Following a very wet weekend I wasn't sure whether we would even start on Monday morning. I admit I was very impressed with the way the greens had drained by Monday morning allowing us to start work on them.
On Monday and Tuesday after the frosts we closed nine greens (front 9 Monday, back 9 Tuesday). We did this so that we would not be interrupted during our work schedule and more importantly the golfer would not have to wait around or play on target greens.
We started by double Verti cutting the greens, this removes some of the thatch and any grass is lying down, helping to stand it up.
Next we top dressed ( we applied 20 tonnes to all the greens). Then we Verti drained to 10 inches and Pro cored to 4 inches. Both these machines had solid tines on them ( like a fork).
The reason for the two types of aeration is quite simple, the depth of 10 inches helps to break up compaction allowing air and sand as deep as possible. The second pass at 5 inches helps close up the holes made by the Verti drain meaning the greens are smoother as these tines are smaller and again more sand and air are given to the soil profile. This will help the surfaces breath following a wet winter, improve the greens drainage and dilute any thatch build up lower down.
We then followed the two aeration passes with an organic fertiliser. The greens were then brushed, this brushes the top dressing and fertiliser into all the holes made and leaves the surfaces clean and smooth. The last link in our little chain was to vibe roll the greens ( iron) this makes them flatter ,giving the golfer a better green to putt on.
Once the greens were finished we then carried out Verti draining to all our aprons, again these were Verti cut and top dressed. The surrounds were also spiked to 4 inches using our Sisis spiker. We will work more on these areas once the weather improves (if that ever happens)!
Our attentions then turned to our tees. These were Verti drained and then scarified to -5 mm. Next week if the snow lifts we plan to top dress these areas and fertilise including the surrounds, aprons and tees.
Other jobs achieved this week- Some of our hedges were reduced in height to make them more manageable, the removal of some branches and lower limbs to add more light to some of the tees (e.g 8th whites). We also started to work on the newly installed bunkers, they were edged and minor repairs were made to any problem areas. We then spent a bit of time collecting the debris that had fallen from the trees from the strong winds of late. We filled 6 trailer loads of stuff and we could possibly end up with more if the wind kicks up again.
To summarise, another busy week for the greenstaff. With over 80% of our plans for the course maintenance completed in a week that I didn't think we would be able to do much was great. I must say well done to all the greenstaff for working so hard and putting in the extra hours to get these things done.
Next week, if this mini snow storm ends we will try to get some more renovations of the tees and fairways done including the Divot Trophy on Friday. Please sign up in the bar or by calling the office.
Many thanks
Matt Plested
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