winds have been as strong as they have in recent days. For the time of the year they seem to be running well given the weather we have been experiencing and the speed is acceptable taking in to account the current height of cut of 4mm(actual height). I feel that the work that has been done to the greens over the last few years has improved the 'playability' of the greens year round, meaning the natural pace, firmness, smoothness, organic matter, grass species and health(reduction in disease pressure) has improved from an agronomy point of view. There is no doubt we have still work to do but we are certainly taking them in the right direction.

 

High winds over the last few days have caused slight problems with sand blowing out of the shallow bunkers and spreading debris over the course once more. The lack of rain with the warm conditions has meant growth is struggling to get going, the course is greening up, however the winter wear is still present and the semi rough is very 'patchy' in these areas. The irrigation is only on greens and tees and is used over night when the winds die down making application possible. Any where away from these areas are reliant on nature to do its best. Repairing of the badger damage is ongoing, these areas are been seeded so we need some warm and wet weather to ensure we get quick germination and recovery. We have been cutting tees, teesides, greens, surrounds, semi rough around greens where the irrigation has reached, also rolling greens, divoting tees, setting mole traps and checking sprinkler head arcs, rotation and application. Next week we hope to reopen the grass tee on the range now we have some growth.

The team busy on the 9th

Topdressing

At last we were able to apply the first dressing of the year to the greens, with the temperatures higher and rain forecast on Wednesday, we took the opportunity to get them done today, even though we were pushed to get them finished before a ladies competition this morning. First we cut and groomed the greens with the John Deere mowers, the groomers on the mowers were set at flush, this means the vertical blades are rotating just about on soil level, some might say this is actually scarifying however the terminology can be used in different ways to explain the methods we use. As we aren't removing thatch, soil or sand I tend to describe light verticutting/ grooming as grooming, a deeper pass over the green that removes thatch, soil and sand say 3mm below flush then i would describe this as scarifying. Scarifying is usually done with more width between the blades as this can cause damage to the crown of the plant, and sometime roots (usually meadow grass). Grooming removes some of the lateral growth that can build up over winter and when the finer grasses start to grow in spring.

We then applied around a tonne of straight sand to each green with the toro propass topdresser, fortunately today there was no dew and there was a constant breeze which dried the sand within 15 minutes. The sand was then matted into the green, with virtually all of it being incorporated into the sward, this operation is done around 6 times a year to ensure the greens are kept smooth, help increase pace, dilute thatch accumulations, help drainage, improve firmness, reduce disease pressure and fill in aeration holes. We use around 150 tonnes of sand per year over the 30 greens at Malton and Norton Golf Club.
Other jobs on the course have been moving holes, collecting balls, moving markers, repairing badger damage, watering trees, edging bunkers and servicing the stiga rotary mower.