Lockdown 3.1 The dark days of winter

Hi All, 

No word from the government on when things might be lifted and golf back. Lockdowns plus the cold and wet weather make it easy to feel down at the moment. The first lockdown as scary as it was, at least we had really good weather and people could outside and enjoy it. Lots of gardens and DIY jobs got done. This time is different, this time it’s very frustrating but it won’t last. 

One of the positive things I can talk about is the days are getting longer and the vaccination program is going well. Things will improve and if we have to have a time when we are locked down and can’t play golf then actually the time when the course would probably be closed due to insane wet conditions is that time and not in the spring and summer when we really want to be out. We are in February now and this is to me in the last proper month of winter. It’s a short month and then hopefully things will start to grow, the sunshine on your face will feel that little bit warmer and the birds will be singing.

 As we move into February we recorded 96mm of rain in January 21. With 95mm falling from the 12th January. I must say I now think this is the wettest I have ever seen the course since I’ve been here. I’ve been keeping an eye on the course and recording if we would be open or closed during this lockdown and January we would have ended up with 17 days closed days. That’s huge and just shows you how wet we are. In four months we have now had 536mm of rain plus 27mm so far in February That’s over half a year’s total in an average year and February has started damp and we would been closed for a most of February already. So if I am being honest you aren’t missing much and at least the course isn’t getting ruined during this abnormally wet period. 

 What will the course be like when we get back? 

Well that depends on when we are allowed golf to return. Currently the course is wetter than I can remember and it’s still only February and we’ve had no growth, in fact January was our lowest growth since 2010. So if we opened now it wouldn’t be any different to the normal wet winter look. However the course will come out of winter in a better state than a normal year, the ends of pathways, walk off areas and fairways have less traffic damage on them and are recovering well. We are starting to see some pecking from birds looking for grubs and leather jackets under the soil. This is something that having golf on the course actually helps. The birds don’t like humans and tend to stay away. 

Corvid pecking on fairways looking for Leatherjackets 

 If golf doesn’t return until March when the schools go back then hopefully we will be through this wet period and moving more towards the spring. I would just say, don’t have unrealistic visions of the golf course just because people aren’t playing it. It’s still winter, it’s still wet. It’s getting a great rest and that will put us ahead when the good weather arrives.

 What’s been happening on the course? 

We have been busy, very busy but the jobs we are doing are taking a lot longer as we can’t use machinery due to the wet conditions. 

What we are achieving is some really good detail works around the range project to help blend this in to the course. 

Wet conditions digging out the back of 17th 

Work in progress on 17th 

We are now so wet the only option to do work is to use wheelbarrows to bring the heather into the areas we are working and then dig by hand the areas out and put the spoil into the same wheelbarrows and walk them back to the main pathways around the course. This as you can imagine is a very slow process. All the heather turf has arrived and we have three weeks to get this out onto the course meaning the weather and time are against us but the team have been fantastic and pulling together to get this done. Over time this will establish and become visually stunning but natural looking. 

Work around the 10th tee has now been completed. The re- turfing of the path edges, adding Heather to the new mounds to give a clear divide between the 9th and 10th tees. This mounding also help hide the pathway and the new platform area. We plan to add a patio area at the rear of the 10th championship tee for use during the summer months as a halfway stop for major events. 

Next on the list for the team was the 4th hole. Following the tree planting on new banks from the range the team set about adding heather to the bank to help age the bank and to blend this in with the natural heather in the carry. Once the grass establishes on the bank this will look really natural.   

Digging off the grass ready for Heather

The new look heather bank from the Range project 

 We have refurbished bunkers on the 1st Fairway (second left) also known as the ‘Blandy bunker’ after Richard Bland, as this was one of his requests during the bunker project when working with the architect. 

The two fairway bunkers on the 11th, the two fairway bunkers on the 6th and to the right of the 17th bunker also have been re heather plugged in areas to repair the extreme drought damage to them and to make them more visible from tee. We are going to install water in different forms to these bunkers in the spring to allow these areas to watered during the summer. 

Jack heather turfing the 11th fairway bunker right 

6th Fairway bunker before

Newly heather turfed 6th bunkers

Finally the fairway bunker on the 18th (first left) has been clad in heather. The team have taken advantage of the odd day of cold weather and ran in top soil at every opportunity as I mentioned in the last blog, replaced the revet turf (fairway end), shaped and heather added to give us the impact we required from the tee. The Architect wanted the bunker to be more punishing the further left you hit it. This means if you just miss the fairway the shot will be easier, if you pull it left towards the range the shot now will be to take the medicine and play it safely. It really does make the hole feel more like a dog leg now and has made the 18th a better finishing hole. I’ve always struggled but some of you I know find this easier. For example Andy Sullivan during the Clutch Tour hit Driver, 9 iron into the green! 

 Some of you will have noticed we used some of the soil from the wetland area project and added a platform behind the 18th tee. This will be a new championship tee. It will need a year for the soils to dry down and then for us to start draining, adding rootzone, irrigation and turfing. I am hoping this project to be done by the end of 2021. Watch this space... 

 Other works have included fertilising tees, spraying greens and a lot of work in the really wet periods cutting up fallen trees from the wind and collect debris and piles of wood off the course. The team also lifted the trees in the car park that were over hanging members car parking spaces. Again a small job but taking advantage of the empty car park during lockdown. 

Removing and burning timber from around the course is time consuming but a great job to get done to keep the course looking tidy. We have left selected ‘stacks’ around the course in line with our ecology policy. Some of these are real breeding grounds for insects and birds. These have been left in 'out of play areas'. 

The bed next to the putting greens has had its shrubs removed to open up the view across the 18th and 1st from the clubhouse. This was something the was brought up by both the course consultant and the architect as looking out of place now the main hedge had gone. We replaced the shrubs with more heather to compliment what’s already established really well in that bed. It will take a year to catch up with the rest but it will look stunning in the future and is lower maintenance allowing us more time on the greens. The shrubs were transplanted and added to the area around the rear of the 10th tee. 

 As you can see, even with the awful weather the team have done a great job in getting things done. Going back to wheelbarrows is a bit old school but needs must and we are trying to reduce damage. We have only managed to cut the greens and fairways once this year so far due to a mix of cold and absolutely soaking. 

Luckily we have had very little growth. I can’t remember a time when we had so many rain days in a month. The problem with that is doesn’t give the place a chance to dry down before the next wave of rainfall. The only positive from the lockdown is the lack of damage being caused during this awful period of weather. We are starting to see signs of bird damage on fairways now due to the lack of golfers being about and the start of a big issue for most clubs... Leather jackets. Following our trials our numbers are high. So this is going to be an issue for us like most clubs in the weeks, months and years ahead. With the chemistry now revoked and new chemistry taking time to come through all the legalities. We are in a no-man’s land. We are going back to the old cultural practices. We need to make Starling bird boxes, use silage sheets on the ground to bring the grubs to the surface and then physically remove them. We will scarify when dry enough to try and cut some of these grubs up. As an industry this is a very big and very real issue that won’t go away and you the golfers will notice. I can assure you we are doing all we can to learn and develop a new strategy to beat this problem. 

A before the heather photo of the 17th. Amazing shapes in the winter sun

 As I finish this blog the snow has now lightly dusted the Course while the team continue with Heather work behind the 17th and on the 18th with a wind chill of minus 4! in total 820m2 of heather has been hand dug in around the course and more turf is turning up as I write this. For those of you that have had the vaccine, I hope you are well. For those who haven't yet it won't be long  Roll on the spring and summer, and more importantly golf coming back. 

 Hopefully see you all soon 

 Matt