To All Members
Can I start off by saying hello to any members I have not yet had the privilege to meet, and a big thank you to those that I have, for making me feel welcome at the Club.
It has been a strange and very tough start in my role at our Club with the situation COVID-19 has forced upon us.
However, my thanks go to the large number of volunteers that have helped us in opening the course and getting it back into shape. The works involved included the following:
· Clearing the banking of leaves and debris on the 4th hole
· General weeding and getting the bunkers back into play
· Regular bunker raking
· Litter collection
· General gardening
These are just some of the things that the volunteers have helped with on the course.
If anyone else would like to get involved, especially with leaf clearing in certain areas, your help would be most welcome.
Team
For those of you who do not know our current greenkeeping team, a little introduction may prove helpful.
Ryan Jackson is our first apprentice. Ryan has been here for around a year now. He is currently working towards completing his level 2 award in greenkeeping.
For those of you who have had the pleasure of meeting Ryan, you will have found him to be a pleasant and polite young man. I have found his work to be of a high standard and he always takes pride in his work.
Bob Jackson is our longest serving member of staff, working several days of the week helping with whatever task is needed. Again, Bob has high standards which he works to and extraordinarily little input is required from me to achieve the best results. Bob is always willing to go above and beyond what is required, as he has a great passion for our Club.
Our newest member of staff is our latest apprentice, Henry Pryor, who started his working career at the age of seventeen with us. He is settling in nicely with the rest of the team.
He picks things up very quickly and always listens carefully to instructions. It will be a pleasure to watch him developing his skills in the future. Henry has also started his level 2 greenkeeping course at Askam Bryan College this October.
Projects
As most of you will be aware our winter projects schedule was brought forward in order to start work urgently required on the 2nd hole bunkers and the removal of the gorse between the 7th & 8th fairways.
Drainage & astro-lining in the bunkers on the 2nd hole was completed along with a revetted wall which will last for many years to come. Eco Bunker provided advice and materials for these projects.
These bunkers will remain as GUR to allow them to root down at a most important time of the year, this will allow for the best structure for the root system to gain a firm hold.
The decision has been taken to fill these bunkers with sand at the start of next year along with topping up all the others on the course.
Our main project during the winter months will focus on tree management; lifting crowns on the trees and opening certain areas by removing and thinning plantations.
Included in our plan is work to open the woodland on the 4th tee by removing trees, as well as mulching the weeds and lowering the laurel. This will allow more natural light and air to aid the recovery of the tee.
Other work completed included aeration of the greens during the week of September 21st which was much needed after a remarkably busy but short season in which a large amount of golf was played.
That week required the use of temporary greens in order to complete the work in as short a time as possible. Whilst not an ideal situation for members, it was done to enable as speedy as possible recovery for the greens. This also benefitted the staff in providing a safe working environment.
The details of the work included verti-draining the greens with a smaller, thinner tine to around 12 inches with a few degrees of angle to break up the soil structure. Verticutting to around minus 2mm was done to remove thatch that had built up in the profile.
Procore to hollow core the greens which removed a plug and several levels of thatch. Twenty tons of Sand was then used to dress the areas to ensure good drainage from the surface. The final dressing of the year will take place on 26th October to fill up any remaining holes and level up the playing surface.
A similar process has been carried out on tees and aprons consisting of coring, scarifying and verti draining with a sand dressing applied after.
A grass harrow has been used to try and thin out the semi rough which I know has been a concern to the members. This process removes thatch and any laying grass will be stood up allowing for a better cut. This is not a quick fix and will require doing several times a year – some time will elapse to see significant improvement.
This time of year is one of the most challenging for all greenkeepers due to relatively mild temperatures and wet conditions allowing the grass to continue growing.
This gives the staff a problem in that access to the course with the most suitable machinery is not always possible under such conditions. We must therefore take any opportunity available to complete these necessary jobs even if conditions are far from ideal. To delay means we could find ourselves with even worse conditions and be unable to carry them out at all. The results of such decisions can and does lead to visually unattractive appearances of the course. i.e. track marks etc. Be assured any work that takes place will not cause long term irreparable damage to the course.
Conditions do affect our priorities. Work must be changed to suit prevailing conditions, often at short notice.
Where possible, sufficient notice will be given but in all such cases we are weather dependent. Therefore, matters relating to buggies, carts, greens etc can only be made on the day.
Finally…
My next information sheet will be towards the start of next year unless work of significant importance is required when such information will be shared.
I’d like to raise one issue which all members could assist in. Divots and pitch marks are seemingly on the increase over recent months. Please could attention be given to repairing these when seen. It benefits us all when they are repaired promptly.
When bunkers are in play and while this pandemic is with us, please take one rake per group to use and give the following group a good lie by raking our own foot marks etc.
Thank you for taking the time to read this information and I look forward to meeting more of you out on the course.
Mark Hudson
Head Greenkeeper