COURSE REPORT

Leaves:  Leaf blowing and collection has been taking priority on the course over the last month, and will continue to do so until the last of the leaves drop.  A particularly wet month in November has hampered our progress as having wet leaves slows down the process of blowing and collecting meaning we have been playing catch up during the main leaf drop, where we simply couldn’t pick them up quickly enough. However, we are now starting to get on top of this and our leaf count is now on 70 loads of our TM5 machine - we average around 100 loads each year.

Once we have collected the majority of the leaves, we will then concentrate on clearing leaves out of the ditches.

Greens:  The greens are now due an aeration and we will look to do this in the coming week, depending on the weather.  We have some disease scarring on the second green but the other greens remain clean. A further fungicide application will be applied before Christmas, which will see us through to the new year and we will also apply our monthly plant hardeners and soil conditioners. The greens are now being cut at 5mm using the walk behind mowers. 

Pin positions become increasingly hard through winter, so in order to try and protect the greens and keep the holes in as dry spots as possible, there may be some more unusual, and more challenging, positions.

November was the wettest month we have recorded for over 2 years. If the wet weather continues, we will have no choice but to start using temporary greens in order to protect the wetter greens (1st, 4th, 6th and 8th). As in previous years we will look to alternate these greens to give each a rest.  This will be updated on the course information line.

Tees/collars:  Since the application of a soil conditioner, which also helps prevent worm casting, the surfaces have remained clean and relatively cast free.

Fairways:  Once the leaves have been cleared and we have freed up machinery and man power, we will start to aerate the fairways using our verti drain.  This is something we normally do before leaf collection, but because of dry/hard conditions and poor grass coverage we have had no choice but to leave it till now.  Weather permitting, we will continue this throughout the winter months.

Tree work:  Some trees have been identified as a priority to have the canopy to be raised.  Identified areas for scrub clearance and tree felling will be carried out in January/February.

Post and Rope:  Over the coming weeks, you will start to see some post and rope coming out to protect areas, mainly around the greens.

Staffing:  We are pleased to announce that Ryan McQuade has recently joined the team as an Assistant Greenkeeper following the departure of Luke Honey in September.

CAUTION: Many sloping turf surfaces are becoming increasingly slippery, particularly in areas of poor grass coverage.  Please take care whilst walking on the course.  It would be impractical for us to rope off all of these areas so please be aware that surfaces may be more slippery than they first appear.

Mark Ogden

Course Manager