March course update

Over the last month

Last month:February gave us a slight break in the weather, a little colder but less in the way of rain consequently we were able to catch up on some of the work which had slipped in our programme.

We have a two key projects ongoing:

·         The 15^th path is coming along well with just the topping to put down and roll in, with a little tidy up work around the edges.

·         Artificial range tees; we hope to complete at least two of these before the end of March.  The remainder will be finished as our work load allows but in any event before they're required for next winter.

Members will be aware we now have the new Toro Procore which we use for fine turf maintenance, we had a nice window in the weather to hollow core the greens and apply a sand based topdressing.  We used very small tines thus leaving very little disturbance. The aim is to carry out this task twice through spring.  The disturbance next time will be minimal as we should by then have good growing conditions leading to a rapid recovery.

Greens: We will be hollow coring greens this month with a very small 8mm tine depending on the weather we would like to get a scarify or some sort of vertical cutting on the greens to rip out more of the matted organic layer and any moss that has nestled in throughout the winter. The weather conditions will play a big part in timing of this task and may have to be carried out in April. We will continue to Sarol roll, along with additional sand dressings towards the end of the month. The aim this year is to continue hand mowing throughout March with the Height of cut being lowered from 5.75mm down to 5mm towards the end of the month, again if weather is properly accommodating.

Tees:The tees are a little warn due to more play and us being open more than others in the area through the very wet winter, on the plus side we have had good growth through-out and recovery has been good. I am confident that tees will be in great condition for the start to the golfing season. We will carry out our spring renovations towards the end of this month with a deep scarify along with some deep tines going down at least 250mm! 

Fairways:  Fairways will be sprayed with a selective herbicide as soon as is possible, this has become necessary due to a build-up of chick weed in many of the fairways. This has occurred due to the historic use of a compost product had this weed seed within it. The strategy is to kill the weed early, then we will have the Spring to thicken out the sward. We are looking to apply a wetting agent to fairways this year; this will need to be carried out as early as possible for the rains to wash the product into the turf and soil. 

• Bunkers to be edged
• Turf winter worn areas
• Bunker sand levels to be checked and moved around.
• Finish the range tees with artificial turf.
• Fill newly renovated bunkers on the 6^th
• Finish the path on the 15th

Craig Earnshaw

Golf Course Manager