Bunker Project Phase 2

Hi All, 

Sorry its been a while, I have been trying to do think of quicker ways of doing these blogs including videos but have failed in my attempts to upload them so far!! ( I will persist) but for now I am back to the traditional way of typing out on the PC.

Below I have uploaded the PowerPoint from our Project presentation evening. This shows a brief overview of the Phase 2. The presentation starts with a quick re cap of the Phase 1 works including before and after photos. It then moves onto Phase 2, which by now we can see are well underway out on the course. A timeline guide (weather dependent) on this years project and summary of the next phase at the end.  

At the presentation evening Richard Arnold (General Manager) gave an overview of the practice ground project and how planning was going. We now know planning permission has been granted and work will commence before the end 2017. The evening finished with Nick Clayton giving a brief on the term memberships and what role they have on the projects. 

14th Greenside left before

14th Greenside Left after Phase 1

The second new fairway bunker on the left of the 1st (around 150 to the green) will be installed this year. It was originally left off phase 1 as there were concerns it would not be needed. It was felt rather than spending money on it we should wait a year to get feedback from the membership.

After receiving feedback it was decided this should be added and was included in this years works.   

Willie Park (course architect) was famous for dips and hollows as can be seen on 9, 13,14,15 for example. They also are to the left of the tee shot on the 6th. One of Ken Moodie's plans was to bring these areas back into play. With the fairway bunkers being moved on the 6th fairway and the hollow to the left being dugout towards the fairway the tee shot will get a lot harder!

Photoshop of how we imagine the 6th to look. Note: mounding to cover pathway entrance

 Following concerns about how tough the 7th would be with the new approach bunker on the right it was decided to leave this off the Phase 2 plan this year.

Huge amount of earthworks taking place on 11th. Mounds are being added along with two new fairway bunkers, the old fairway bunker not in play will be removed with the heather being used to on the new bunker and mounding right of the fairway, this will help hide the 15th tee from play.

Another area with lots of earth works, the ditch at 8th will be widened to help dry the area and improve water flow. Old features will be added along with silt ponds. Two piped bridges will replace the four smaller sleeper bridges and the steps at 11th and 12th will be removed to make way for a pathway, slightly hidden from play.

Photoshop from Ken Moodie (golf architect) on the new look 11th

Photoshop image of the cross bunkers on 12th after the sand lines have been raised up again

It is planned to have all the turf and Heather turf down and the bunkers completed by November. 

Following the decision to postpone the 7th approach bunker (right), we decided to get the fairway bunker in on the 9th fairway to add interest to the drive off the hole. 

I hope by now you can see the work is well underway and you can see how great the course will be once it settles in. I will blog an update asap. If you have any questions please feel free to ask me when you see me around the club. 

Matt  

TORO Student Greenkeeper of the year FINALISTS!!

  

                                             Graham Hastie (Deputy Course Manager)  

                         

                                                   Levi Pethick (First Assistant Greenkeeper)

I have great pleasure to inform you that BOTH Graham Hastie and Levi Pethick have made the National Final of the Student Greenkeeper of the Year Award. This is one of the most prestigious Awards in the greenkeeping industry, with former winners including the likes of Murray Long who went on to be Course Manager at Sunningdale, Euan Grant who was Course Manager at Turnberry and now the JCB club.  

Graham and Levi who were not only both nominated by Oaklands College out of the 120+ students they have on greenkeeping courses, they now make up two of the six finalists after coming through the regional interviews.

The final will begin on Monday 11 September at BIGGA HQ in York, where candidates will join an industry discussion group hosted by BIGGA Chairman Les Howkins.

The finalists of the awards will then undertake a variety of tasks, culminating in the awards presentation, which will take place on the afternoon of Tuesday 12 September.

The Toro Student Greenkeeper of the Year winner will receive an eight-week all expenses paid scholarship, including a six-week residential turf management study course at the University of Massachusetts, a trip to the Golf Industry Show and a visit to the Toro factory.

The runners-up of each award will also receive a training package for BTME 2018.

Everyone at Stoneham are very proud of Graham and Levi and what they have achieved and wish them all the luck in the world at the final.

For more information see press release below:

https://www.bigga.org.uk/about-us/news/finalists-re-year-awards/00954.html

Maintenance week plans August 2017

Maintenance Week

21^st August – 25^th August

Below is the information on works to be carried out during course maintenance week

Please give way to operators at all times

Greens and Aprons

Monday: Verti drain (deep tine) to 7 inches, Hollow core 4 inches and clear, top dress and brush (Front 9 Closed)

Tuesday: Verti drain (deep tine) to 7 inches, Hollow core 4 inches and clear, top dress and brush (Back 9 Closed)

Wednesday: Scarify greens, Fertilise, over-seed, Top dress and Brush

Hollow core Front 9 Aprons and clear (Possible Front 9 Closed)

Thursday: Top dress greens if required

Hollow core Back 9 Aprons (Possible Back 9 Closed)

Friday: Cut and Roll greens, Possible snagging day for bad weather.

Following the works the greens will be sandy and a little bumpy for a couple of weeks. We apologise for an inconvenience.

Please remember these works are essential for our greens to continue to improve!

·         Tees – Verti drain, Hollow tine to remove thatch and for soil exchange, top dressed, over seeded with     rye, bent and fescue mix and fertilised.

·         Fairways & Surrounds October 11^th/12th – It is intended to Hollow tine and collect then rake and  blow ALL fairways and surrounds. This is a huge project with piles of cores being left next to fairways  for collection once completed. Some disruption to play on the days will be necessary but this will be    kept to a minimum.

* All greens and Aprons works will be carried out in maintenance week   

All works are subject to weather conditions             

                           

Matt Plested

Course Manager

August 2017

The Man from Montana

I wanted to do a quick blog about our new Ball washer on the 1st tee. Some of you have noticed this and have made comment about how much you like it. 

This ball washer has travelled many miles to be with us. It was made by a Course Superintendent (Course Manager) from Briarwood in Montana USA. His name is Sean Sullivan. He's a fantastic guy, who has been Greenkeeping for years. Sean is not only a member of the American Greenkeepers association (GCSAA) 

but BIGGA the British one too.

Briarwood is a private members club in the Yellowstone Country Park and was voted the number 1 course in Montana. For your information Montana is called "The Treasure State" It is the 4th largest state, so that's pretty impressive in terms of rankings.

Sean not only loves his family, dog and wildlife (not surprising living around the beautiful Yellowstone Park) but he also loves the British golf courses and has worked at the several British Open's. 

He regularly attends BTME the Turf Managers conference in Harrogate... that's  some travelling! 

 

His other passion is making bespoke ball washers in his workshop, especially during the snow days. 

(He then adds a copy of the club logos to his pickup truck. Nice to know our logo is getting seen if in the states!)  

I met Sean a few years ago and have got to know him from BTME. This year when speaking to him about Stoneham and the history of the British Masters and having the Ryder Cup team here, he asked if he could make us a Bespoke ball washer. Once back at Stoneham I sent him a copy of our logo and he got to work straight away. 

Several Facebook messages of the stages of the ball washers followed until he finally completed it. 

The ball washer then travelled the 4,471 miles to Stoneham for us to put on the 1st tee. We were so inspired by Sean's ball washers that we are now sourcing new ball washers complete with logos for other holes. 

 Once in place I sent Sean a thank you message and picture and he replied that I need to get a Stoneham bag towel to hang on it. He said "Looks great, hope your members appreciate the effort to increase their brand, cheers". 

Sean, we certainly do appreciate your efforts. We have had so many positive comments about the ball washer. 

Thank you! 

 

 

"Ne'er cast a clout till May be out"

Hi All,

I haven't had much time to blog lately and it's definitely something I need to make more time for. At the moment I write all the blogs in the evenings at home but lately the kids have had their own ideas for my time! I guess that's what happens as they get older. 

I started a blog about three weeks ago and never got chance to finish and publish it but reading it back today I am glad I didn't. I was writing just after the maintenance week work and wanted to talk about how the GDD (growth rates) were showing we were on course to hit 180 GDD (our magic growth number) by the end of March and that we were flying as far as spring was concerned... 

Wow, that will teach me! As since then the wheels have literally fallen off of spring. 

At one point we were looking like 59 days ahead of last year (we knew 2016 spring was cold from the start) but those have been crawling back and we are now only 19 days ahead of last year. 

(GDD data from this year above: note the drop).

Interesting the last three years February to March has had better growth than March to April! 

Now I can hear you all thinking I have gone mad. The suns been out and the weather has been lovely! So what's he going on about? Well yes the day time temperatures have been good but for us the two big issues have been the night time temperatures and the lack of rainfall. 

The night temperatures are dropping so much that growth is not happening as the soils are still cold because of the night temperatures, which isn't a bad thing for us apart from its the weeks following Course Maintenance week and we want the greens to recover quickly.

As they say "Ne'er cast a clout till May be out" (Dr. Thomas Fuller 1732), this old English saying simply means 'never discard your [warm winter] clothing till May be out'  and how true this is at the moment. We are still getting frosts!

The second part of the issue lately is the lack of rainfall. Whatever happened to 'April showers'! 

The answer to that is May. Our data shows that May has been wetter than April the last few years but this is by far the driest April I have ever known with 5mm falling and so far three weeks without a single drop of rain. 

Adding to this, our Irrigation system has been drained down due to new irrigation sprinklers being installed to all the greens and aprons around the course has meant priming irrigation system up and draining down just to get some water on the greens to wash in top dressing & give it the moisture it requires and the problem with this?... 

Adding irrigation water on to greens cools the soil temperatures down so a vicious circle of greens requiring water, soil temperatures being low and then lowered by the water meaning less growth. For me watering is essential still as low growth and recovery won't last forever but dead through drought will. 

I normally say we a rocking growth wise by the middle of May or the FA cup final as I say too. Let's hope I am not wrong again as this cool dry April has been not been great for us. 

So what have we learnt from this? How do we improve? Well already looking at next years diary and we are going to book two dates in for the early Maintenance week. One being end of February and one in March. Now depending on the winter we are having will determine the week we will use but GDD graphs show that in the last four years February to March has been warmer causing a flush of growth before cooling for March to April. So if it's dry enough for us to get the equipment round I would like to go earlier if possible on the greens to get this recovery. 

What's been going on out on the course?

It's a busy time for us out on the course, seeding worn areas, adding the spring fertilisers, turfing worn areas, woodland management. 

 

All the greens sprinklers have been replaced with new ones. The big difference is that old sprinklers (19 years old) worked at 360 degrees and the new ones will work at 180 these also have the option that we can add what they call a 'tail' this is a rear nozzle allowing us to get certain areas where we want to add water. Our old sprinklers didn't give us this option meaning water was going onto pathways, heather, trees etc. In the long run this will save us water and allow us to have enough water to give all areas (greens, tees and aprons) a proper water and once the aprons sprinklers are replaced (before the summer) our uniformity of will be better. 

We are also giving the course a bit of spring clean. Some of the tidying jobs have included: 

Astro turfing the steps around the course. This is not just an anti slip measure but will improve manual handling as weeding will be reduced. 

Painting of the course furniture, sheds and signage is on going. It's amazing how much better things look with a lick of paint. 

The pathways are starting to get topped up in places and this is an entire blog in itself to explain the pathway issues. This also normally works when we require rain because previously every time I have ever put pathway materials down it tends to hammer down with rain and wash them away pretty soon after, so the running joke in Greenkeeping is if it gets to dry top your pathways up :-)

You may have noticed we are trialling hand mowing tees. I personally think these look great and give a better look to the holes. The down side is it takes more man hours but sometimes I think it's worth it. 

Just a quick one from me. Hope that has explained a few things to you and I will keep the blogs coming. Let's hope for a good May weather wise. 

Happy golfing 

Matt