Trolleys

The rain over the last six weeks has been at record highs with nearly 300mm (12inches) falling since the 19thDecember. That’s nearly half a year’s rainfall.  Due to this abnormal amount of rain we have taken the unusual step to introduce an Electric Trolley ban. 

I must add It always remains the intention of the Club not to ban electric trolleys except as a very last resort. The fact this is the first time in five years we have introduced this policy is evidence of that. 

(Above is picture of a trial carried out by the EGU looking at impact of trolleys, carrying and Buggies. This photo shows that carrying reduces the wear the most)

We all know that trolleys cause damage mostly because users tend to follow the same routes from tees and around greens while bag carriers are able to spread out and roam freely all over the course which spreads the wear. 

The trolley routes have become worn (see above) from the constant traffic - thus the use of more widespread traffic control measures have been introduced to try and to divert them away from sensitive or crucial parts of each hole using white line or ropes.

The main reason is that our soil does not drain so readily being clay, often leaving it very wet and easily damaged. The grass cover begins to thin as ground temperatures fall and growth comes to a virtual standstill for several months during which it is easily damaged and slow to recover.

 Over the past few years the Club has lengthened several paths to eliminate areas that were prone to heavy wear and further path improvements will continue where necessary.

So why only ban electric trolleys?

Some careless use of electric trolleys causes additional unnecessary damage due to spinning wheels, particularly when starting on a slope and the greater impact on the ground due to their weight. If trolleys are needed by players during winter then lighter weight pull trolleys are preferable to help preserve the course. 

It is generally hoped that everybody who is physicallyable to carry will do so, and encourage their regular playing partners likewise this is when we ask 'Please make every effort to carry your bag'. (If you have a medical certificate you may use electric trolley). 

For those of you who need to use a trolley please could you follow a few handy hints to protect the golf course. 

Go around the greens following the white trolley lines.

Please keep the trolleys away from the areas marked in yellow in the diagram      ( on the aprons, pictured above) 

Keep away from collars 

And green surrounds (these are normally built with a slope). 

•try to reduce the weight in your bag

•be careful on banks and slopes

•spread the wear if possible

•follow the traffic control measures 

My final message would be that as soon as it is practical we will remove all bans of this nature and any type of trolley ban or course closure is always our last resort and it’s our way of protecting the golf course for the season ahead.

Our intention as always is that members can enjoy their golf!

Matt 

Material storage bays

Ever since the fire in 2007 destroyed the Greenkeeping sheds, machinery and irrigation system. We have rebuilt something better than we had before. 

The material storage bays for our sands, top dressings and pathway materials was always on the list.

Some of you may have noticed the bays have now been built at the far end of the car park where we have stored material for the last 7 years have finally become a reality thanks to John Braziers engineering genius and amazing planning with help from us the greenstaff and Eric (our digger man). This has been a great project to do over the last two weeks especially as the rain hasn't stopped! 

The board made the decision to make these a priority as part of the plan to tidy up the car park area (see picture above of how it used to look). Having materials lying loose always looked untidy but more importantly it meant there was always some wasteage. 

The plans that John produced were very professional. We looked at many different styles, shapes and angles (Arctic lorry turning circles+ widths etc) before selecting the plans above. These were not only cost effective (sleepers and RSJ) but could be built by the greenstaff. In the end we decided to build 2.5 bays rather than 3 as this still allowed access to the container in the corner. 

I will try to give a quick over view of the last two weeks- 

The greenstaff cleared the remaining top soils and sands out of the bay area (creating a temporary area close by). John then marked the areas out with cones before marking them with spray paint. At this point Gill Brazier, Johns better half joined in (Gill is also an Engineer) and together they marked the plans on the floor in great detail (plus I think enjoyed using my spray guns:-) 

 

 The foundations were marked out in red with the line required for the sleepers in blue. 

Eric then arrived with a breaker and started to break the Tarmac up ready for digging out the next day.

The foundations were then dug out to 1/2 metre wide. 1 metre long and 2ft deep. 

Some of the double foundations were dug out together.  

All the sleepers were then numbered and measured. They were then grouped in sixes by a letter. This meant that each group of 6 were the same size and the RSJs could be put in tight against them. (While John was measuring he noticed two that were to big so these were chainsawed down to the correct lengths).

Each wall of sleepers (to be built) was given a letter which represented the sleeper lengths. 

Once we had dug out the foundations for the back wall we started to move the RSJ's into place. These had been stored in our yard and were moved into place. 

The optimum lettered sleeper was then placed at the bottom as the RSJs were lowered into place. This also held them in position during concreting. 

 

With the back wall and first of the side RSJ's in place it was time to adjust ready for the concrete poor. 

 

Mean while Kevin and Martin started cutting the reinforcement mesh into the correct sizes and cutting out the RSJ shapes. 

The concrete then arrived and was poored in. 

The reinforcement mesh and L bars were then added to the concrete. 

As the cement went off the levels and any adjustment were made. 

The next day the sleepers were placed in the back wall according to there letter. 

The next stage was to dig out the foundations for the side walls(this wasn't done at first so the concrete lorry could get access to all the back wall holes). 

Another daily issue- the pumping out of the foundations as these were filling due to the heavy rain. 

All 15 RSJ's were now in place and ready for concreting. 

Again the concrete was poored with reinforcement mesh and L bars added.

Finally the sleepers were added to the side walls. 

The bays were now finished and the stock materials were placed back into the bays. 

And here's the team that built them.L-R Kev, Eric Butler (digger/looks), Lee, Robin, John Brazier (architect/engineer and worker), Martin and myself (taking the photo). All the greenstaff. 

A great job by everybody. It will improve the car park and the way in which we use our materials with less wasteage. A special thanks to John for giving up so much time to help. 

Matt  

Rain, rain go away come again another day!

It's hard to remember a time when we’ve been so consistently wet. 

We knew 2012 was a wet year with 922mm of rain compared to 2013- 734mm (average at MHGC is 692mm, so not a million miles away but look above to see the patterns) but it's the end of December 2013 and the beginning of January 2014 to date, has been a none stop spell of high rainfall such as we haven’t seen since the winter of 2000/ 2001. 

Folllowing Novembers 66mm which allowed to us to finish the new tees it started raining on the 19th December bringing 123mm of rain until the end of the month and January so far at 160mm that's 283mm in one month!!! Or 11+ inches in old money!!! 

The reason this is happening is due to a wayward jet stream, this time it’s formed into a huge trough shape (see above) and this is doing two things-

1) Funnelling extremely cold air down from the Arctic to produce record snowfall and freezing temperatures in Canada and North America.

2) It’s pushing those low pressures diagonally up across the U.K instead of diagonally down, so the rain hits us in the south first.

283mm -That's a lot of water and we are seeing some problem areas around the course. The good news is this highlights future drainage plans and old areas that need renovating to preform back to there maximum. 

Clearing leaves from ends of pipes has been on going battle all winter and trying keep the ditches flowing. 

The area behind the 10th tee has had some work but getting access has been a problem but will investigate further to find out what is going on in the pipe, weather it's root or just debris restricting the flow. 

The rain has caused problems with the pathways and some have turned into a rivers! A lot of work will be required from the greenstaff to get these back into fit condition.(See below)

We are not taking any machinery (apart from hand mowers once a week) out on the course at the moment to protect the wet areas so all our work has been ditch, greens or woodland based.   

We have still been managing to cut the greens regularly

And it has allowed us to start some of the woodland work along with building the material storage bays. More to come on that. 

Finally- With most of the wildlife going into hibernation this week (six weeks late) we know this is the sign that the cold, hopefully dry snap is on its way. 

Matt 

Happy New Year

The greenstaff would like to wish you a Happy New Year! 

We look forward to some good weather and great scores in 2014!

Matt