Monday 6 February 2017

Getting through the winter.....

It's at this time of year when 'helpful' golf commentators are quick to remind us how many days there are till one of the great golfing event's of the year, The Masters, takes place. As I write this there are 59 days to go before we again see Augusta in all it's splendour. As much as I'm excited about the prospect of seeing the Masters it's these next 59 days that can go a long way as to how the golf course at Muswell Hill will perform & be presented in the spring.
To date the winter has been more cold than wet, but the wet stuff will surely come at some point so a lot of our focus will be on protecting the course whilst getting on with important tasks that help the course recover from winter play.  


Ropes & signs going up this time of year are needed to try and reduce and spread wear around the golf course. As golf is now played pretty much all year round trying to minimise the damage from the main playing areas will ensure the playing surfaces are in much better condition for when the main golfing season starts.


This winter we've seen a prolonged period of frosts and cold weather. We've continued with our policy of allowing play on the main greens during this period. To date no significant damage has been evident although if we find excessive damage has occurred we may have to review this policy. Once the thaw has arrived, the playing surfaces will be worked on by means of aeration to relieve compaction & aerate the rootzone, which assists drainage by creating more air spaces & the addition of both foliar and granular feeds to help stimulate the grass plant & give it some nutrition.






The image below is one that thankfully we haven't seen too many times this year but when we do get large amounts of rainfall some of the older bunkers are unable to cope. This is due mainly to the original drains no longer functioning. When the bunkers get flooded like this it leads to contamination of the bunker sand and ultimately a poorer sand from which to play from. The addition of the bunker blinder layer in the new bunkers means the sand will never become contaminated from flooding.



This past winter has seen extremely high disease pressure particularly from Fusarium patch. To help recovery we have been going round and putting a seed & rootzone mix into any scarring on the greens. This will help us to increase the amount of bent seed into the greens sward.






Dropping zones have also been added to the new bunkers on the 7th & 15th right hand side bunker to allow anyone going in the Ground Under Repair areas a better option where to drop.

We will continue to present the course in it's best possible way, most cutting now done by handmowers to reduce damage from heavier ride on cutting machines.


And finally a picture that makes all the work worthwhile, below is the drainage outlet from the fairway drainage installed across the 1st, 2nd & 3rd fairways. The water being removed by the drains that would previously have just run across the fairway damaging the turf and making the area unplayable. With he primary drainage now in place we can look to improve this area even more with top dressings & overseeding to improve playability and grass coverage.


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