Summer Blog 

As I write this blog it’s the first heavy rainfall the course has had in a while. The ground is that dry and hard the water is running off causing surface puddling. The rain will be great for the course as fairways, tees and approns have been under severe drought stress. July was a really brutal month for the grass plant as very high temperatures, lack of rainfall and high evapotranspiration (ET) were persistent for most of the month. For July most sites in the North of England lost 100mm of moisture vs rainfall. What this means is 100mm of moisture was lost by evaporation. Moisture management on the greens is one of the most important jobs carried out during the summer months. The automatic sprinkler system is used overnight, and precision hand watering is carried out using hosepipes early in the morning. A moisture meter is used to record the volumetric water content (VWC) of the rootzone. This probes the rootzone giving a percentage, the lower the number the drier the greens. When the number gets below 20% (VWC), the greens become dry and show signs of stress. The greens are predominantly made up of sand, so the water holding capacity is pretty low. Poa (annual meadow grass) when stressed goes into survival mode and produces seed heads. 

                                         Fig 1: Rainfall totals 2022

The greens are mown most days and the height of cut is 3.5mm. The greens iron is used about twice a week if conditions allow. This improves the smoothness and consistency of the surfaces. The feed back we receive regarding the greens is that they run consistently. A video below shows a holing out test to see how smooth the greens are. This time of year, the greens are ready for some deep aeration. Daily play and the cultural practices that are carried out, compact the surface a little. The solid tine holes will break through this top layer, allowing the greens to breath.        

                                                                                 

                                                Fig 2: Holing out test on the 17th green  

The annual greens maintenance will be carried out on Tuesday 6^th September. The work will be as follows:

• ·      Vertidrained to a depth of 320mm
• ·      Topdressed with approximately 40 ton
• ·      Solid tined to a depth of 150mm
• ·      Brushed using the sweep and fill
• ·      Overseeded using our dynaseeders 
• ·      Nutrition application to aid recovery

 

As explained in previous blogs this work is essential for the long-term health of the greens. The recovery will be good as growing conditions are ideal during this time of the year. Winter greens will be used when the work is carried out and main greens will be reinstated once the work is complete. The aim going into the final part of the season is to keep the greens healthy and consistent. Over the autumn/winter regular slit tining will be carried out when conditions allow. This is another great form of aeration with very little disruption to the surfaces.

      

The overseeding program over the years has seen a big increase in bent grass in the greens. Recently I had a visit from an industry expert on grasses. He was very impressed with the species composition of the greens at Hexham and said the bent grass was the dominant grass.   

   

                                             Fig 3: Bent grass germination on the 17th green  

Tees and approaches will be aerated and some overseeding carried out. The aim is to improve the approaches and particularly the collar cut around the green. As you can see from the attached photo the aesthetics of the collar need improving. You go from a healthy green into a mixed sward on the collar. The aim is to make the collars more uniform by aerating, scarifying and overseeding with a better grass species. Tees and approaches will be sprayed at every opportunity when its raining with an intensive wetting agent. This will rehydrate the dry soil, allowing moisture to pass through into the profile. At the moment the soils on most tees and approaches are hydrophobic (they repel water). 

                                                     Fig 4: Collar showing rank grasses 

Once the season is finished competition wise protection measures will be introduced. Ropes, hoops, white lines and winter tees will be phased in. These measures are here to protect the course long-term and are one of the reasons we have a good consistent course during the season.

 

The new Toro rough cutter which was purchased at the start of the season, has been a great addition to the machinery fleet. A Wiedenmann Terra Rake was also recently purchased. Over the last three years a rake was hired in. The new one will be used to rake out thatch on fairways, improving the grass species and aesthetics. Over the autumn fairways will be slit tined and some areas will be vertidrained. The fairways have lost some grass cover during the recent hot spells, but will recover once the soils re-wet. Some overseeding may be necessary during the autumn. A second fairway divot will be carried out before the season finishes.                  

 

The team are in good spirits and have worked very hard this year as always, producing a good consistent golf course. A big thanks to them for all their hard work.   

Also a big thank you to all the members who support myself and the team, it's very much appreciated.

 

David and the lads.

 

 

                    Spring Blog 2022

With March comes the start of meteorological spring and flowering daffodils, I thought a course blog would keep members updated on all the things golf course related. This year the wildlife seems to be getting excited earlier than it normally does. Maybe they know something we don’t.  

      

In January the weather was really kind which allowed the green’s maintenance to be carried out.

The following procedures were completed:

·      Vertidrained to a depth of 300mm

·      Top dressed (30 ton)

·      Solid tined to a depth of 125mm

·      Brushed using our new speed brush    

·      Rolled

 

This work is essential to how the greens perform for the rest of the year. Doing it early allows the greens to recover when the golfer’s expectations are perhaps slightly lower, as its winter golf.

 

In late March the greens will have another form of aeration carried out, the GKB Sandfiller. This work will be done over 2 days, doing 10 greens one day and the remaining 10 greens the following day. Winter greens will be in use as this work is carried out. Greens will however be reinstated as soon as the work is complete. This procedure removes organic material and replaces it with kiln dried sand, creating firm and dry playing conditions. In total approximately 25 tons of kiln dried sand will be worked into the top 25mm of the greens profile. Again, this is a great bit of work with a long term very beneficial effect to the greens. Once this work is complete the focus is to get the greens back to summer conditions, as quickly as mother nature allows. Let’s hope for a good spring for a change. 

Here is a video showing the GKB sandfiller in action. 

        

 

Working outside I have a keen interest in the weather, and record data daily using a weather station. As explained in previous blogs this helps during the springtime when the grass plant starts to grow and particularly for the greens as golfers wait for the surfaces to come back to their best.

Here is a summary of the growth potential from our site from last year. Growth potential is a model that uses the daily average temperature, to express the growth rate of the plant.       

                       

You can see from the graph that anything above 40 is good growing weather. You would expect April to be a good month, but recent trends have shown it to be poor for growth, especially on the greens. Applying fertiliser when the conditions are cold can waste the product. The plant will not uptake the fertiliser, so it’s leached away, wasting money and potentially harming the environment. By tracking and using the growth potential model, this allows the correct application of fertiliser and the plants capability of absorbing the nutrients.        

 

The rainfall totals in (mm) for the year and past years.

 

                  

The winter work continues and will be completed before the start of the season. All the machinery has been serviced and sharpened using our grinders. The focus now before the growth starts is to work on bunkers and paths. Sand depths will be checked in all bunkers and new sand added if needed. A cultivator will be used to fluff the compacted sand up, providing an even distribution. All paths will be weeded, and grey dust added. The green yardage posts will be replaced with fairway discs. These will be placed into position before the season starts.     

The dry weather of late has allowed us to get some cutting done and some rolls on the greens. The iron helps smooth the greens surfaces out, especially after the recent aeration practices. The greens, fairways, tees, approaches and rough have had a trim putting some definition back on the course. The mowers will be out more as the growth starts to pick up.

The recent storms caused severe damage to trees. In total approximately thirty-five trees were lost. A contractor was brought into process some of the trees and limbs that had fallen awkwardly. Lots of debris also fell and the work collecting the material is still ongoing. Most of the trees that fell were all soft wood.     

Lots of animal damage is occurring on the 1^st, 2^nd and 15^th holes. Badgers are digging for worms and grubs on a daily basis. This is causing lots of damage very close to greens and tee boxes. Some disruption will occur until the temperature is warm enough for new grass seed to germinate. From a greenkeeping perspective this is really frustrating, with areas that we are trying to protect over the winter months are getting dug up. Unfortunately, there is nothing that we can do, as badgers are protected animals. The chemicals that were used to control worms and grubs were removed a number of years ago. Lots of sports turf facilities including horse racing venues are seeing the impact of these chemical bans. Hopefully the damage will ease as the ground becomes firmer.  

        

                                

A new Toro rough cutter will be arriving in the next few weeks. This machine covers the most ground out of all the machines, so gets well used. Another addition to the fleet is a charterhouse speed brush. This brush is used to work the sand into the greens when we topdress. Two excellent investments that will help massively help on course maintenance.

 

A kestrel and owl bird box were kindly donated recently. These have been put up and hopefully will attract these birds. Kestrels are often seen around the 6^th tee and owls heard around the clubhouse early in the mornings.  

      

                                        

Staff

The team are looking forward to a change in the weather and getting the golf course back to its summer best. Craig will be enrolled on a level 2 golf greenkeeping apprenticeship over the summer months. This will help his continual professional development.   

 

Finally, thanks to all the members who support myself and the team, it’s very much appreciated. We hope you have a great season.      

 

David and the lads