September update 

Busy few weeks on and off the course plenty of golf being played and preparation for the autumn and winter works are underway. We’ve taken delivery of our ventrac tractor and attachments, received our training and began putting it through its paces. Had a small issue with sprayer breakdown and a few weeks waiting  for parts but back up and running now ands it’s been out this week.

The weather as normal a bit up and down saw a very autumn feel with damp dewy morning which has increased disease pressure combined with our limited spraying ability has resulted in some areas of disease breaking out but will soon grow out and will have minimal effect on ball roll. The last few days have saw some extreme heat and wind stressing all areas of the course cutting and watering regimes have been altered slightly to help with this.

So, what’s been done?

Greens

• Regularly mowing at 2.9mm (our lowest height of cut)
• Fortnightly verti cutting to help groom the surface and improve trueness 
• Granular feed 
• Early morning watering to help with disease pressure by letting the surface dry through the day and not sitting wet through the night
• Dressing and seeding of imperfections 

Tees and apron 

• Regularly mowing at 9.5mm
• A double verti cut to groom surface and increase sward density 
• Granular feed
• Regularly divoting and dressing of imperfections
• Watering and Hand watering 

Fairways 

• Regularly mowing at 15mm and resting those fairways which show worse signs of heat/drought stress
• Edging and painting of yardage discs
• Blowing of debris 

Rough 

• Regularly mowing at 60mm and again resting stressed areas
• Blowing debris 

General 

• Using ventrac with contour deck on slopes and banks around course to improve appearance and turf quality on areas which we were unable to mow regularly and were labour intensive.
• Tidying of bunker edges and weeding 
• Tidying of tee stones
• Total weed control around club carpark and 1st ditch
• Using ventrac with tough cut deck on wild rough/overgrown areas these will be left a few weeks before been cut again then collecting and clearing will begin.
• General Strimming and Tidying 
• Begin preparing temporary greens theses were mown out and have been Top-dressed and seeded.
• Machinery maintenance and repairs 

Plans for autumn/winter 2021-2022

• Greens, tees, aprons will all be aggressively aerated, top-dressed with sand and over seeded with species more beneficial to us 
• Cut and clearing of wild areas of course as well as tree pruning and removal to improve air flow and aesthetics of the golf course
• Pipe and gravel drainage to be installed into greens 7,9,4-15,17 and 18 
• On holes where drainage works are taking place work the bunkers will also be drained, shaped and lined 
• New tee constructed on the 2nd and 6th holes to help with wear and playability of the holes ( subsoil will begin been moved up to the 2nd tee next week ahead of been graded and shaped)
• Remodelling of 9th green to give the green more undulations and help elevate its current problems
• Ditch clearing around course to help with water movement 

Materials have been ordered and will begin arriving at the course in the next few weeks with our aim to start works mid October, the team are looking forward to a busy few months executing  these planned improvements and look forward to the benefits next playing season. I’d like to thank the board and the membership for there support and investment in improvements machinery like the ventrac is really a great changer and I hope you can already see its benefits and investing in drainage and bunker improvements will definitely make a big difference to the playability and quality of the course.

Drawings of proposed drainage, new tees and reshaping

\

Many thanks 

Rob Lawley

Head Green keeper