Lockdown 2: The end of the strange year

   Hi All,

 

As we have come to end of the year and our second lock down of the year, only 3 weeks and six days this one! I thought I’d update you on what’s been going out on the course while we’ve been closed. 

As mentioned in my previous blog things have been very, very busy. 

Things had dried out a little in the first few days of December but unfortunately the wet is now in the soil profile and some damage has been caused getting heavy machines around the course to carry out Winter projects. This will be repaired as we go into the coming weeks. Unfortunately sometimes we have to get things done because of time limits, contractor availability and budgets. As you may have seen some areas have been affected especially the 18th, the 10th, right of 12th/rear of 14th and the 4th carry but these will heal and the positive is the work is done. 

Return from Lockdown 

 This will not be like the last lockdown. Members returned as the course had come into life and was drying out nicely. Warm weather bought growth and we were able to increase presentation. Golfers had the chance to play in summer conditions. Now we are entering our dark days of winter. Leaves falling and worm casts (now a huge problem for us and the industry since the treatments have been revoked). Our man hours now being aimed at leaves, over seeding and aeration. Presentation is limited to when conditions are good. The wet spell has stopped for a brief rest bite but now we are having frosts. This in turn reduces the amount of presentation work we can do. You can’t cut frozen ground! 

 

Heights of cut on greens and short cut turf areas have been raised for winter protection. This is done to aid the plant. With less daylight hours means less growth and lower temperatures. Giving the plant a slightly longer leaf (2mm increase) allows the plants to photosynthesise. This will gather more sunlight during those short days and turn this into energy. 

Even if we aren’t seeing top growth the energy will be going into the plants roots looking for food. Think of a satellite expanding its solar panels during the winter to increase energy to keep it going. It’s a long time until the days get long enough for us to turn this the other way. 

 The other issue for us at this time of year is Diseases on the turf. The cool season diseases like Fusarium or Microdochium Nivale to us are harder to control now again due to the withdrawal of some of the products.  We are always learning more and looking at different ideas to reduce the disease pressure. 

One of the big issues at this time of year is leaf wetness. A dew could form around 3pm and keep coming down all evening and stay on the plant all night. We then come in at 6am and dewie this off (brush or switch cane). It can then reform again around 9am... this cycle continues. What we actually like for the greens is a slight wind. We don’t however like this for the leaves... I am never happy! 

 Remember the soils have all these pathogens in them all the time. It’s not bought in on foot or anything else you might of heard. It’s always present in the soils but needs the right conditions to ignite it.

A host, humidity, moisture, low air or high Organic matter within the soil all contribute. If you take one of these elements away it will reduce the disease chances of becoming an issue. 

So far we have been able to keep most of it at bay but have been due to the conditions been under a daily attacks and the team have been doing all they can to reduce this. 

All our work on aeration to reduce organic matter, improve air and drainage, along with the added drainage works, top dressing, over seeding with different grass species, applications of natural defences, wetting agents and reviewing our GDD (Growth Degree Days) along with manual works like rolling, switching and dewie-ing to remove the surface moisture are all aimed at disease prevention or at least reduction. 

 Although I am painting a depressing picture I promise it’s not all bad. In fact it’s actually quite positive. We have achieved so much. Some you won’t see until spring by the time it comes through and some the impacts can be seen now. 

Let’s talk about each area first. 

 

The Driving Range Project

 

As most if you know we have been beaten by both the weather and the economy with the range project. 

Our time scales originally showed us finishing by November or the latest December. Especially the outfield. The rain that fell in a six week period was record breaking and trying to move heavy machines, lorry’s and import materials meant this came to a grinding halt. Looking at the time scales we had lost about seven weeks. 

Losing seven weeks going into the winter period is hard to get back when you are dealing with virgin ground. It needs to be solid and once wet, it can take months to dry out. It would be easy to say the seven weeks was caused by the Lock down in March but reality was we kept going during that lockdown. 

The first two weeks we had no lorries at all but then the numbers picked up. The truth is the lorry numbers to achieve our levels required never really recovered from that point on. 

We had some busy days without doubt but in 2019 we would average over 75 per day. 2020 is around 49 per day and that over 7 months has a big impact. 

What has been achieved though is great and I am pleased we got so much done towards the end of the year. As you will have seen if you’ve been down on the Short game area is that the outside hitting mats are now in place. 

 

Four of the five Astro Turf greens are now finished and one grass green at the back is growing in. The plan is to have eight greens in total. 

The Astro turf greens are actually called “The South West Greens Premium Performance Target System” this has an upgraded Cushion and fringes, helping the ball react better than normal Astro turf. Adding the collar gives the greens the definition all year round and makes it easier for us to tie in the cutting into the green area. 

We will have five bunkers on the range and these are now made from Astro turf to reduce maintenance and to look visually sharp. This wasn’t an easy task as we wanted them to look similar to the course bunkers. The bunkers that South West Greens would normally build would be fairly round but we wanted movement. 

The edge of the bunkers is a drainage pipe instead of revet turf. This is then filled and pinned into the ground and the Astro turf is laid over it and glued under the pipe to give a real grass look. 

We pushed the limits of the flex in the pipe and made cuts to get our angles and are more than happy with the finished look.

Next we wanted to tone down the white Astro turf and make it look more natural. At the moment you will see different styles and ideas. 

1.     Our bunker sand filled to give colour but would require work.

2.     A half sand/ Half Astro mix but this needs working in to the profile when dry. 

3.     A normal white Astro turf

4.     A white Astro turf with sand infill. We will be adding the kiln dried sand to in the summer (like the greens). 

 We will work on the final look in the summer when it’s dry and we can work some natural sand into the profile of the Astro turf and I will let you know which one of the above is the winner. 

You may have noticed the start of the foundation works for the actual range building. This is going to be a great facility for the club with a teaching studio that can be both indoor and out. Teaching bays for the Pro shop team to improve our games, hitting bays for members to practice, ball dispenser machine, a garage area at the back to hold the ball collection system, ball washing and machinery required to collect the balls. All housed within the garage area at the back of the building. 

 I have been asked why we dug out the area so deep. Well actually the hollow you can see is the area that hasn’t been filled completely yet but it has had some fill, this shows you just how much the range has changed. 

The holes you can see are the foundations built up from the natural clay that was under the old range. We will now phase the last of the materials through this are and once to an agreed level the builder will add the steels and build up to a suspended base that ties into the natural clay underneath. This will mean any settlement over time will not affect the building. 

 The team building the range building are the same team who built Winchester Driving Range (plus hundreds of others) but locally that’s one you can visit to see the type of facility we are going to have. 

 I think now we can also see how the range outfield will look and it’s going to be fantastic. I for one can’t wait to get this finished. All my hopes of a December finish have been dashed but I know we are so close to the finish line it won’t take long. At least we will be growing the remainder of the seed in warmer temperatures and will have one of the best facilities in the UK. 

 

The Tree Planting 

 

Also during lock down 2 we managed to get the trees planted around the range. This first stage of planting consisted of the larger root balled trees. This is mainly a mix of Scotts Pine (Pinus Sylvestris), Pinus Nigra, Copper Beech (Fagus Sylvatica) and a London Plane (Plantus Hispanica) plus a large English Oak (Quercus Robour, to be delivered). 

The sizes range between 3/4.5 meters high to 5+m and 2 x Pine at 10m high. Some of these were so large they needed to be delivered on their own lorry. One tree per lorry!! Mad to see. 

There are two reasons why we have started with the Pines. The Pine give us all year round colour and protection. They give an instant impact of the tree line and due to restrictions on what trees we can now buy and move due to a change in zones because of the Oak Processionary moth (This a moth that as caterpillars can cause serious damage to Oak trees)and now prevent us from buying large Oak trees from the wholesalers. We also do have a core of pines throughout the course and to the right of the range. 

 The amount of damage caused to get the trees out on the course has been high but it will repair. The damage can be seen right of the 18th. Boards were used to cross fairways but these couldn’t be used to climb the banks of the range as it was just too wet. The pressure on planting was on as the trees needed planting in Autumn, the contractors are fully booked up to a year in advance and we need the tree line in play for us to be able to finish the area and open the range. 

 We have 22 small bare rooted varieties coming in December to plant amongst the new pines these will include some small Oaks (that will be inspected before transport) lime, beech etc. We are also planning to tree spade 20+ trees from within the golf course. This has been put back until Autumn 2021 due to how wet the site is and we need the outfield fully grassed in as they will need to plant from the range itself on a flat surface. Watch this space! 

 With regard to the damage caused by moving the trees and materials around the course, our plan is to seed areas for recovery. These will be the areas further down that will be mown as semi rough and rough.  We will turf some of the damage by the 18th Apron, introduce Heather and some Gorse into other areas higher up the banking’s (especially 18th) we don’t want it too easy for you do we :-) 

 

1st Hole 

 Unfortunately the carry on the 1st hole also became victim to the weather and slower season. We lifted the turf from the fairway and stored it right of the 2nd as I was told the fill would be completed in 2 days and then Profusion could start the drainage, rootzone and shaping process. As the weather got worse the soils became too wet and we weren’t able to start the drainage process and now will have to wait until the spring when it dries out.

 I found this very frustrating if I am honest. We spent many man hours lifting the fairway turf to be put back down so we would let get a seam in the fairway. This turf wouldn’t survive the winter without re rooting so the team have been out re turfing weak areas with it. We will use the remaining turf repairing damage caused by the construction around the course along with seed in out of play areas. 

 Comfort Station and 10th tee area 

 Another project which has been running alongside the range in the last couple of months is the comfort station (or halfway hut). You will have seen the new pad area to the rear of the 10th and now hopefully the new look pathways around that area. This was one of those projects that one thing led to another but I know will be a huge improvement for the club in the long term. Short term pain for long term gain. 

 This project started way back in 2019 with Trish Thorley and Sandy Wiswould, along with Richard Arnold and Myself. We looked at all different types of halfway hut/ stations. We had different designs done by Mark Cox. The costs were high for a new build but the MC thought this was an important thing for you the members to have a decent facilities on the course. At this point I would like to say a special thanks goes to Trish and Sandy!

 After looking at all the options, the MC asked Andy Cheesewright to take the lead on this project. Andy bought Ray Sheehan into give his advice and help us with the project. 

 Andy and Ray came back with a great idea, instead of building a building from scratch and at very high cost we could buy a purpose built facility. Ray could then design and add a kitchen area and this could be bought in and placed at the 10th. We then looked into the waste aspect of having a toilet on the course and one that would be hard to access in the winter. The answer to this after speaking to other clubs that have tried many different things good and bad was a treatment system built to the side of the unit. 

This would need power, as it would be working all the time, plus members using the facilities would want to have a light in the toilet in the winter months and not a non-stop engine running if a generator was used instead, especially if you take into account the fuel costs and the environmental impacts. 

 So what has been done:- 

 The Building- 

The Comfort station has been purchased and built and I must say it looks great and once Ray has worked his magic it will be a great facility. 

Trench for the cable from the clubhouse to 10th tee

 Power-

We asked Paul Barnard to help us spec and install the electricity. This had to go 500 metres down the 18th hole and through the pathway and back up to the new pad at the rear of the 10th. The bridge on the 10th/ 18th pathway wouldn’t allow us to bury the cable so we had to Construct a new bridge and raise the entire pathway up to compensate for this. The bonus is the pathway needed to be improved and has now and less steep than it was previously. 

It made sense to trench down 18th where the damage from the trees installation was done as this meant the area could be repaired and wouldn’t mean another area getting damaged. This has now been completed. The team will turf and over seed this in the coming days and we ask you don’t walk on it. 

 Water- 

Water was trenched back up from the end of the 10th pathway, where the water pipe for the drinking fountains goes. 

 The Base- 

The pad at the rear of the 10th was cleared and was obvious straight away we didn’t have enough soil to build the base to the level we required so after trying to move the soil from behind the 10th green (which came from the wetland project) was to wet to move we used a Borrow Pitt from the woods at the 9th and moved this over to build the base. This borrow Pitt can be left as a feature in the woods or filled in at some point in the future but I actually think it looks great and should hold a bit of water which would encourage wildlife and is out of play. 

A membrane was then added and 200mm of Type 1 was added to build the base. As the building is surrounded in Rhododendrons we transplanted some over and added to the banks to give this a natural feel. 

 10th Tee area - 

Due to the damage in the area and the fact that the area around the 10th was so visually poor and was commented on by many guests from within the industry we decided to use this opportunity to improve the area. A grass pathway has been added to the right of the 9th green should you hit that way. Replacing the old washed out path. 

A new pathway route has been installed and mounding to hide the pathways and break up the view from the 9th green. The mounding and area around the comfort station will have heather added to it in January to finish this off. In 2021 it is planned to Tarmac the pathways around the 10th. A patio area will be built in front of the building to be used for seating on those big days. 

 Lifting Trees- 

Buying the building as one unit is a great idea. One of the challenges is getting the building out onto the course. 

After site meetings with the transport team from the company we have bought the building from they asked us to lift the tree line on the greenkeepers track to 14ft all the way round. So this has been another task that has been completed a head of the install. It’s something that was probably over due from our prospective but it’s hard to justify spending time and money on the “greenkeepers track” when we have so much to sort out as a club. 

The Treatment System

 It is planned the treatment system will be install in the New Year and hopefully ready for spring. The final installation works will the take place and the building delivered and hooked up once the ground is dry enough. 

 Some temporary damage had been caused as the green staff ran out over 200 tonnes of materials for the project but all the major works for this project apart from getting the building out are done. The recovery in these areas can continue all winter/spring and will be fine for the season ahead. I think this is the start of an amazing addition to the club! 

 Conclusion

 As you can see we have been very busy, especially during lock down. The team have worked fantastically throughout the year and two lockdowns. They have had to work differently and adapt like many of you. Team briefings taking place over whatsapp, different start times all year and being flexible in the working day.

All the way through, including the small teams due to furlough, the range project, the greens drainage, the leaf battles, the maintenance weeks, the Tournament’s they have been a credit to the club and you the members. I can’t thank them enough for their hard work. 

 Not only our team but the office staff and Pro Shop have had to adapt too. The clubhouse team, I feel for the most as it’s been a stop, start year and new challenges daily. 

The MC and Captains committee have all worked hard to keep members safe and to keep the club going. 

 It’s been a strange year and as you can see from above we still achieved so much. Never has been a better time to be a member of Stoneham Golf Club with what’s coming to the club in the future. 

I can tell you the world of golf is watching. Justin Rose is liking our tweets and the golf industry are asking how we are doing what we are doing. Be proud to be a member of this club. We have gone through so much this year. The damage will repair, the wet and cold will go and golf in the sunshine will return and we will have a new comfort station, a new range and great golf course! 

 

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas. Stay safe and let’s hope 2021 is a year to celebrate! 

 

Matt