February update part 2

In my last blog I mostly spoke about the weather but on this blog I want to talk about what we have been achieving during all this bad weather and what we have been up too! 

We finally managed to get fairways cut this week along with hand mowing the tees, aprons, collars and target greens (24th Feb). 

And what a difference it makes to us to be able to get out and get some grass cut :-)

The greens have been getting hand cut all winter as these have been the driest places on the course! 

We have also been a demolition crew, taking down the damaged flag pole due to high winds

Taking down the damaged nets due to high winds 

We also been building, the material bays (as in previous blog)

Assisting the build of the new nets (to be opened soon) 

 

Robin Toovey one of our greenstaff, who has been training to be golf course mechanic, carried out all our winter servicing on our machines in house this year for the first time, this is a great skill to have in our team and it also makes financial sense.

Due to the mild tempratures we have even managed to get some early fertilisers on to the bunker banks, tees, and greens.  

We have also been able to spray some areas for worms and give them a little liquid feed. 

Another task was to clear and prepare an area for Pat Spratts memorial bench at the rear of the 8th tee. (This felt personal to the guys as they all knew Pat and what a great guy he was). 

Ditch clearing has been another constant job during the winter with the high winds blowing leaf debris out of wooded areas across the course.

Woodland work has also been started around the course. Lifting the canopy's up and clearing scrub to improve sight lines and to increase airflow through the course (hopefully this will help dry it out quicker).

The greens shed also saw a major tidy up and new stairs fitted to improve safety to get to our storage area. 

The yearly health and safety review and staff training were also carried out and 

some of the greenstaff attended the greenkeepers national conference to attend seminars on various subjects. I was also lucky enough to be asked to present a seminar this year also. This is a great place with over 9000 greenkeepers attending, learning and networking all keen to learn new ideas.

Just the second part of the update on some of the work that's been getting done during this particularly wet period. 

Roll on the summer I say (when all greenkeepers moan there's not enough rain!!)

We are never happy:-) 

Matt 

February Update Part 1

Hi All, 

just thought I would update the blog on some of the weather issues facing us lately (not again I hear you cry).

As February got underway and the rain kept coming this (picture above) is what it felt like to be playing golf and at the same time this is how it felt (below) to be trying to get work done out on the course! 

Ok, on a serious note we had gone from measuring rainfall from mm to cm to feet! 

Because from the middle of December to the middle of February we saw our first ever 200+ mm of rain month in January on top of December's 123mm and so far in February over 70mm meaning that's well over a foot of rain. 

To imagine this, it's easier to imagine snow. In snow terms, 10 inches of snow is equal to an inch of rain. So for the 1ft of rain, if it had fallen as snow would have been12ft of snow!!! Now that would have been interesting...

The newspapers are saying it's the wettest winter for 248 years!

We have had record rainfall with four of the wettest five years ever falling since 2000

Should we expect more extreme weather? 

It's hard to make predictions but these are the kind of rainfall figures we can expect in years to come. 

What can we do about it?

So with more extremes in both the long and shorter-term, we will continue to invest in more drainage, topdressing, quality rootzones and improving the pathways. Doing this as part of our continued course improvements plan we will be the winners in the long-term from a playability and revenue perspective. It’s that simple!  

So what has all this rain meant for us?

From the middle of November until the middle of February the course was to wet for us to take machinery out. 

This has meant a limited amount machinery being allowed out ( only 3 times) so most work has been done on foot, walking round carrying tools and equipment and even aerating greens with a garden fork (the old fashioned) but still very useful way of aerating. 

We have managed to dig out some of the old ditches to try and get the water moving off site quicker 

Bunkers having been getting pumped out between rainfall when possible (see below)

The area behind the 10th tee (which had become a water feature) has been cleared by injecting water through the pipe to clear the silts.

The high winds have seen some major issues with trees coming down 

and large amount of debris being a daily battle 

There is light at the end of the tunnel, the equator is starting to warm up, meaning we could actually get a proper spring.

 It's nearly March and the golf season is just around the corner and the evenings are getting lighter. 

Following a wet winter there is always work to do but damage has been minimised and we are lucky compared to other clubs. If the temperatures get up and the sun comes out, we are going to be in for a great season of golf out on the course.