The new bunkers

Finally the new bunkers were opened last week. It has taken longer than we first thought the bunkers would take to root and be ready for play. The main reason for this is the cold start to spring. 

We have also spent many man hours working on sand depths and trying to compact the sand and establishing a the turf surrounds the right standards.

Here we are checking the levels in the sand to make sure they are consistent

High areas were marked with circles and low areas were marked with the letter L

Then we healed in and watered the bunkers to compact the sand down. (If you imagine the tide going out on a beach) 

Again these were then tested and levels adjusted. We then had the sand levels at the spec provided to us by the course architect but after the playing tests we felt that some of these areas still had  slightly high levels of sand so we then lowered these areas again. 

We ended up removing another three trailer loads. Then again the levels were checked, compacted and played from.

We then felt they were ready to be opened to the members but we will welcome feed back as we want these bunkers to be right. We will listen to all feed back and then take the average level of sand. Remember some player like high levels of sand as they like to 'dig' the ball out and some players like low levels of sand the they can 'clip' the ball out.

 

I think these new modern looking bunkers look great and are strategically in better places. Also they have improved the look of the holes they are on making them more pleasing on the eye but not my score card! 

The Patio

I thought I would just post some of the pictures of the refurbishment of the patio. I must stress the only work carried out from the greenstaff was the jet washing of the patio before it was repointed. The guys doing the work on the patio done a great job. 

Before

After

Mini course maintenance

Over the last couple of days the greenstaff have been carrying out a mini course maintenance. Some of these works would normally be carried out in our main course maintenance weeks but due to the frosty conditions it was decided to wait until now to allow us to get the quickest recovery time to the putting surfaces. 

If you look at the image below this shows the main reasons for carrying out aeration works to the greens.

The first task carried out was the solid tining to 4 inches 

  

The good thing about using our pro core is the surface disturbance is minimal.

This was followed by an over seeder. We were fortunate enough to get a demo from Oliver's ( one of machinery suppliers). The units sit on a greens mower, making it more user friendly. If you look at the photo below you will see the pimple seeder with a brush behind it. This works simply by creating loads of small holes that the seed drops in from the belt system. The brushes then makes sure the seed goes down the hole. 

Below is a picture of the units in action. We used 50kg of bent grass seed over the hectare. 

We then followed this with an application of organic fertiliser ( I never managed a picture of this as Martin was working to quick to catch!). This application should help the Seed to germinate and give the greens a slight kick. 

Next we top dressed the greens using another 10 tonnes of sand. This will help the seed but will also fill the holes made by the pro core and dyna seeder, giving a better draining and smoother finish.

Below is a picture of top dressing on 16th green. 

To finish we then brushed them in and then vibe rolled. This should have smoothed the surfaces ready for the weekend.

 The bottom picture shows the greens after the brushing and rolling. 

Ladies Spring Meeting

The begining of this week our focus has been completing some of the smaller but essential tasks. The normal cutting duties  have also been carried out along with jet washing the patio off, this is now ready for re pointing. Turfed the the hollows at the bottom of the 6th.

We have levelled the areas damaged on the putting green from our recent irrigation leak. 

We have also repaired irrigation leaks on pop ups, leaking hydrant points in the boxes and raised low sprinklers around greens.

In the sheds some of our units have been getting sharpened on the grinders and the machines have been getting set up for the aeration and over seeding work to be carried out later in the week. 

The short game area has also had some attention with extra drainage and new sand added to the practice bunker. We also took the opportunity to cut back some of the scrub that was growing in along the ditch to give us that extra space and air circulation.

Just a mini update, I will blog again especially about the works being carried on to the greens over the next couple of days!

Happy golfing 

Matt 

Middle of May???

As we approach the middle of May I m still moaning about the weather, Again!!! 

The weather is still not where it should be, we are getting little growth due to the cold nights and we even had another frost. For a good spring we require some wet warm conditions but these are not quite hand in hand yet. This means greenkeepers and gardeners all over are trying to force Mother Nature a little bit at the moment trying to get the growth started. 

This week we applied a high nitrogen fertiliser to the greens to give them a little kick in the right direction. We also managed to get a light top dressing on the greens before the heavy rain on Wednesday night. 

In other areas we hollow tined some of the bare areas on the course and then added soil and seed to try and get these areas recovered. These areas are particularly noticeable at the ends of pathways and bridges. 

A lot of weeding around the clubhouse got done this week also.

Another area you may have noticed getting our attention at the moment is the bottom of the 6th fairway. This area suffers from water running down the slope from the fairway and sitting against the old tee back. This area will need to be drained later in the year but just putting soil and seed into this area won't help as every time it rains these hollows fill up again. We decided to raise the hollows and shape the banks either side just enough to allow the water to shed away. This should improve the drainage issues and allow us to grow grass there! 

I have also noticed the first signs of grass in the areas where we over seeded a couple of weeks ago and now coming through. This is great news and we will add fertilisers to try and improve the sward thickness in the coming weeks.

On reflection of the last week I would say its been another busy one, this includes trying to finish areas off plus trying to get the course cut and the greens to grow. 

I would also like to welcome our summer casual to the team. His name is Norbert. He started on the Monday and will help the team with carry out the detail work around the course. 

If you have any questions please feel free to ask me when you see me.

Many thanks

Matt 

Divot Trophy

On Monday the 6th May (bank holiday) we held our yearly Divot trophy tournament. This was later than the original date (Good Friday) because the weather conditions were still very cold and we thought it was best to wait for the temperatures to rise so the seed we put out would germinate quicker.

The day is a golf tournament mixed with course maintenance. The format is a shotgun start, texas scramble. The day starts off with the greenstaff out placing buckets along the middle of the holes before everyone arrives. Then we all meet in the clubhouse for bacon rolls on followed by a quick briefing from myself about the divoting side of things (not how to play golf as my partners could vouch for!) The groups then head out to the hole they will tee off from and divot the fairway for 45 mins prior to the firework going off to start the golf.

The weather was really good and I for one are glad we waited. The amount of members playing on the day was fantastic with over 80 playing and others who just made the effort to come along to divot.
With the field being full we managed to use all the par 3 holes groups to help on the par 5's or longer holes and we even double up on some high wear areas.
On the day, over 250 buckets of divot mix were used. This will make a huge difference to the golf course during the coming months, so lets hope for some showers...

The Texas scramble that followed was just a bit of fun! After the golf we returned to the clubhouse for a sandwich and a drink. The captain then presented the prizes.The winners were Mitch (again, who by the way hit the 2nd green in 1 shot) Ali, Richard and Mick Joyce.

I would like to thank The Captain, Adrian, Maria and bar staff. Also the kitchen staff and greenstaff for all their hard work on the day. Jim Milligan for supplying drinks from his garden to the groups as he was injured. Most of all the members for turning up to help. It would take one of the greenstaff two full weeks to do what took the members together just 45 mins!! An amazing day with a great fun feeling about it 😀
Thank you

May madness!

There has been some burnt faces around the golf course over the last week or so (including me), this is down to the change in weather over the last few days. We have had high day time temperatures of up to 21 degrees and a couple night frosts. The weather is doing exactly what was forecast (like I showed last blog) but everyday I feel we getting closer to summer!

The sudden dry spell has left us having to irrigate the greens and tees at night but these will need a little pencil tine over the next couple of weeks to help me get the moisture down the profile of the soil easier, meaning a bit more responsive green surfaces.

Other issues that are being addressed are the worn areas caused by the large amount of construction works that have been carried out during the winter months. This was the first year we started later in the season and we won't try that again. All areas that are cause for a bit of TLC have been marked GUR. The greenstaff have been working hard on these areas and they have either, been turfed, over seeded using a seeder, topped up with seed and soil . Fertiliser has been added to the areas also and we expect a full recovery (if Mother Nature helps us) over the coming weeks.

The good news is the course is starting to take shape and the greens are improving all the time. We are not far away from the magic day when I can say we a growing at full rate.

We also have applied weed and feed to the fairways and semi rough, irrigated the seeded areas. The yellow tees have also had there share of renovations following a long winter. Now the white tees are out the tees should repair pretty quickly.

I have also been very impressed with the way the aprons are starting to take shape
as we approach the greens.

All in all, a lot of work 'is being' or 'has been' carried out around the course and we will continue as we drive into the summer. This is another week where I need to thank the team for all there hard work!!

Happy golfing