AUTUMN BLOG
Well what a wet autumn this has been compared to last year.
There currently seems no let-up in the rain and the course is saturated. Let’s
hope for some cold dry weather to dry the course out a little. I started
recording weather a number of years ago, which allows us to look back at
rainfall amounts. During November 2018 we received 30 mm of rainfall, whilst in
November 2019 rainfall was 115.7 mm.
I know last year was dry but it just shows you the difference
and 85 mm more in the same period this year is a significant amount more. The
extra rainfall means that some areas of the course need extra protection during
this wet spell. Members are politely requested to and should follow course
signage and white lines. This helps protect these areas and makes them in their
best condition possible going into the new season. Also with the greens being a
little more receptive, there are more pitchmarks appearing. As per a previous
communication from the Club Manager, members of golf clubs know what to do to
alleviate this bug bear of golfers and greenkeepers alike.
Winter Work
The long rough areas have been cut and collected with the
flail mower, with some also bush bladed. This is part of the ongoing ecology
plan, to encourage wildflowers and finer grasses.
The battle with the leaves is still ongoing but nearly done.
The bad weather and wet ground conditions have restricted access to the course
and the use of the collector and tractor mounted blower. The leaves are nearly
all down, so in a few weeks the battle will be won, until next year.
In-house grinding of the cutting units has commenced. This
gets them razor sharp ready for the new season.
Work to reshape the bunker on the 4th hole has begun.
You will see from the photograph below that the bunker lost its shape and
aesthetically did not look great. A rebuild similar to that constructed at the
2nd hole last year will be carried out.
Following the refurbishment of the Men’s Medal and yellow
tees last year, this year, the Ladies 1st tee will be levelled and
new turf laid, completing the work done to the whole area.
Also planned within the winter work is the installation of
new Astroturf on the 9th and 10th paths.
Greens
The greens are in really condition going into the winter.
This year the performance of the greens throughout the season has been at a
very consistent level. The feedback we have received from members and visitors
has been very positive.
The height of cut for winter is at 5.5mm and the cutting
frequency is very much weather dependant. Growth on the greens has really
slowed down lately and the grass plant now puts its energy into root
development below the surface. Roots don’t actually grow in the soil they grow
in the pore spaces which are created from aeration. Aeration work done at
different depths helps provide space for better rooting.
Throughout the winter the slit tiner goes over the greens
every fortnight, weather permitting. This allows vital air down to get to the
soil, causes the least lateral compaction and stimulates the roots. You can see the benefits from the photo below.
The annual maintenance to the greens carried out in September
went to plan. All greens were vertidrained and solid tined, giving two
different depths of aeration. Approximately 30 tonnes of sand in total was
applied and brushed in.
The final procedure that is carried out is to overseed
certain greens with bentgrass. The photograph taken 14 days after this task was carried out shows that the bentgrass had germinated during this
short period. The species composition of the greens at Hexham is a mix of
bent/meadow grass with a small amount of yorkshire fog.
Annual meadow grass does produce a good playing surface when
mowed tight. It is however, a hungry grass, that needs more water, is much more
disease prone than bentgrass and produces seed heads. Complete eradication of
annual meadow grass is not possible, but every year if a small percentage of
bentgrass is added to the sward then this goes a long way in making the greens
fine grass dominated.
Diseases
The two most common turfgrass diseases that attack greens are
fusarium and anthracnose. Similarly to most golf courses we get both diseases
here at Hexham. Following the greens maintenance in September there was a
little flare up of fusarium on certain greens. This is stress related after the
procedures are carried out with this stress allowing the fungal pathogen to
attack. Fusarium predominately attacks annual meadow grass. What was interesting this year was we hand
seeded bentgrass into the fusarium. The photograph (A) below shows some great
recovery and fine bentgrass replacing the weak diseased annual meadow grass. (photo
B)
A) B)
Anthracnose is a disease that is also stress related. This
disease again favours the weaker annual meadow grass. Areas that are
susceptible to anthracnose are walk off/on points of greens, that receive high
volumes of traffic. Again, when anthracnose attacks the weaker meadow grass,
bentgrass is hand seeded into these areas replacing the weaker meadow grass.
Fungicides
The fungicides on the market now must be used in a
preventative way, before any disease is seen. All the fungicides that cured
disease have now been banned under recent legislation. To meet the new
guidelines the new fungicides are a lot weaker than their predecessors were.
Where two or three of the old fungicdes were used previously, experts are now
saying around eight of the newer ones will be needed for the same results. With
this there is no guarantee to being disease free. My belief is to keep greens
as healthy as possible and applying the right nutrition is the key going
forward. Diseases will always hit weak stressed areas. A little like a human
catching a cold when they are run down, it’s just how well they then recover. In
November, when disease pressure was high, a preventative
fungicide was applied to our greens.
I hope members have had a little insight into what we do as
greenkeepers and enjoyed the read. There is a lot more goes into it than just
cutting grass. I think the lads though would love to be sitting on a mower right
now with the sun on their backs.
On behalf of the team and myself can I thank the members for
their support throughout the year. It is appreciated.
All the best.
David and the lads
