COURSE REPORT

Weather -  We have had a particularly difficult and challenging start to the year weather wise.  After a wet Christmas period the rain continued throughout January.  A slight change in the weather saw temperatures drop with 18 days of February recording temperatures of below zero, the lowest being minus 9.  Then came the snow with two hits at the beginning and mid-March, and a lot of heavy rain in between.

The course -  As a result of the wet ground conditions, we have tried to limit the amount of vehicles on the course, driving across the course with mowers to try and enhance presentation would have had the opposite effect. We have been able to get on the greens with the walk behind mowers as and when needed, and we had a dry period in March where we were able to get out and cut tees/fairways and approaches.  Our main focus has been on project work and trying to limit any wear to the periphery of the course.  I think we will see the benefits of this when the weather comes good. The main playing surfaces - tees/approaches/fairways and green surrounds will quickly come up to the standards expected for the season.

Greens -  As a result of continued sound cultural practices throughout last year, along with another 150 tonnes of sand top dressed into the greens and finding a good, balanced nutritional programme, we continue to see an improvement in greens performance.  This will continue this year, though we are a little bit behind because of weather conditions and we were unable to do any significant work during greens maintenance week in March.  As a result, we will look to do some ‘thatch’ removal on the greens as soon as we get improved growing conditions. This will be done through ‘scarification’ and followed by a top dressing of sand.  Although there will be some, the disturbance will be minimal and will be massively beneficial to the greens going into the main playing season.  The height of cut will be reduced as the temperatures warm up - we are currently cutting at 6mm. 

Aeration -  Aeration on fairways has been difficult because of wet conditions (we are currently on our second round). We verti drained and earthquaked back in October and we have just a few remaining on the back 9 to complete this round of fairway aeration, which has been at a depth of around 6 – 8 inches.  Tees/approaches and green surrounds are aerated every other month throughout the year at varying depths using both verti drain and procore machines.  Aeration of greens will continue on a monthly basis, with the smaller pencil tines through the season for minimal disturbance followed by deeper aeration in autumn/winter to help promote freer draining surfaces.

Woodland Management -  As part of our ongoing 5-year plan we have taken out the first line of trees on the left side of the 7th up to level with the mound on the right side.  This work is now complete along with taking out the stumps with a stump grinder and these areas will now be prepared for turfing.  Scrub clearance and removal of dead or unwanted trees has been done along the left side of the third green.  We have also taken out a number of dead trees around the course and trees we deemed to be unsafe.  We are also looking into carrying out other tree work which will be carried out by a professional arboriculturalist.

7th Tee -  The 7th tee is now complete, a project that was included within the 5-year plan.  These works included building new steps and re-building the teeing surface to make it wider and level.  The weather caused a delay in our ability to turf, so we will look to be opening up the tee for play in the middle of May.

Course Furniture -  All wooden tee signage was taken indoors, repaired where needed, sanded down and re-painted, complementing the great work carried out on the benches by Pat Crossan.  New cups, pins and flags will be put out at by the beginning of May.

Bunkers -  All bunkers will be assessed and as a minimum will have new sand put in them.

Pathways -  The paths are currently in poor condition. We will look to rotavate the top inch or two and re level to get rid of the pot holes, we will then add more material including path topping to finish off.  A new path will be built on the walk off from the 18th green leading down towards where the shoe cleaner currently is.  The shoe cleaner will also be re positioned on a new concrete pad with better facilities for cleaning off trolleys etc.

Overseeding -  Any weak areas of semi rough, for example left of 5, will be overseeded with a shade tolerant cultivar to try and get better grass cover and definition on these areas.  Any damaged areas like walk on/off areas and tracks created by our vehicles will also be overseeded.

Worm Control -  Two years ago chemical insecticides were banned on all UK horticultural areas including golf courses.  Since then worm and insect activity has significantly increased.  While some mild controls exist they are extremely expensive and only work for a short period and we are using these in selected areas.  We have also been spraying ammonium and ferrous sulphate on fairways to acidify the surface to try and discourage worms to come up and cast, which has seen some success.  I will continue to update on any other means of control we may trial.

May I take this opportunity to thank you for reading this report and the continued positive feedback.  I think we are all looking forward to warmer weather and better golfing conditions.

We are looking to post more information and pictures of the work we are doing on our Facebook page.  Please visit and follow the page for more regular updates.

Mark Ogden

Course Manager