Hi All,
Looking Back
Just writing to update you all on what’s been happening on
the course and to look at some of the challenges we are tackling at the moment.
As the season comes to an end, we can look back with pride
on how our members represented the club at all levels and in our own
competitions.
This has been ‘another’ tough year from the course side of
things but I think the team have done a fantastic job of dealing with
everything that’s been thrown at us.
The season started off tremendously wet then it promised to
be a good spring but that quickly transitioned into a hot May and June and a
real worry about water and how much we would need kicked in. It still amazes me
how quickly things can change.
In just a couple of weeks the evaporation increases dramatically
as temperatures rise and day light hours increase.
Now as we head into Autumn these rolls reverse as the day light hours draw in, the temperatures drop, meaning moisture levels increase and the risk of turf diseases (and our own flus and colds) increase. This when the water tables start to rise. Some areas in Scotland have unbelievable amounts of rain since the 12th September with this weekend hitting a new level of rainfall with Loch Lomond recording 100mm of rain in one day. That’s over a month’s worth of rain.
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| Washout after 35mm of rain |
Thankfully we haven’t had that and our wet summer from July
seems good in comparison. We experienced 35mm in one night and due to this
being in the summer and all of the above aiding our investments in the bunker
drainage, the tarmacked pathways and the greens drainage we managed to get the
course open and set up for a 9.30 shotgun, including cutting and rolling
greens. A remarkable achievement on clay soils.
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| A team effort to restore the bunkers |
Maintenance Works
In the last two days we have been hit with some very heavy
rain. This has meant a change of plan for the planned hollow coring works.
Every time we aerate we have to consider many factors, with rain being the main
one in autumn, it’s welcomed in the summer following the works but not during
the process as we had this week. We had planned to hollow core as I mentioned
in our ‘Maintenance Plans’ that came out back in August. The plan was to hollow
core tine on the 12th and 13th of October but following forecast
and to try and reduce the amount of water getting into the profile we switched
this process to a scarification. In a hope that we could still hit some of the targeted
thatch without too much water penetrating the soils. We have carried out
aeration works on these back in August so they have had some de-compaction and air
but sometime we just have to make a change in the plan due to weather.
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| Scarifying Aprons |
It’s worth remembering we use contractors to help us with
process at this time of year in attempt to be done quicker and with the correct
machinery that we don’t own or currently have space to house. Originally we
were due to hollow core Aprons, surround, tees and Fairways. A huge undertaking
but due recent budget cuts we had to negotiate with the contractor to reduce
the work down to just tees, aprons and surrounds.
Then with a week to go 25mm of rain appeared on the
forecast. Hence why we made the change. Unfortunately this hit us during the
night between the works and has left some of the aprons and tees wetter than we
want as the water has penetrated the thatch layer but it is still better than
it would have been with a hollow cored and will hopefully dry out with the wind
and a couple of days without the rain.
Damage
The
amount of thatch removed during the scarifying works was quite remarkable and
great for our long term goal of firming up our main playing surfaces and I believe
this is something that we have to do more of. There has been some areas of
damage. Weak areas have ripped up and are being divoted to aid recovery. Please
be patient with this. It’s a bit of no pain, no gain. These are the same areas
that are keeping the aprons soft or not allowing us to tighten the cut to make
them even better.
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| The Pain :-( |
The weak areas could be being caused by Chafer grub or Leather jacket damage or lack of root development due to Fairy ring and drought stress.
Tournaments
The Tournaments
have come and gone including Club Championships, England Golf, Pro Am, The Club
Champs, The R&A Coronation Cup, Stoneham Trophy and Masters, Clutch Tour
and many, many more. A special thanks to North Hants and Ogbourne downs golf
clubs who sent greenkeeping volunteers in to help with the Clutch Tour.
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| Divot repair following Tournaments |
Challenges
1.
Silver Moss- One of our challenges in the last
few months has been Silver Moss. We have discussed this issue on the blog
before. The Silver moss has encroached on to the
drain lines, especially the 2nd, 5th, 12th, 17th, short
game area. The Silver moss takes over on a thinning swards like our drain lines
in the heat of summer or on pitch marks.
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| Silver Moss can be seen at the surface of the cores |
This has been an issue we
have been battling with for a couple of years on and off and have been talking
this through with our Agronomist but we have carried out some trial work this
year which we have had good results with and we have planned this into next
summer’s strategy.
2.
Machinery- In 2016 we
invested heavily into our machinery fleet as the equipment at the time was old
and unsafe. The club have been investing into the machinery fleet ever since
but as some of our core older machines are coming to the end of their life we
are experiencing more and more break downs and machines not available to use.
Some of these repairs are now taking months to repair due to part shortages
with the knock on effect from Covid and Brexit.
The impact of machinery
not working, breaking down or not working properly does impact the course we
are capable of delivering. Even with a magic wand replacements are now taking
between 12-18 months for delivery. The cost of borrowing money at the moment is
also high with the market when looking at bigger deals. The price of the parts
has doubled and buying second hand would only mean replacing them with machines
in a similar situation to ours. The club are still investing in new and hire machinery
to help but with purchases also increasing nearly 200% our speed of replacement
has reduced because of costs.
Please be patient if you catch a member of staff or see a machine broken down on the course. There are reasons why things maybe taking a bit longer than normal.
Looking back over the
season I feel proud with how each and every one of the team have performed. We
have welcomed two new faces with Matthew Strutt Donnelly and Freddy Banks
fitting in perfectly.
Both Mark Blake and
James Ferris have completed their Diploma in Sports Turf Management Level 3 and
Harry Horn getting Distinction for both his written and practical exams for his
Diploma in Sports Turf Level 2. Levi Pethick was awarded a place on FTMI
(Future Turf Manager Initiative) from BIGGA. Open support, Tournament
supporting, Course walks, Seminars, Webinars and lots of training within the team.
The clubhouse team with
Shah at the helm and Ian in the Pro shop have all been fantastic to work with. The
MC and Captains committee have been very busy looking at how to improve the business
and the golf side with a focus on sustainability are something to be proud of.
Coming up drainage
works and repairing damaged drain on the 3rd and 18th
along with other areas will be on our agenda, the yearly battle with leaves
will start and aiding recovery from the works talked about in the blog plus
some renovations of bunkers and turfing weak areas are all on the horizon.
I do hope you found
this blog interesting and you can see lots of work is being done.
Thank you for your
patience with the latest scarifying works. Sometimes we have to break and egg
to make an omelette!
Matt
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