Blog – Summer 2018

Well what a challenging year it has been so far for growing fine turf. The extremes of the hot spell we experienced in June and July was a testing time to keep moisture in the greens. The greens staff worked split shifts to apply water to the greens in both the morning and evenings. This was essential work to help keep the greens to a good standard. A monthly wetting agent program has also been carried out, this helps reduce dry patch and maximises grass health. Some members were intrigued as to why we were hand watering as opposed to using the automatic system. Hand watering is the best method of applying water, although time consuming, the hot spot areas are targeted more effectively. The automatic system was also used but this method concentrates the water mainly to the centre of the greens with the edges of greens therefore receiving less. Although ultimately it coped, our irrigation system was really tested during the drought conditions, highlighting repairs that were needed to maintain the aging system. These were eventually completed once we could allow for the 48 hour downtime the system needed to allow repairs to be carried out.

One of the first tools I requested following my appointment as Head Greenkeeper was a moisture meter. This has proved to be a valuable tool with readings from the greens recorded every day allowing water to be used more efficiently. Below is a graph showing some data for Volumetric Water Content (VWC) from the greens.

                              

                                          Fig 1: VWC averages recorded from the 11^th green

Greens

During the hot spell the height of cut (HOC) on the greens was raised to reduce stress on surfaces. Our everyday HOC throughout the season is 3.5 mm reduced to 3.0 mm for events such as the Club Championship, Captains’ Days etc. Golfers often enquire as to why the greens cannot be cut at 3.0 mm all season. From a performance point of view lowering to 3.0 mm does increase speed on surfaces. From an agronomic perspective this is unsustainable. That extra half millimeter may not appear to be much but in fine turf this is huge. Added stress to the grass plant with the lower cutting height brings more risk of turfgrass diseases such as fusarium and anthracnose. More inputs are required i.e. fertilsers, topdressings, water use and fungicides. More organic matter (thatch) will be accumulated from the increased inputs. I will use the example of a marathon runner who can only reach peak fitness about 4 times a year. I have used this example as greens will be peaked for certain points in the Club calendar. The greens have been very consistent throughout the season and have stood up well to the extremes of mother nature.

The rest of the course really suffered during the drought, particularly the tees and approaches. The fairways were burnt off but are recovering well after the recent rainfall. A tractor mounted over seeder will be brought in at the beginning of September to over seed selected tees and the areas that have suffered the most. All these areas will also be aerated. Both processes will help the recovery on these areas as we go from the close of the season into winter.

                                               Fig 2: Drone shot taken on the 29^th June 2018

Greens maintenance

The week commencing 10^th September greens maintenance will be carried out. The tasks include: 

·         Double verticut

·         Vertidraining

·         Solid tining

·         Topdressing  

This essential process is very beneficial in promoting good putting surfaces and overall longer term health of the greens. The process will take 2-3 days, weather permitting, hopefully allowing us to be back on the main greens before the end of the week.

The Open

I was privileged to be asked to work the Open Championship at Carnoustie in July. To be part of the team was a great experience and to see what goes into the worlds biggest golf event was amazing. I spent 10 days with a great bunch of fellow greenkeepers from all the other Open venues and one lad from Royal Adelaide in Australia. It certainly put Hexham on the map, as these guys were asking about the Club and what it was like. My answer was come and play it you will not be disappointed, which some of them will do in the future.    

              

Fig 3: At the Barry Burn, Carnoustie from left to right. Members of greenstaff from Hexham, Royal St Georges, Royal Adelaide, Trump Turnberry, Royal Portrush, Royal Liverpool, Muirfield, Royal Birkdale      

I would just like to finish by saying a big thank you to all the members that have supported myself and my team this year and enjoy the rest of the golf season.

David Thompson

Head Greenkeeper                                           

                                                                        

Spring Blog

As I write this blog we have had a week of warm weather. This winter has been a test for the golf course as we have experienced some harsh weather conditions. The course was under heavy snow for eight days after the beast from the east, followed by lots of frosts, then heavy rain which saturated the course on more than a few occasions. The experts in the sports turf industry say we are a month behind this year compared to last year in terms of growth and soil temperatures.

We were asked to, and delivered improved winter greens this year and the feedback to this has been very positive. Like the majority of golfers I don’t enjoy playing on winter greens but having them allows the course to stay open when conditions are at their worst.

The aim now, with the cold weather hopefully behind us, is to improve the course aesthetically. A full cut of the course was carried out last week. The majority of tees were put back onto main tee boxes. New flags and hole cups and all golf course furniture was put out. Unfortunately the majority of ropes and hoops will be staying out for the time being as the course needs some protection and the traffic still needs to be managed around walkways and slopes.    

Greens maintenance

We took advantage of a break in the weather, which allowed us to get our maintenance done to the greens. A double verticut was carried out in March. This removes any thatch that has built up over the winter months and smooths the surfaces out long term.

                         

A week later the greens were vertidrained, solid tined and 30 ton of topdressing was applied. An application of sulphate of ammonia and ferrosol (liquid iron) was applied as doing this mechanical work can put added stress on the grass plant. A granular fertiliser was applied two weeks ago and got watered in nicely as the forecast was right, it never stopped raining. The height of cut on the greens is now 4.5 mm and I will be bringing that down as cutting frequency increases.  

                                             

The benefits from the ecology work carried out recently can clearly be seen around the course. Lots of colour is now visible on banksides which were previously thick of scrub. A big thank you to all members who donated bird boxes as part of the national nest box week. They have been put up in various locations around the course and many are already in use.    

                             

We were pleased to welcome Paul Walton, who joined our team a few weeks ago and he has settled in well. Paul is a greenkeeper/mechanic and is a great addition to the team. He has already fixed some machines which would have been done in the past by an outside mechanic. Paul is also very keen on the turf side of things. We are now up to a full-strength team of five, ready for the season.

Finally, I would like to thank everyone for their support and patience over recent months and wish all our members a great golfing season.

David Thompson

Head Greenkeeper             

Winter work

Firstly, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the members who have supported me over the last few months. It is a great honour to be appointed as Head Greenkeeper of Hexham Golf Club and I look forward to working with the team to provide an enjoyable golf course for members and visitors.

I will look to bring a more contemporary approach to greenkeeping that compliments the practices we have used previously and will also try to keep members fully informed of the work that is carried out such as nutrient inputs, water management, aeration procedures and other practices that go into managing a golf course.

We have recently started taking the soil temperature of the greens daily and as you will know it’s quite cold at the moment. This procedure is important as in the Spring it allows us to see when the greens are emerging from winter hibernation and which processes can be best applied.  

On the course we have been busy with leaf clearing over the last few months. We use a collector as well as a tractor mounted blower to keep the course clean. Areas of scrub and long rough has been managed, helping aid pace of play and making these areas look tidier. The photographs below show the work that has been carried out but the real aim is for a longer term benefit to both the playability of the course and ecology. 

                                 

Left side of the 9th before and after

Right side of the 9th before and after  

 

Left side of the 15th before and after    

Other areas that have been targeted are the brambles on the left side of the 1st and the bank at the back of the 9th tee. The scrub on this bank was removed as this bank has the potential to be the most botanically diverse area on the course but was being seriously affected by the growth of the scrub. Coupled with some management of the rough we should see some wildflower benefiting from this work in the summer.  

The height of cut on the winter greens has been lowered from 9mm to 7.5mm and they have received a treatment of iron sulphate. This will help make the surfaces smoother. The height of cut on the main greens is up to 5.5 mm for the winter. They have been slit tined three times and weather permitting, we will look to get three more passes in over the winter. To help prepare the greens for different weather conditions and disease pressure two applications of a tough turf package (iron, phosphate & potassium) have been applied.

We are trialing a change to the winter policy over the coming months. During the week temporary greens will be used if there is a frost until the frost lifts when main greens may be brought back in play. At the weekend we will leave the greens on when frosty and check what effect this has. This is a hot topic in greenkeeping every year. Please understand that there are lots of different frosts and variants so despite best efforts we will not always be able to offer the main greens for play.

Finally, in my first blog as Head Greenkeeper, I would like to thank all the staff at Hexham Golf Club, especially my team of Ashley, Tom and Jamie who have given me great support over the last few months. I think this has showed out on the course. 

Have a great Christmas and New Year everyone. 

David Thompson