A tough US Open

I am writing this quick blog while watching the final round at Merion for the US Open. The course looks fantastic and is playing very, very tough. I m still not sure about those wicker baskets?

 Here is a link if you wish to know more about them. http://www.usopen.com/en_US/news/articles/2013-06-10/201306101370886156484.html

The course is so tough Graeme McDowell just tweeted -

'The truck carrying the red numbers for the scoreboards was just seen leaving the car park at Merion. See you at Pinehurst lads!'  

This tweet made me laugh out loud but also made me think about everyone who played this weekend in the high winds, that was also tough. It's nice to see these top players looking like we do week in, week out. 

The green speeds at Merion have been around 12ft this week. 

The US Tour has obviously decided to test the players. The European tour on the other hand request green speeds of 10.5ft for there Tour events. Our greens were averaging between 10.6 - 10.8ft this weekend (The speed dropped a little bit first thing Sunday morning due to the heavy rain but once they dried out were back up there). Meaning we hit European Tour standards but not quite Merion.

Below is a picture of me stimping the greens on Saturday morning. (This is a great tool but acts only a guide to help the greenkeeper taylor their work schedule).

Don't worry, we won't be taking any ideas to make Muswell Hill harder ... until next Saturday for the captains cross country :) 

There is more to come in my next blog about our last week of work and some nice pictures taken on the course during the Senior Club Championship.