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