Saturday 24 December 2016

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year



Just a quick blog to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 
Hope you have a fun filled few days with the loved ones and maybe even the odd round of golf! 

The team have worked very hard this year and will be getting a well deserved break but don't worry we will still be out on the course daily to set up. 

Thank you for all your support this year. 

Happy holidays 

Matt and the Greestaff 

Sunday 20 November 2016

It's snowing leaves


I just wanted to write a quick blog about the clearing and tidying up of the leaves!

This is a non stop task for the team from October until the new year. 
Last year we spent over 900 man hours clearing leaves from the course. 
This year we have an even bigger challenge. Not only have all the trees on the course got bigger (remember the trees are constantly growing year on year) but due to the mild wet winter last year we have an even bigger amount of leaves on the trees. Why? Because the mild winter meant the trees metabolism never slowed down add to this the extra sunshine of 2016 meaning the tree was able to photosynthesis more. Speaking to different arboriculturists this year I was told they had really noticed and the difference is huge! 
 
I have mentioned this before but the average Oak tree has 300,000 leaves, we have hundreds and hundreds of Oaks on the course and this is a 'bumper year' for leaves so imagine how many we need to remove... Answers on postcard please! 

Autumnal colours visible on the course


Okay, that's enough of the amazing colours, let's talk about what we are doing:-

We have added new machinery to our existing leaf clearing fleet over the last 12 months. These include- 3x back pack blowers, 1x Pro force blower (like jet engines), 1x big tractor mounted blowers, 1x  SG400 Trilo vacuum
The new Grillo cut and collect system (above:- used for Heather and long roughs) also can be used as a small vacuum system. 




Our aim everyday now is to clear the main playing surfaces by hand (note picture above shows we are now hand mowing greens too). 


These are then blown into lines or back into play (sounds mad I know) but these can then be vacuumed up! 

Once vacuumed up the leaves are taken to various sites around the course to be composted. 



Once we have cleared the main playing surfaces our attention will turn to the ditches, woodlands and Heather areas. These all need to be cleared for different reasons, firstly the ditches are needed to dry the course out in the depths of winter. 


Secondly leaf mulch will suppress some of amazing flora and forna we have during the season in our woodlands and Heather areas. Getting leaves out of Heather is a very time consuming effort but is worth it. 


The high winds of late and the frosty mornings are just what we need to get the leaves down and down quickly is how we prefer it because we can then get a good clean up completed. 

So please bare with us in the coming few weeks why we do our best to stay on top of this huge task, it only takes one gust of wind to undo hours of work. The team are working hard to clear the leaves for you! 

That's enough from me... We have leaves to collect.

See you soon 

Matt 




Monday 24 October 2016

13th Green Drainage


As I sit here to write this blog I must admit to feeling slightly relieved that we have finished this project.

For all greenkeepers pitchmarks and scuffs on the green are a major headache, so you can imagine how it must feel to see the sacred turf lifted and soils below removed! 
This kind of project is not taken lightly but needs must. 


Last winter I got to see first hand, how wet the 13th green got. The moisture readings were around 57% in the winter, this is 27% higher than we want. (Moisture levels over 50% basically means the grass starts to die off as there is a lack of oxygen to sustain itself). 



Is drainage the right decision? 

After the readings we had last winter and the extra aeration and the days the green was kept out of play I knew we had no option but to drain the green. I needed more evidence to back up the theory. So we had soil analysis of the greens done. 

The results showed the top 4 inches are very sandy but below this a high amount of clay was present. This showed that infiltration rates would have been high but percolation rates would have slowed to practically nothing. In others words more water coming in from the top than realising out of the bottom. Like covering over a plug hole with a sponge and running a tap! 
This was all the evidence we needed and the plan was made. 

Timing!

Now we knew for certain that the green required drainage, we planned the work to coincide with works around the green with the bunker project. This would work perfectly as the bunker and surrounds would require drainage too. This meant we could plug the green into that to save re doing it in the future. 

The job itself 

Okay I've given you all the information, I need to just talk about how we drained the green...! 


First we laser levelled the green to find which was the best place to put the drainage runs. 
(At this stage we were surprised the green moved a different way from the way it actually looks by eye, with a 50mm from right to left and front to back). 

We then marked the main and added the laterals in at 3m centres. The reason this is closer than fairway drainage is the speed we want the green to drain at. (Obviously we want the entire course to drain better but all drainage costs money but our priority has to be draining the greens the quickest so play can continue). 
The general rule is greens,tees and aprons 3m spacings, fairways 5m, roughs and semi rough 10m. 


Next the turf was cut and lifted. As we lifted each section it was numbered and placed on a tarpaulin (to stop it rooting, while off the green). The end of each line was numbered + letter (M= Main L= lateral) so the turf would go back exactly where it came. This over time would mean the world would be seemless.


During this process we found the middle of the green was showing signs of anaerobic conditions (suffocation, even before the winter had set in). This can be seen in the picture below. The soil is turning black. You can see where our aeration work has been done because this is sand coloured.

At this point I knew we were doing the right thing. This green wouldn't have survived the winter. 


Once the turf was stripped we were ready start the drainage. 

The green was trenched out and the spoil was used towards shaping the sub base of the new bunker on 13th. So keeping the runs short and the trencher going. 

This is the trencher we borrowed from Muswell Hill GC (thanks to the them). 

Lots of digging out at the ends to get the levels right was required and the greenstaff done a great job on it. 
You can also see the width of the turf cut and the trenched line leaves very little in the way of room! Both Graham and I had "fun" with this but we managed it.

Our main was trenched to 650mm and our laterals were 600-550mm deep. The bases were lasered and the levels corrected before and stone or pipe was added. 

Drainage needs to be deep for two reasons. One so aeration avoids it in the coming years or there will no point putting it in as this will be a pipe with hundreds of holes in it and secondly to encourage a 'pull' so the water heads to the pipes, this creates a vacuum in the soil and pipe work, making the drainage work efficiently. 

At this point we could see the underlying problem in the middle of the green. A clay layer just 120mm down. This grey clay is our problem. Our infiltration rate would be high as you can see the sandy/soil layer above but once it his the grey clay it would go nowhere. 

This green would have be built like this on purpose... 

The reason would have been irrigation! 
I know it's mad when I am talking about drainage but old greens (before the 1970's) were built with a clay base to hold water as irrigation systems didn't exist in the summer so they wanted them to hold water. Irrigation system started as a hose pipe but later computer controlled were not really popular until the early 70's. 
Golf has changed and greens that were built to hold water and now required to drain and play well in the winter, hence why these works and maintenance weeks works are essential! 

Once the levels were right a stone base (1/2 inch) was added for the pipe to sit on. I like to do this to keep the pipe as clear from silts as possible. 

Next the pipe work was added. The laterals were 60mm (self flushing)
And the mains 80mm. 


The mains was then linked up with the bunker project and runs to a ditch. This means at each stage the outlets get bigger from the start!


At this point it's worth noting on the greens all work too place in boards. These needed to moved and the area cleaned constantly so damage to the greens surface was kept to an absolute minimum. Again the team done a great job at this stage too.


Once the pipe was in and the joins made we then added the stone layer. We used our new conveyer system on our topdresser. This saved a lot of manual handling and increased our speed. 

After the stone the rootzone was added in layers and then compacted in. This is very labour intensive but helps to minimise sinkage in the future. 
The rootzone was made from the same sand as the club has top dressed with for years so it was compatible. 

Once our levels were high enough we used a modified wacker plate to compact the top layers. This saved time and done a great job. Thanks to Parkstone GC for lending us that too. 

During the whole project we had to keep the rest of the green in good state for re opening. This was mown by Levi using a hand mower three times a week. It definitely tested his skills!! 

During the final 3 inches of topping up we added mycorrhizal fertiliser to the soil to encourage rooting ASAP once turfed. The final level was then finished using a normal wacker plate. 

The green was then turfed using the turfs in the same places like a numbered jigsaw.  Great care and attention were needed at this process too as our mowers cut at 3 to 4mm so the levels have to be spot on. 

The green was then fully turfed and just needed time to recover. 

The aftercare

Four days after turfing the green was rolled for the first time to smooth it out. I was already impressed with the rooting at this stage. This is something we have carried on with.

The drain lines were topdressed before opening and again this is something we will work on to get the final levels right. 

The following Friday after we turfed the green was looking a lot better. Little and often liquid feeds will be on going now. 

7 days after we laid our last turf the green opened back up for play. The speed of the recovery and rooting was brilliant. 

My final thoughts 

For me the green basically got heart surgery and this should make a huge difference as we go forward. 
The greenstaff done a fantastic job from start to finish and I couldn't have asked for more. Thank you guys! (Thanks also to Richard and Jayne and the pro shop for keeping the membership and visitors informed of our work).

All the work was completed in 22 days start to finish (not bad considering it was out of play for over 30 days last year due to water logging). 

We still will be working very hard on this green in the coming months but it will now drain and the future for that green is very bright or dry :-) ! 

PS

While I am talking about drainage, it was nice to see Graham got some pictures in our recent down pour from the 17th, you can see the drains doing there job! 




I hope this has helped to show you the works that have been going on. Sorry it's a bit later than normal. Finding time to write all this down is hard! 

Next blog... The bunkers stage 2

Matt 


Thursday 29 September 2016

Ryder Cup Special


You maybe forgiven for thinking why is this on the blog but I thought it would be interesting for some to talk about the Ryder Cup at Hazeltine. 

Intrestingly Stoneham and the Ryder Cup do have connections. The Ryder Cup team with Peter Alliss and Dai Rees once visited Stoneham on there way to playing the Ryder Cup, I believe this was part of opening the new (current) clubhouse. The players then had a practice before departing. 
Also Scotland’s Jimmy Adams (five times a Ryder Cup player) won the British Masters at Stoneham with Bobbi Locke as the pair each received £300 for their troubles. Steve Richardson another Ryder Cup player visits Stoneham occasionally. We may have a bigger connection if Richard Bland carries on the way he's playing right now! 

Now onto Hazeltine

I was lucky enough to travel over to Hazeltine in July with a group of Course Managers (greenkeepers) from across the 
world. We got chance to look around the course with Chris Tritabaugh Course Superintendent (Course Manager) and look at the facilities and new clubhouse. 

I had met Chris a couple of times before after attending some of his talks here in the UK and can say he's one very cool and open character. 

The clubhouse
The car park 


Hazeltine was fantastic, creeping bent greens (like The Grove) bent fairways (unusual) because of the extreme 
tempratures they get. 
When I visited it was 34 degrees but by November it will be minus 30! It's that cold they camp on the lakes, the irrigation systems are over a metre deep into the ground as frost goes to that depth and there cars (normally pick ups) have starter buttons from in the house so they can warm them up first. 
Anyway back to the course. 

I was surprised how big it was, not the length but wide. It's a championship course with room to hold stands, tented villages etc. The course lays out in front of you with big bunkers and water around the course. The greens are tight at 2.25mm and are rolled up to six times a week. This is mainly due to there make up being sand. The rough was thick when I visited and they were feeding it again to make it thicker. I think this will be part of its defence over the weekend.




They had to switch the last five holes as these for the members run along the water but you can't put stands or hospitality tents on water! 

The run up to the tournament 

Obviously the run up started years ago. One of the major things they did from the off was improve the grass species on greens and fairways. 

They also removed the water tower from the course as this during the last tournaments got more coverage than the course according to the club.

The bunker sands were changed with lots of shaping being improved. When I arrived the stands were going up and the course was getting a lot of Turfing in all areas including along pathways. 

One of the bravest moves was returning the 16th bank by the water in 34 degree heat 6 weeks to the Ryder cup. It could have burnt off and looked awful but it looks fantastic on tv and Chris said it recovered well. 

To add more pressure they realised that the first tee wasn't aiming straight for the Professional with  just over a month before the tournament so they lifted and moved it straight more in line for the pros shot. 


And with just days away they worked the tee hard to get it to look amazing for this weekend. 


Lots of sand dressing to the playing surfaces including the fairways and semi rough to help firm up the surfaces 

 
The members played off mats for around a month all over the course and then the course was shut for three weeks to allow the greenstaff to get it ready for a Ryder cup. 




The last few days saw alot of detail work being done by hand including hand brushing greens and top dressing with little push along spreaders so no wheel marks could be seen on camera. 

A lot of damage is caused as the stands are built too and these were also repaired.

The Tournament 

I bet Samual Ryder never realised how big the Ryder Cup would get when he  gave the trophy over in Hertfordshire all those years ago! 


This weekend three teams will battle it out on the course. Europe and the USA plus the Greenkeeping team. During the tournament and the build up they have over 185 greenkeepers on site! 

Some say this is madness but I don't agree. This is one of the biggest sporting events ever with over a billion viewers. It needs to be special. 


Look at a Formula 1 pit stop team, it's not exactly Quick fit but it's pushing the boundarys and that can only be good. 

In the last few days they had a huge amount of rain so this added to the teams work load. 

The extra machines have arrived and so have the golfers meaning it will get very busy for Chris and his team. So I want to wish them luck. 


I hope this has given you an insight to Hazeltine and it may have answered some questions you had. 



Come on Europe! 

Enjoy 

Matt