Snow days

What a difference a day makes! yesterday we were laying the blinder and today the snow has started to fall. The course will be closed while we have snow coverage. The main reasons are for your safety, to reduce the damage to the grass plant and a the fact you would not find your ball! During the snow the greenstaff tend to be working on machines or refurbishing the course furniture.

Bunker Blinder

After an investigation in to the new bunker base product called the Blinder Bunker Liner but bunker blinder to all the greenkeepers that use it, a decision was made to trial this product on our worst bunker. It was felt that the 14th green side bunker was the worst or at least the one that has never been 'quite right'.
The product is a rubber base liner that lays along the base about 25-35 mm in depth. This is very similar to stuff in the kids parks or rubber pathways on the golf course. The main difference is its porous and can cope with over 2400ml an hour as long as the drainage is right!
The benefits of this base are :-
1) Easier to maintain the bunker as less sand wash out after rain
2) No contamination of clays or stones
3) Better drainage
4) Less sand required
5) Better playability

Below are the pictures of this week so far

17th Green Drainage

Drainage work has been carried out on the back of the green at the 17th. This part of the course sits in a bowl shape and has sat very wet all year. The drainage that was laid some time ago had silted up and needed replacing. We have not only replaced the pipe work and stone but we have added four gulley pots around the green to allow us to move surface water away quicker.

Another new addition

The next new addition to the course is our new bunker on the 3rd hole. The 3rd has not had a bunker for many years but this new green side bunker will be there to catch any shot going left or short of the green. This bunker has been designed long in shape so there's room still to attack the green from the right hand side. The sand will be added once the turf has taken root. This latest addition will make a tough hole even tougher...

New Bunkers on the 4th

The new green side bunkers and the newly placed fairway bunker on the 4th have now been turfed and are looking great. Work has also been completed on the 3rd and now on to the 14th for something different. I will keep you posted on the new developments and maybe I will add some pictures of the construction for those of you not venturing out this winter !