February 2015

Hello,

Welcome to the first of 2015's monthly blogs.

This month we are back to the rebuilding works after the hurricane force winds that dropped so many trees and then the hard winter weather for the last two weeks. All our bunkers are now completed and work on levelling the tees is due to start this coming Monday. As you will be aware, some of the tees are terribly uneven and with this, we have 5 sets of the worst tees planned, assuming the weather stays kind of course. The first of these to get done will be the 3rd because there is a lot of landscaping to be done. The surfaces will be levelled and the bulk of the landscaping will be done, leaving just the planting of marram etc to be done in the harder weather. We will then move on to the 2nd, 12th 16th and also the 14th if we have time.

There is a program in place that's been agreed with the committee to reinstate the playing surfaces on the greens after being hit very hard with disease. The committee made the decision to deny the purchase of fungicide as funds were low in September. I informed them of the need to spray just prior to the celebrity golf, this was declined and it was left to run rampant as conditions were so favourable to aid the spread of it. This then resulted as you know, in extremely poor surfaces for the whole of the winter.


Although we've had some recovery, with it being so cold recently, recovery will not be sufficient to produce any sort of quality surfaces in the spring. Indeed, I reckon it will be mid to late May before the greens are up to the required standard, and that is dependent on favourable weather in the early part of Spring. When temperatures are suitable, we will be overseeding the greens with around 600kg of seed, this will be a mix of BarFescue and Bar2. Greens will be cored prior to seeding, then dressed after the overseeder has been completed. We will then hopefully have sufficient germination by Mid-May to then get the greens up to a decent standard. Heights will be kept around 5mm for most of the season to encourage successful establishment of the young seedlings. Although the disease was a blow to the conditioning of the greens, we now have a great opportunity to get some very desirable bent/fescue grasses established instead of the predominant poa surfaces there were prior. This in turn will lead to a far better golfing experience for everyone that plays here in the future.

We will also be signing up to a Symbio feeding program designed specifically for our greens. This will lead to the turf being less fertiliser reliant which should promote the fine grasses as well as reduce future disease outbreaks. This should also reduce annual costings with less fertiliser, fungicide and also be more environmentally friendly so it's win win really.

As always, any questions are welcome and we are always willing to discuss any concerns you have or issues you need clarified.

Many thanks
Alexander
Head Greenkeeper.