Let there be air and light

Our 2nd green which is tucked away in the south west corner of the golf course has struggled in recent times with high disease pressures due to it's enclosed nature.This in part has much to do with the lack of air and light available to dry out the greens surface especially during the winter months. A section of the large stand of white poplar to the left hand approach and a large conifer branch which hung over the green were removed to allow increased air flow and light across the surface of the putting green. To the right hand side a stand of three holm oak were encroaching into the approach and if left unchecked would start influence the way the hole is played. One holm oak was removed completely while the other two were crown raised, this will allow a variety of golf shots to be played from the right hand side of the fairway.

Large conifer limb shadowing back quarter of 2nd green

Limb removed allowing direct sunlight to the surface

White poplar restricting airflow

White poplar thinned out to open up airflow through green complex

Encroaching holm oaks

One holm oak removed two more crown lifted

 

Driving Range Maintenance

This week essential maintenance work has been carried out on our driving range enclosure to sustain it's longevity. All decking was scrubbed with a decking cleaner then the whole building power washed inside and out. Once cleaned and dried a larch oil is applied to preserve the wood. Unfortunately this process does take some time and the enclosure needs to close for 3/4 days, the outside bays however will remain open so you can get some practice in. This process is to be scheduled annually.

Dirt Removal 

Before & After Power Washing

Applying Larch Oil

 

 

Before & After Larch Oil Application

Approaches To Greens

Following on from the aeration, scarification and sand dressing work carried out on green approaches during spring maintenance week, slight modifications have now been made to the size and shape of these areas. All approaches were marked out, double verti-cut and mowed into their new dimensions. You will notice the slightly discolored turf in the areas which have been mowed out, this will be temporary as it is a normal reaction to turf when cut shorter, these areas will blend in with the surrounding area within good time.

The maintenance work that is being carried out on approaches will not only improve sward quality creating a seamless transition from fairway to green but will also enable a greater shot variety into and around our greens.

                  The pictures below are just some of the adjustments that have been made.

Right hand side of 2nd approach

Right hand side of 3rd approach

Left hand side of 6th approach and surround

Right hand side of 8th approach

Left hand side of 13th approach

Left and right hand side of 16th approach

A New Season

A New Season Begins

The past few weeks have been extremely busy for the course team in preparation for the start of the main golfing season. A persistent and frigid north-easterly wind has been causing some concern but hopefully now the worst has passed and temperatures will begin to rise. Most of our work has revolved around the Captains Drive In which was held on Saturday and making sure that the course is looking its best in these challenging conditions. We moved swiftly on from that competition straight into maintenance week which is now in full flow.

New Machinery

Last week the club took delivery of a pedestrian aerator which we believe will make huge improvements to our ability to maintain quality, healthy surfaces. The Toro Procore is the leading machine on the market and is already showing its quality in its first week on the job. After brief training due to user friendliness and maneuverability the Procore has been used this week to aerate the greens and surrounds in minimal time and with minimal disturbance. The machine is so fast that we have even been able to utilise it on other areas whilst waiting for other machinery to finish.

The team being trained on the Procore

We hope that this increase in speed and lack of disturbance will allow us to perform these operations more frequently with less interruption to play whilst continuing to improve playing surfaces.

Maintenance week

This years spring maintenance follows a similar plan to last year with the added bonus of the new machinery to our fleet. Following on from an application of lawn sand last week to control moss we began by scarifying the greens and surrounds in two directions to remove the dead moss and thatch buildup.

Scarifying 15th green

The organic material that has been removed

The surface showing scarifyer grooves

Once the greens had been scarified we followed with the Procore to aerate to a depth of around 3 inches. The greens were then ironed to avoid any compaction from the topdresser. The greens have been topdressed with straight sand which is brushed into the scarified grooves, aeration holes and fills any other imperfections in the surface and dilutes any thatch present.

Procore being used on the 13th green

Aerated surface ready for top dressing

10th green after top dressing

Now that the easterly winds have died down we hope that the soil temperatures will rise and spring growth will begin. Then we can resume our summer cutting regime and begin preparations for this years tournaments.

New Bunkers

The members will have noticed that the new bunkers on the 16th and 18th fairways are now open and ready for play. The addition of clean sand has given a good finish and we are very happy with all the  winter projects.

Clean sand added

The finished product

Ecology

Whilst we have finished with our big ecology projects of the winter we are still continuing work on this front. Some of the greenkeepers are involved in beginning to survey the species of birds present on the course which will be beneficial in tailoring our bird boxes. Raith Miller in particular is working hard on creating different types of boxes so that we can maximise the species present. Hopefully this along with the new sandy waste areas which can benefit species such as mining bees will allow the ecology of the course to flourish this summer.

Course Update

Course Update

Whilst the weather is yet to improve and we have had to deal with some high rainfall in the past few weeks, winter is coming to an end and the golfing season is fast approaching. This time of year is spent making the finishing touches to our construction projects, completing ecology works ready for spring and preparing the golf course for the coming season. I will touch on all of these points in this post and show the hard work the team has been doing in challenging conditions.

Course Maintenance

Both the greens and tees have been given their first verti-draining of the year with pencil tines to a depth of around 8". This is to improve air and water movement in the profile and has numerous benefits to plant health. This was followed by 10 tonnes of straight sand top dressing on the greens as part of  our on-going thatch dilution program. We have been managing the greens carefully throughout the winter with particular care to avoid excessive weight on the surfaces. A combination of hand cutting and ironing has allowed us to maintain performance even during the extreme wet weather.

Pencil tining greens

Applying sand top dressing to greens

The members will also notice that a cutting and scarifying operation has been completed around the 9th green. This bank had become rank with Ryegrass and any balls played into the area were more than likely to be lost. Now that it has been cut we will allow it to regenerate whilst managing it to avoid it again becoming too dense.

Construction

The flooding on the service track behind the 14th green has been a long running problem and having completed our tees construction we began work on resolving this issue. The track has been raised with hardcore, drainage sumps installed and the surrounding area returfed.

The finished product

Ecology

After the success of the sandy waste area created on the 8th carry, another area has now been established on the opposite side. The principle for this area has been the same however we did not have to bury as much gorse in the process and were careful to avoid some small heather plants in the surrounding vegetation.

Small heather plants amongst the existing vegetation

Before and after photos of the second area

As with the first area we have planted a mixture of natural sand dune species on the site including Marram, Dune rose and Bents. Creating these areas improves sustainability as they require little management, benefit the environment and speed up play as golfers are more likely to be able to find and play their shot. With the completion of these two areas we are starting to form a link between the front and back nines. Whilst La Moye will never again look as it did in 1902 when George Boomer first laid out his holes in the dunes, in the coming years we hope to return at least some of the course to its natural links pedigree. Notice the sandy waste bunker in the foreground of the photo below (Photo from 'The Boomer Legacy')

The 18th green in 1938

Brief Update

It has now been a month since maintenance week and we are seeing recovery from the greens along with good germination after our overseeding work. With the weather remaining unseasonably warm we are still seeing a fair amount of growth so our cutting regimes are still in full operation. This adds some pressure as we move into winter and begin our construction projects for 2016. Members will notice that we have already completed some path end repairs, with these areas being roped off for the time being to protect them as they root. The turf for these areas has been stripped from the 16th tees. Members I'm sure have also noticed that work is now well underway on this construction project. The original tee was constructed with a railway sleeper wall on the left side which had become unsafe and led to the tee subsiding. To remedy this the white and yellow tees have been lowered slightly and re-positioned so that a retaining wall is no longer necessary along with the unsightly railings. We hope that members will see the benefits in 2016 with improved views, a level teeing surface and a better line of sight to the fairway. The 9th ladies tee has also been stripped and re-leveled. I hope to bring you more news of our winter work as it progresses along with some photos to show the differences.

Yesterday was a nice, dry day so the decision was made to hand cut greens for the lady captains drive in. I shot this time lapse video of the 8th green being cut to give an idea of the process, I hope you enjoy it.

In the next update I hope to include some more photos and news of our progress.

Controlling Broad Leaved Grasses in Greens

An application of the selective graminicide Rescue has been made to all greens to control the spread of Ryegrass and Yorkshire Fog grasses. These are wholly inappropriate putting green grass types that we have been treating now for a number of years. Thankfully we have far less of these grass species now so the effects of the spray application will be less noticeable than in previous years. We may for a period have some thin areas of turf but the greens will be seeded and top-dressed repeatedly over the next two months to ensure the broadleaved grasses are replaced with finer fescue grass.

Four interseeding operations are planned. The first will start after the Dolphin Trophy on Monday 25^th August. Sanding of greens will take place thereafter to ensure surface levels are returned as quickly as possible.

Verti Cutting & Sanding

We have taken the opportunity to carry out some sward refinement using verti-cut units fitted to a Toro 3250. As the name suggests the blades on these units work vertically into the turf slicing through lateral growth and imparting stress into broader leaved grass species.

 

 

Following this procedure sand top dressing was applied to all greens. These tasks complement each other as the verti-cutting grooves enable the sand to be worked into the surface well while the sand helps smooth out any unevenness caused by the verti-cutting.

 

The sand is worked in to the surface of the green using a rubber dragmat. In this instance we attached some astroturf to the dragmat to achieve a superior brushing effect.

Sanding approaches

We have begun to increase the amount of sand applied to the green approaches. A disc spreader is used to apply the material which will help the green approaches become firmer and with a more predictable and consistent bounce. Some of the smaller approaches have the material applied by hand. Occasionally we need to keep the sand on the surface for a short time to allow it to fully dry before it can be worked into the surface properly.

Spring Update

All planned maintenance works on the greens have been completed successfully. Pencil tining, over-seeding and top dressing operations were carried out on all putting surfaces.

Pencil tining was done using a 10mm tine to a depth of 75mm. This process helps improve the movement of air and water through the upper profile of the rootzone, which helps create an environment for healthy grass growth. Seeding works were carried out with our Vredo seeding unit. The introduction of seed at this time is required to out-compete the invasive annual meadow and rye grasses. We selected varieties of fescue and bent grass seeds as these species provide fine, wiry turf that is naturally resistant to both drought and disease. Top dressing was then applied to help smooth the surface following these fairly aggressive treatments to the sward. With reasonable weather we can expect the greens to fully recover in around two weeks.

The exceptionally wet weather over the winter months highlighted some drainage issues on the 4^th, 5^th and 7^th holes. In an attempt to improve the situation we have recently installed extra land drainage pipes on the 4^th and 5^th fairways. These new pipes have been linked into an existing drainage system which was also repaired. The 7^th hole will have work carried out before next winter.

The high water table has caused the bunkers around the 5^th green to be flooded for a number of weeks recently. I am pleased to report that four of the five bunkers in this area are now back in play. 

The tee complex on the 8^th hole and the yellow tee box on the 15^th hole have been levelled, enlarged and re-turfed over the winter months. These surfaces had become very uneven over the years and were in need of improvement. Although the work was completed a number of weeks ago, both surfaces will require at least another two weeks before they are fully ready for play.

A number of bunkers have had a lining installed beneath the sand. A geotextile material was added to bunkers on holes 3, 17 and 18 during the recent bunker refurbishment works undertaken on these holes. The most visited bunkers on holes 10, 11 and 12 have also been done with the aim of improve the performance of the bunkers from a playing perspective.

I am delighted to report that the installation of the new driving range will commence in late summer. The new range enclosure will be a vast improvement on the old structure which was destroyed in storms at the start of last year. We plan to make significant improvements to the four “outdoor” bays at the same time. The new range is due to open in October and I am sure we will all enjoy the new facility when the time comes.