Air2g2 or R2-D2

I know why I'm writing this blog with the title air2g2 people are thinking of images of R2-D2 from Star Wars but it's not from the future or a galaxy far away but from a British company called Campey who have got the rights to distribute in the UK. 

The Air2g2 machine uses compressed air  which it injects into the ground using three deep tines. This then fractures the soil below creating gaps in the soil structure for oxygen to fill. 

I was lucky enough to find a machine (as in great demand) a haulage company and a window in the weather to allow us to use this new machine. Thanks must go to Nick at Camberley Heath for willing to arrange his needs around ours and Sports metals for sorting out the hire. 

Air2g2

So why have we hired it in? 

Following the wet period towards the end of December a couple of the greens started to show slight discolouration. This is called hypoxia and is basically when the soil is saturated. This is nothing to worry about and the spring will help us to repair any impact but something we have had to battle with. 

Our moisture readings went over 40% because of the high water table, meaning we had hit a very wet period and the air was being pushed out of the soil profile. 

 

Record-breaking rainfall and all the Irrigation water during the hot summer have left the soils wetter with no oxygen (unlike 2012 another wet year were rainfall was high in the summer, 2014 started and ended wet but had extra due to irrigation water from the borehole). 

One thing to note: the greens which we added drainage to in the past couple of years have shown now signs of this problem as there is somewhere for the water to go meaning the water table doesn't rise to high. Is this a coincidence, no. These greens were the wettest ones at the start of our drainage plans.

At this point soils are just unable to supply the grass plant with what was required in some areas. They are running on about 70% of there capability so we need to step in. 

So, the answer was for us to aerate the soils using the air2g2 machine. This machine was the main choice (following dicussions with our agronomist and other course managers) as standard aeration would mean punching thousands of holes into the greens which would just fill up like test tubes should it rain. It is normally so important to keep the profiles sealed during these winter months if possible but sometimes mother nature throws you a curve ball and you need to address it. 

Never a truer statement! 

Now we have completed the work on the greens our moisture readings came down to 32% which within an hour, this was still higher than we wanted but it's been going down since and infiltration rates have improved. 

Mother Nature then decided to help us with a week of frosts. This helps us because any water that moved through the profile following the aeration would have froze, meaning it expanded (like an ice cube does from a small drop of water) in the soil structure helping to increase the size of the gaps between particles. 

We then gave the greens a little foliar feed. This meant giving the plant the same food it would have got from the soil but direct to the leaf, meaning we were cutting out the need from the soil. 

Ok, that enough from me, just thought I would keep you informed on some of the ups and downs of our winter but let's hope we don't need to call in C3PO (Star Wars reference...again) 

Matt 

Kev's USA blog!

After winning the Toro Student Greenkeeper of the year, Kevin O Neill or aka 'Kev' looked into his prize with excitement and trepidation. 

The weather will be cold at the University of Massachusetts during the winter turf school but the heat would be on during the intense learning program. His eight week journey began this week and Kev will be doing a blog about his adventure to new lands and styles of greenkeeping, not only for our membership to read about his experience but for fellow greenkeepers across the country who watch on with envy (apart from the weather). 

Below is the link to Kev's blog:

http://turf2015.blogspot.com/

2014 wettest year ever!

Just a quick update on my favourite talking point...the weather!! 

2014 broke all records this year as the wettest we have ever had at Muswell Hill. I couldn't believe we broke the 2012 record so quickly. It hadn't felt that wet until December but when you look at the figures you can see we had a very wet start to the year and a very wet end. This year however we had a good summer. 

In contrast 2012 had a wet summer, I remember we could only hand cut greens during the club championships that year. 

The prevoius wet years were 2007, 2003 and then it's back to the Beatle era! So that's four out of the worst five years in 11 years! 

In January 2014 we ended up introducing a trolley ban for the first time in 7 years. This something we don't like to do instead we ask 'to make every effort to carry your bag if you can'. We say this to try and protect the course and you know if you can or can't but it's your course!  

Remember at the same time in January 18,000 people in Somerset had to move out of there homes due to flooding and Surrey suffered the worst floods ever. I saw plenty of pictures on social media of golf courses underwater for weeks. 

We however were only closed for 6 days in 2014 showing that the drainage work already carried out is helping. 

A lot of people say the course closes itself, which to a degree it does but we do have to protect it sometimes and the golfers on it as we have a duty of care. 

Below are some of conditions that the course is in when we have had to close on those few times.

What I do find pleasing is not the pictures of the flooding (all golf courses flood including the links or top courses from the TV) but the speed of recovery to get the course open has improved year on year. The photo below is the day after the  picture above just as I was putting the green back on and opening the course. 

The new drainage budget and increased top dressing budget will have a great effect on these condition in the coming years. If the weather pattern is changing for wetter years or heavier showers when it does, then we will need to carry on addressing this as we look to continue on the success we have already started!

Let's hope for a little bit of a drier year this year 2015 but I will take that summer again in a heartbeat :-) 

Matt 

Winter projects continued

Like I said in my prevoius blog, this update is going to a couple of blogs to get through (I know, I know I never know when to stop!). 

In the last blog I spoke about the bunker works at the 5th, the pathway works around the course and talked about some of the drainage work we have done. 

This blog I want to cover several other points and talk about some of the day to day stuff we are doing along with the project work. 

During the summer the schedule of works is worked out to try and maximise the work during the winter months. We take into account the 'normal weather conditions' and plan around this. We look  at four main areas: renovation and maintenance, construction, other (lead clearing, ditches etc) and woodland management. 

All these works are in place and once complete the spring season should be upon us, sometimes we have to move the schedule around slightly but this at least shows our goals. What is not included in this is the daily/weekly set ups. 

Below is a screen shot of this years schedule. 

More winter works 

Okay, back to the winter works that have been going on. 

Winter Mats

Not only have we been working on pathways, bunkers and drainage we have also increased our number of winter mats on the course. This is thanks to the 125 'Winter Mat' golf day and the last of donation fund from Mick O'Leary. This was a superbly run day by Jim Milligan along with the volunteers who helped raise around £5000 towards the project. 

Winter mats are used during the winter months as our tees are very small compared to new build golf courses as mentioned in prevoius blogs. The lack of land (as we are close to Central London) does cause these such issues at certain points of the course especially as golf is now played 365 days a year but golf has been played at Muswell Hill since 1893 and these 'modern' clubs would give anything for our history. Especially being a Willie Park Jnr design, with James Briad making further changes! Our aim is to protect the turf tees for the up and coming season, while giving a good level tee for winter use. Let's also remember that even St Andrews use mats for all shots during the winter. 

 

We have complete new mat complex's at the 5th, 6th, 8th, 14th, 15th and 18th this winter. 

The base is dug out using a digger and the spoil is taken away. 

 

Danny Rowlands again has been the main man in this by making the shuttering edges and concreting the bases level. The hitting mat is then added to the middle! 

The astro turf edge is then added once the wooden shuttering has been drilled back on top, the edges are just used to walk on and off I must say, not play off. As you can see above at the edge of the mats in wooden shuttering over concrete. The astro turf we use on the edge is 9mm thick... 9mm! No one should hit from this edge or the gap between the two mats as this could cause injury or break your club as you will be hitting concrete!!! 

The mat in the centre (which is the same size as the driving range mats) is 25mm thick and can be played from all over. Short wooden tees, stepped tees or rubber tees are perfect off of this mat. 

We are now placing the markers on the tees to stop golfers from playing from the edge because of what is mentioned above. Anyone moving these markers are changing the course without permission and will face the appropriate penalty. 

The new mats are essential for us and more will be added next season as the improvement they give to the grass tees going into the new season are unequivocal. 

Woodland management 

Over the winter months we get chance to carry out some woodland management to the course. These works are essential if we wish to produce good quality turf swards and keep woodlands on the golf course for future generations. This work is just like pruning back the garden but on a much larger scale. 

(Above the oak on the left was reduced back to allow the golfer to see the fairway and hit the shot, this is done every 4 years on average. The hawthorns in the ditch were in a pretty bad way so these were removed. This also allows us to maintain the ditch better from now on). 

(Thinning at the rear of the 1st: lifting tree crowns, removing bramble, reducing Gorse, oh and finding hundreds of balls!!) 

 Lifting trees to the crown to allow air underneath or removing scrub or dying trees gives the stronger more natural species a chance to thrive and develop. Sometimes reductions are made for golfing reasons but in the main we are doing the work to protect our greens, tees and woodlands equally. 

(Reducing width on Oaks at 12th) 

(Reducing Gorse back down to improve sight lines and the Gorse itself, the harder you hit it the better it comes back) 

Any limbs that are big enough to be logged are stacked to encourage wildlife. Scrub and debris are shredded or taken to composting areas. 

We also carried some flailing along the fence lines this year as the scrub and suckers have been encroaching year on year. We gained back over a metre of land some areas. Not a lot I hear you say but after 10 years this could have 3 metres, after 20 years 6-8 metres!! Now that's a lot of land and a lot of scrub to loose a ball in! This is something I m gong to added to the schedule year on year as we will produce a better cut the more regularly we do it. 

Gardens

Another job this winter was to modernise the beds at the rear of the clubhouse. The old rose bushes were looking a bit weak and 1970's, not the look for this forward thinking club plus it was high maintenance. 

We decided to change it to a low maintenance modern look. 

We planted box hedge balls, these are slow growing and low, meaning a great view from the clubhouse still. We then added bark to all our beds around the clubhouse to act as a mulch. 

Aeration 

We have been carrying out plenty of vibration across the golf course. 

This is included Verti draining fairways, draining approaches and surrounds. 

Greens were getting slit and sarel weekly until wet conditions stop this in December. 

We then shock-waved greens to try and get aeration into the soil without opening the surfaces. Below

Some of the wetter greens have since been aerated using the pro core to try and get more oxygen into the soils following the heavy rain

What do I mean by course set ups?

Course set ups as I call them can include a mix of cutting green, tees, aprons, fairways, semi and roughs, hole changing, moving markers, bunkers, blowing greens/tees etc. Below Martin is blowing the 17th green off (again) during the morning set up.

It's worth noting that during the winter months we walk around the course as much as possible (and sometimes without a choice) to reduce damage around the course. Add to this the change in daylight hours, it means getting around ahead of the golfers is a real test, especially at weekends. 

For example when the sunrise is at 8am we only finish working on the last green around 10am- 11am. At weekends the competitions maybe off by then and we have to make decisions while the golfers are out there regarding greens in play and only know the true picture at the state of the course by the time we finish. Please bare this in mind and give way to the greenstaff at all times. 

(Above is the morning dark, with the moonlight by the 1st at 7.30am)

During the winter months we try reduce the amount of cutting due to the lack of growth and the wet or cold conditions. 

We cut greens using walk behind pedestrian hand mowers this is unlike our triple machines we use in the summer. This reduces the weight on the key playing areas (greens and tees) but is more labour intensive. Four greenkeepers  take 3 hours (total 12 hours) to hand cut (including machinery after care) v the summer of 1 greenkeeper 2.5 hours. 

Above Graeme carries out cutting greens for his first time.

The tees are also being hand cut due to the wet conditions. 

And lastly, the never-ending leaf clearing job!! Has nearly been completed, just a couple of pockets still left to collect.