Knocking Back Succession

During the winter of 2016/17 we scheduled a renovation project to enlarge the men's 12th tee complex. Being a par 3 the original tee was too small to sustain excess wear and over time had become uneven and bumpy. In addition to this the tee complex was still on the old irrigation set up of 360 degree heads. These heads had over many years been watering the surrounding areas of the tee complex which in turn led to the open dune land becoming over vegetated with thick rank grasses and scrub. 

View from the 12th tee complex

Over vegetated grass and scrub

With plans in place to enlarge the tee and install an irrigation set up to just water the tees surface a decision was made to revert the scrub to the front and side of the tee back to its natural state. This concept derived from annual visits from Bob Taylor and Sophie Vukelic who are ecology consultants for the Sports Turf Research Institution. They advised that to knock back succession in many over vegetated areas of the course we could adopt a practice of removing scrub completely, scraping back to bare sand thus restoring many areas of our sand based course back to their natural state.

Through their advise and support we had already successfully carried out a number of small trial areas along the 8th carry, these were met with such positive feed back from members that we had no hesitation in deciding to carry out the ecological reversals required around the 12th tee complex.

Open vista over natural dune land

Returned to natural dune land

It wasn't until the project had been completed that our intentions turned to entering the Golf Environment Awards. This is something that the club has been involved in for a number of years with our aim being to improve the ecological value of the course.

The greenkeeping team had done such a fantastic job of not only rebuilding the entire tee complex but successfully and sympathetically returning the area back to it's native dune environment. Even though everything we do is a team effort a special mention must go to Deputy Head Greenkeeper Richard Le Moignan and Mechanic/Greenkeeper Gary Denton who led the entire project from start to finish, thier dedication and enthusiasm in poor weather conditions is to be applauded.

Their hard work and commitment over the winter months was rewarded when news came through from the Golf Environment Awards that we had made the long list in the category Outstanding Environmental Project of the Year. Following the judging process which is carried out by industry leading professionals, we were informed we had made the short list and were finalists invited to attend the awards ceremony held in Harrogate during the British Turf Managers Exhibition.

Unfortunately we were not bestowed the honor of outright winners but the fact we were one of four finalists in a nationally recognized award, and is attended by the industry's leading professionals and supported by the R&A has to be a feather in the cap for La Moye Golf Club.   

The Golf Environment Awards Finalist Trophy

Receiving the trophy on behalf of the club, Phil Bowler DHG, Andrew Ricketts HG and Richard Cutler GM

Course Update

This update must of course start with an apology for the lack of posts since November! The greenkeeping team has undergone some major changes of personnel and roles in the past few months. First of all congratulations must go to both Richard Cutler on his new role on the Club's Management team and to Andrew Ricketts, our newly promoted Head Greenkeeper. Richard Le Moignan has also recieved a promotion along with myself to the position of Deputy Head Greenkeeper. With Richards' departure from the main greenkeeping team, he has passed on the updating of this blog to myself, (Matthew Amy) and Andrew. We hope to keep you informed about the ongoing maintenance and improvements at La Moye as diligently as Richard did. Now, I have a lot to cover since the last update so lets get started!

Winter Projects

As shown in the last post our major project this winter was the reconstruction of the 1st tee complex. This was completed in preparation for the captains drive in and we hope that the members are happy with the result. The old tee complex had been due for re-leveling for some time and so the opportunity was perfect to also increase teeing space on this short par 3. Members will notice that we have increased the surface area of the men's yellow tee by 50% which allows us to better spread the wear on the surface. 

Aesthetically the tee has been much improved by removing the old Elaeagnus hedge which had become aged and bare in places. The banking to the tee has been recreated using pure sand and replanted with Marram Grass (Ammophila). This native dune grass has been collected from other areas of the course and St Ouens sand pit, with the greenkeepers planting an estimated 2-3000 individual sprigs! The Marram Grass has been selected to give golfers an instant impact of the links character of La Moye on the first hole.

Newly turfed yellow tee on the 1st

Other winter work has included the rebuilding of some of the bunkers. Holes 10, 11, 12 and 18 have all seen renovation to their front left bunkers. The work completed on 11 and 12 saw a more extensive remodeling of the ground around the bunkers, which we believe has created a fairer obstacle for the golfers and made the bunkers look more natural in their positions.

Reconstructed bunker on 12th hole

Reconstructed bunker on 11th hole

Acorn Jersey Open 2015

After the completion of our winter program and the beginning of the main golfing season our preparations began for the arrival of the European Seniors Tour for the first time in five years. A program of regular verticutting and 'grooming' of the putting surfaces was put in place to refine the surface and remove the seeds of the Poa annua in the sward. This program is used every year for the benefit of the members and we saw especially good results this season with a prolonged period of dry weather. Two applications of top dressing were applied in the lead up to the tournament to improve surface levels and as part of our ongoing thatch dilution program. 

Greens were double cut and ironed every day of the tournament along with cutting the surround, approaches and tees. The greens performed brilliantly during the tournament with speeds beginning at 9.5 on day one and peaking at over 11 on the final round as the sun dried up the surfaces.

Perhaps the most marked improvement this year on the course has been the presentation of the fairways. The golf club invested in two John Deere 8000A Hybrid mowers and they began to pay dividends almost immediately. The fairways were cut regularly in different directions and the improvement in quality of cut from the new units has provided better ball roll and lies. For the tournament itself the fairways were cut every evening and we reverted to a 'block' pattern, which is more in keeping with the traditional links character of the course.

All of the greenstaff worked feverishly for the week before and during the tournament, putting in plenty of overtime to present the course to the highest standards. The comments we gratefully received from the professionals, spectators and members were fantastic and the whole team is very proud of their hard work. 

15th Green

Head Greenkeeper Andrew Ricketts changing holes on day 2

17th Green on final day

12th Green on final day

Next on our busy program for 2015 is the Natwest Island Games. Preparations for this tournament have already begun along with our day to day work maintaining the course for our members. 

More Marram Planting

Following on from the work carried out last year, we have planted more Marram grass (Ammophila arenaria) on the left side of the 11th hole. Since the Holm oak (Quercus ilex) trees have been removed from the dunes in this area we have identified the need to stabilise the shifting sands. There can be no doubt that Marram is perfect plant for this purpose. Recent heavy rain has provided ideal soil conditions so hopefully most of the plugs will establish successfully.

We carry out most of this work by hand. We carefully select the best plants then we tease them out of the ground and collect together in large tubs ready for replanting. Through trial and error we have found that the plants that survive the process best are those which have the most fresh looking small white roots. The large rhizome that extends deep from each plant does not help a transplanted specimen to survive. We would consider the plants shown in the image below to be ideal for transplanting as they have a good number of fresh looking root hairs.

  

Tiny root "hairs" clearly visible

We aim to complete as much of this type of work as possible over the next few weeks as this is felt to be the best time of year to ensure success. Areas on the left side of the 13th hole will be planted out next.

All planted areas have been white lined and fenced off. No play is allowed from within the lined areas and players are requested to take care not to trample the plants when retrieving their ball.

Establishing Marram

The Marram grass planted in the dunes on the left side of the 11th fairway following the tree removal last year has established well. The difficult spring and early summer weather meant that planting success was far from certain but thankfully things have turned out well. Nearly every Marram plug has taken and most are now thriving.

Of all the small pockets we planted the ones on the backs and sides of mounds and in hollows have taken best of all. The shelter from easterly winds provided in these areas has allowed the young plants the ideal environment for growth. Plants on mound tops are doing less well but most have still taken and continue to grow and spread albeit more slowly. For the time being we continue to request that players take a lift and drop when they land in the Marram plantations (marked by a white line) to help provide the most protection possible to these still vulnerable plants.

Further planting will be carried out on hole 11 in the autumn to add more texture to the lovely dune formations in this area.

The image above is of a section of the area next to the 6th tee which was previously home to a copse of the invasive Holm Oak tree (Quercus Ilex) and virtually nothing else. In 2008 we removed trees and scraped away the brash on the ground to expose the sand below. This was followed by extensive planting of Marram grass plugs and the introduction of some gorse plants. 

As you can see from the image above the gorse has established very quickly and has already spread over a significant area. Our aim for this area is to provide a fairly open, species rich dune grassland so with this in mind we will shortly begin chemically controlling further spread of the gorse plants. I am very surprised to be considering gorse control measures so soon after introducing the plant but it just goes to show how aggressive the plant is when provided with favourable conditions. If left unchecked the area would be completely covered in gorse which would be to the obvious detriment of biodiversity, just as it was with the Holm Oak tree before we intervened in 2008.