The Wet-Am

Another quick update from me on what's been happening over the last couple of weeks. I think the picture above just about summed up the Pro Am or wet am as I will always remember. 

Unfortunately on the Friday of the Pro am heavy rain was predicted and this prediction was right. The course held up reasonably well considering the high rainfall until around 2pm when at this point the course couldn't cope. The greenstaff worked tirelessly to help play continue. 

One greenkeeper was assigned to two greens each (with two having three greens to watch). The PGA were in constant touch with us through the day trying to establish if relief could be taken and if okay to continue. After four hours or so of pushing water we asked the team to push water off of the putting lines (at this point I realised with the forecast we would need to stop play). Play was stopped and forecasts checked. We were due a dry spell for one hour then heavy rain again. 

20mm of rain had fallen during play until

Play was stopped around 3pm. A good decision not to go back out was made as another 13mm fell between 5-8pm. I would like to thank the greenstaff who had put in extra hours all week and started before 5am on the day for the efforts. Well done guys... Sometimes you can't beat mother nature no matter how hard you try. 

The next day (Saturday) was fantastic weather and perfect for the Invitation day. 

I took moisture readings in the morning following the day before was a deluge. The readings around 44- 45%. This is high as our target ranges are between 25-27%! 

If moisture readings go over 50% this is a sign that the greens will be lacking in oxygen. This happens as the moisture fills all the pore spaces between the soil particles (the best way to imagine this, is a bucket full of golf balls and you add flour. The flour fills all the gaps in between the balls). I hope that makes sense! 

Following the readings at the weekend we took the decision to get some air into the greens. We run the pro core with 6mm tines over the worst ones and sarel rolled the rest (before the competition went out on the Monday).

We then used the roller to smooth them down before play. This won't always be done but poor root development at the moment has meant the greens 'lift' a touch when aerated. This will improve with the more aeration we do but getting the surfaces back ASAP is ALWAYS our main aim. 

The rain has highlighted some things for me to work on with the team in the coming days, weeks and years. Most of the water issues on the greens were caused by water running onto the greens from the surrounding areas. 

The topography of the course lends itself to this and is part of the courses beauty and defence. We will look to add a few more swales and run offs to theses areas to help this situation as we implement the development plan. 

On the Sunday the rain fell again with another 14mm of rain during the Beckford Bowl semi final (well done guys I tip my hat to you winning in those conditions to make the final). That meant we had 47mm in three days compared to our 6mm in 47 previous days! 

Other works 

Top dressing greens has been carried out again. I will blog more on the benefits of this in the future. 

Followed by brushes to brush the top dressing into the grass sward. 

Hollow coring of the Aprons has started as we start to drive these on to a more greens like surface. Firstly removing the thatch is priority and then adding sand. Drying these out over time will make for better aprons in the winter.

The cores are collected and used in various areas around the course including topping up drain lines. 

Above is a picture of the cores. You can see the fibrous looking area at the top. This is thatch. This acts like a big sponge stopping water in the winter and drying out in the summer. You need a little thatch in all grass areas but management is needed continually to maintain and improve playing surfaces. 

Some areas were top dressed by hand but this along with hand clearing cores is very labour intensive. 

We have also taken expert advice on the irrigation system and an audit is being done to try and maximise the system. 

De- stoning bunkers has been started and will be on going. The stones come through the base of the bunkers through erosion from either rain or rakes. This is something we intend to sort once and for all in the new bunkers planned for the course in the coming years. More on this to come too! 

Topping up bunker sands to a correct depth has started but this again takes time to get around 58 bunkers. 20 tons has gone out so far with more to follow. I will do a blog on this soon. 

Sand being moved around the bunker to get correct depths. 

In other news, the old broken hut at the 13th was removed for safety reasons. I think removing it has improved the view on both the 12th and 13th holes. 

Okay, that's enough from me now. 

Let's hope for some better weather during the days but rain at night (see I m never happy with the weather). I am off to pack some boxes as we look forward to moving the family down. 

Happy golfing 

Matt 

Rolling back the years!

Just a quick follow on from my last blog. I wanted to look at how we set up for a tournament and some of the jobs done over the club championship weekend and also what you can expect to see during the Pro am/ invitation weekend. 

Above is a picture of the greens iron we had on demo from Toro. We were lucky enough to get this over the club championship weekend and for a few days either side ;-) 

Greens irons are now a modern 'must have' machine for all greenkeepers. The iron simply vibrates across the green making it smoother and normally slightly faster (remember speed isn't everything...smoothness is). 

The downside is this can aid compaction but as long as you carry out the correct cultural practices (aeration) following lots of use this stress is very little. So planning its use and not over using it is the key to its success! 

Research has shown that rolling three times a week increases smoothness and speed without having to lower the heights of cut on the greens. Meaning the plant is less stressed. 

The Americans are also adamant that the use of greens irons decrease disease out breaks on the greens and also means they don't need to be cut every day during the summer with no effect to the performance for the player (and yes we cut everyday in the summer, sometimes two/ three times a day). 

We also had some specialist help on our putting green. Thanks Jayne! (Jayne done every job in the club that weekend:-  admin, assistant manager, reception, tournament support, chef, bar, greenkeeper and I m sure I even saw her in the pro shop swinging better than the pros :-) 

We cut the greens eight times from the Thursday to the Sunday morning (that's 32 man hours just cutting the greens).

The greenstaff worked spilt shifts. This meant morning prep with briefings taking place before 5am and then back in again the afternoon working onto after 8pm. These long days aren't sustainable all the time but the guys really pulled together and acted very professionally to deliver a course the members deserved. Above the tees are getting cut in the evening. 

Other works during these split shifts included testing the greens with the moisture probes and hand watering to get the greens as consistent as possible (this is something we are now trying to do). 

Other detail working including divotting (both tees and worn areas on Aprons)

Strimming the longer roughs on the green banks to make them more presentable but still giving the player something to think about. It also meant shots over hit would run off the back of the green further (said in an evil villain voice!). 

 Pin positions were set and moved daily. We used our new pin chart app too along with new flags, pins and hole cups.

The ropes around the new ditch at the 17th were removed (GUR is still in place at the moment but the area needs to walked on) 

Greens performance data was collected daily (blogs on this to come) but also once set up in the mornings the guys wanted to test the greens themselves! 

(He missed...)

Another task undertaken daily and was throughout the Championship weekend was the course set up (a blog on this too). 

More to come soon

Happy golfing 

Matt 

Championship build up

Well that's two weeks in now and the championship weekend has been and gone. As I sit and write this blog looking out at the cloudy gloomy sky I find myself saying 'what difference a few days make'. Last blog  I spent time moaning about excessive temperatures, this week has been a bit more of mixed weather front. You won't hear me complaining as we finally got some much needed rain (not wanted on club championship Sunday I must add) but needed for the course.

So what we been up to this last week?

We started this a very busy week off by giving the greens a little Sarel Roll or 'venting' as the Americans call it. This just helps to open the surface of greens up to allow air into the soil profile. Remember air is the key to life. So anything we can get into the soil profile the better the greens will become and preform in the long term. 

Above is a picture of the sarel roller. These units go on to a greens mower meaning it gives a quick and smooth finish. Now, the question I hear you thinking is 'why don't they use this all the time then?' 

The answer is we will use this type of aeration a lot especially to help rain get into the profile as well as air from now on but all aeration works need to be at varied depths otherwise we will create layers in the soil profile and the roots of the grass plant will not penetrate these meaning a weaker plant. 

Following the sarel rolling we then applied a wetting agent. Wetting agents are used for many different reasons and in many different ways depending on the chemistry. For example we use a wetting agent in the winter which helps water infiltrate through the profile and away from the surface. Another form of wetter is now used in the autumn to coat the leaf and remove the dew in the dewie damp mornings thus reducing the risk of disease. However this application was applied to help retain moisture in the soil profile evenly. 

Next the greens were given a light verti cut. Verti cutting does exactly what is says on the tin! The blades on these units

cut vertically helping to remove some of the thatch but also helping to stand up some of grasses that are lying horizontally across the surface. Once these are stood up we then follow behind  with the greens mower, leaving the surface much smoother. 

Above long strands stood up. 

The verti cutting unit

After

Over the next few years I will increase the Verti cutting and brushing on the greens to try and improve smoothness year on year. I will blog in the future about the pros and cons of these techniques. 

Following the Verti cutting and mowing on the greens we then applied a liquid feed. (Another blog in the future will include the difference between liquid feeding, crown feeding and folliar feeding. All have a place and all are different!) The feed included seaweed, nitrogen, iron, humid acids plus micro nutrients.

This little feed was designed to pick the greens up especially the poa grass species that were looking a little bit stressed during this hot humid weather. 

Detail work 

We also spent a lot of time strimming and weeding lots on these areas including the ditches and steps. I would like to add, the detail work (strimming and flymoing) that the course requires is very high indeed. We spend large amounts of our labour time of these areas, even though we apply growth regulators to these areas (more on that to come). But once they are completed it really shows off some of the amazing features that Stoneham has to offer. 

Once the ditches are strimmed we then line them to mark the hazard, making it easier for the player to make a decision on how they will move on from the hazard. 

The steps

I must say the guys really put a lot of effort into getting these steps back into shape and I think the difference looks fantastic! 

We will need to look at ways to improve and replace some of the steps in the coming months but for now this is the way we be presenting them. 

Another area of work which is not only beneficial to the player with regard to ruling options but more importantly the greens is the simple but effective job which the Greenkeeping team carries out at least twice a month is the trimming up of the sprinkler heads. 

Again a little detail that make a big difference. Especially to the irrigation coverage to the greens! 

The fairways were cut for the first time in two weeks. In the spring cutting rates may go up to three to four times a week and in the winter the rates drop down to as little as once a month. We sometimes reduce the amounts of cuts to areas like fairways, semi and roughs due to the growth rates dropping away in the heat. Reducing the cutting also gives the grass plant a chance to survive longer as it's not under so much pressure. This is another area I want to work on. Increasing aeration, applying composts and a correct nutrition plan will improve these year by year. Making them more drought resistant. 

I have one more thing I would like to add about the fairways...The movement is incredible!! I have had the pleasure of cutting fairways and working at some fantastic venues over the years but these are something special. Golf course architects have been trying for years to copy these style fairways all over the world. I would bet not many get them as good as Stonehams! 

All other areas of the course were cut as normal. We then started to increase the cuts to the greens as we entered the Championship weekend. 

I think that's enough for this blog.You must be getting sick of my ramblings by now :-) I will do another one on the Championship weekend separately before blogging like normal. 

See you out on the course! 

Matt 

My first week

Welcome to my first real blog as Course Manager of Stoneham Golf Club. 

To say I am very excited about what can be achieved at this great club is an understatement. I truly believe with a lot of planning/hard work and dedication we are going to be part of something special in the coming years.  

This isn't any normal club in Hampshire, this club is steeped in history. It's held the British Masters (then called the Dunlop Masters I believe) and the Brabazan (twice). It's layout and stunning scenery is often compared to the Old Course at Sunningdale (another Willie Park Junior design). 

For me growing up as golfer in Hampshire this was always a club I loved and wanted to play. As I became a greenkeeper I knew I wanted to be the head man of this course at some point in my career. So here I am... Now the real work starts as we look to take the club forward and build on the works done in the past and become one of the leading courses in the south. 

 My first week hadn't started as I imagined it. This was due to Mother Nature, deciding she wanted this week to be the hottest week of the year (to date) with temperatures up in the 30's most days. 

(As the blogs go on you will see I am obsessed with the weather, like any horticulturist or farmer it governs our working week, so I am never happy).

This hot start did give me a great opportunity to see how the course reacts to the heat and how the irrigation system would cope with the demand. 

Above the long dry spell starting to show signs out on the fairways and bunker banks. However, this look actually suits the heathland look of the course and I quite like it. 

The irrigation system straight away showed its weaknesses and strengths. The system has valve in head which is superb to allow us to water the stressed areas rather than the whole green at certain times. A lot of hand watering with moisture probes use was carried out in week one (more on moisture probes in a future blog). 

The moisture probe shows the difference in moisture content in the soil on each green. We collect 9 readings off the greens in a 3 x 3 combination (front, middle and back). The readings showed some greens had readings as low as 9% right up to some with 30%! This showed areas that need to watered and other areas we need to leave to dry out. This something we will be working on over time to achieve a consistent surface across all areas taking into account each greens make up and micro climate. 

Other irrigation system problems were a bit more obvious and these have been addressed this week. 

Broken sprinklers have been replaced (above picture on the 8th) with more on order to replace ones that we know are nearly at the end of there life. 

Some of the tees that look particularly dry only have irrigation on one side meaning it's only got half the irrigation it requires (6th tees and 11th for example). This will be addressed as part of the winter works. 

The Greenkeeping team have been busy in other areas too. 

Flymoing of the tee banks, with an extra cut width now at the front to keep the grasses down so they do not interfere with the ball flight have been added. 

I got asked if I liked the look of the long banks? 

Yes is the answer. There are clubs all over the country who would pay good money to grow the grasses on the banks like we have at Stoneham. These natural banks really add the heathland look. Don't get me wrong there is some tidying up of certain areas but these look great and will be worked on in the future to improve there look either further. 

Stimming and edging of the bunker banks was also carried out. This takes a team of four guys a day to complete. This is carried out a least twice a month and is big drain on man hours but it's worth it for the increased presentation. 

These are strimmed first.

Then the debris blown out

Then weeded and de stoned (this is a real issue on the bunkers on the course along with sand depth, all of these are now on our list to be done asap). 

Finally the are raked. Note some faces are now smooth raked. This will increase as the new bunkers are built. Doing this helps to compact the sand on the edges. This helps to reduce the fried egg or plugged ball in the faces and allows the ball a chance to fall back to the middle of the bunkers. 

All rakes should be placed in the middle of the bunker at the back edge with the tip of the handle on the edge of the bunker. Doing this greatly reduces the contact of the rake in the bunker and also keeps them out of play. If all golfers could follow this rule it would be greatly appreciated! 

Also some work to the practice ground was also carried out and will continue as we look to improve the presentation of this area.

We also demoed a new surround mower. I felt the one we currently use is not the best for surrounds as its a rotary mower and this can scalp any slight hump or bump (see below, the yellow area before we tried the new version). 

After just two cuts we could see a noticeable difference. This machine will be something we will look to add to our fleet in the future as we look to improve the surrounds. 

We also managed to carry out some woodland and hedge work, taking advantage of the slow growth because of the heat. The Oak on the 3rd had its crown lifted. This was sitting lower than desired meaning we can now cut under it easier and golfers with have a chance to get swing on there shot, should you hit it under the tree. 

The hedges around 18th were trimmed up again and this will continue as part of our normal presentation. 

Lastly, we are carrying on the work started by Murray Long and exposing some of the heathland features of the course. 

Some of the roughs have been hiding the shapes and heathland features. So the team started to tackle some of these with the strimmers. This will show the old bunker shape and heather off and now becomes an attractive feature. 

There are many areas like this that we as a team will be tackling in the coming weeks.

The heathland 

One thing I really noticed this week was the amount of heather coming back throughout the course. This is very exciting, especially this quick. 

Leaving the roughs to go long is allowing  the heather to grow again without being damaged by mowers.  

Some heather starting to show its self in the roughs on the 1st. 

Again on 18th

One of the most pleasing areas is the area on the 8th where the seed was spread last year. You can just see the start of the heather coming through (small dark green tips). 

We will now look at areas to protect while we establish these areas. Once established we will spray off the grasses amongst these areas to stop competition but for now getting these up to an established plant is the priority. 

Eventually they will look like some of the other areas of the course. These areas are just beautiful and are very Stoneham! 

That's enough of my ramblings this week. I hope you like this blog. It allows me a chance to show you some of the stuff going on out on the course. 

Enjoy your golf and remember your sun lotion! 

Matt