Welcome to our all new Greenkeepers Report, were we will be bringing you a monthly report at the start of every month.
We have decided to create this report in order to update all our members of what has been happening on the course over the past month. Also to inform you of future plans (updates, projects etc)
Greens
Well maintenance week is long gone and the greens have considerably improved, some members even saying the best they have been all year. However, with incredibly wet weather over the last couple weeks, the greens understandably have become a lot more saturated and soft. You may have noticed the front of 13th green has become incredibly worn out due to the wet weather and heavy traffic this area takes, and we advise all golfers to avoid walking on this area if possible as it will help it grow back quicker.
Also you may have noticed spots of dead grass on the 8th green, this is a disease known as Dollar Spot and is very common in warm wet weather. This will eventually grow out and shouldn’t be a problem for much longer.
Also, something that was brought up at the Half Year meeting was the spraying of ‘Copper Sulphate’ and the need for notice when sprayed. In my 35 years of being a greenkeeper I have never sprayed such chemicals as every club I have been at never have had a problem with moss.
Normally the liquid I spray is just fertiliser and isn’t harmful to humans or animals.
When spraying chemicals I normally advise the pro shop staff to let members know that chemical has been put down just as a warning.
Another point brought up at the meeting was the dead patch, from the oil leak on 15, should be marked GUR. You will have noticed that this has now been plugged out and is recovering very well.
Currently, the weather is still very mild and therefore the greens are still growing and are being cut every day at a height of 3mm, this will however change over the coming months due to the wet weather and extreme stress to the turf. We are currently verti-cutting the greens once a week to keep thatch levels to a minimum in order to keep free draining putting surfaces.
The greens are being ironed approximately twice a week depending on competitions and weather etc.
As it is getting a lot wetter, we kindly remind all golfers to repair their pitchmarks when entering the green. Unrepaired pitchmarks take 2 weeks longer to recover than a well repaired pitchmark.
Fairways/Tees
You’ll probably agree with us that the fairways and tees are looking exceptional at the moment. As it is still growing season the fairways are still being cut twice a week and tees the same.
Bunkers
I know this is a subject most members have a lot to talk about but probably don’t realise how much time is spent trying to sort these bunkers out. All bunkers are raked every day of the week and edged and weeded fortnightly.
When being on the course in the last couple months, members have been asking what we have been doing to the bunkers because they actually have sand in and are a lot better than before. Well the answer is not much. There has always been plenty of sand in the bunkers but all in the wrong places. After playing a bunker shot 90% of golfers will rake the bunker front to back, meaning all the sand forms at the back of the bunker. Recently we have been raking the greenside bunkers back to front dragging all the sand into the middle of the bunker and this has certainly helped the condition of the bunkers. However this takes us double the time to rake, therefore we would be appreciative if members could do this too to save us time.
You would have noticed the two bunkers on the 1st hole have been filled in and seeded. This was advised to us by a course architect and has made the hole a lot better on the eye and more importantly, two less bunkers to rake.
There are plans over the coming months to fill in at least three more bunkers and we will update you on that when it happens.
Trees
You may have noticed the removal of two trees on the right hand side of the 15th fairway. These trees have been dead for a while now and needed removing. The stumps are still visible and are currently GUR.
As advised by a tree specialist we have ceased the operation of strimming around trees as there was a potential risk of damage to the tree. We have replaced this operation by spraying around the trees twice a year with a total herbicide.
Trollies/Buggies
As you know the weather has been very poor recently and as a result, the course is looking a bit worn in heavy trafficked areas. We would kindly ask golfers, with trollies and buggies not to follow the crowd and go exactly the same way as everyone else as this causes these areas to wear out a lot quicker than normal.
If you see a muddy area please don’t just walk your trolley through it as most of you do, please try and avoid it and find another route that is less worn. At the end of the day if you continue to wear these areas out, we will have no other option to put ropes out earlier and in extreme circumstances ban trollies altogether.
I think that is all for now and it is a pleasure to share our information with the members and hope you enjoy this report and look forward to it becoming a regular thing.
From all your green staff, we wish you a great month of golfing ahead and hope the weather is more fortunate to us, than it has been the past month.
Kelvin Millar
Head Greenkeeper
Contact me – hgk@churstongolf.com
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