Willow damaged during storm

Update

One of our Willow trees on the 8th has been removed for safety reasons. 

On Monday the 18th August we had a thunder storm resulting with damage being caused to the Willow to the left of the 8th. It was thought that a large limb had come down due to the high winds. On closer inspection the tree had been hit by lightning as there was a cork screw shape crack through the entire main trunk. We asked Chris Hill from Woodland Trees (certified Arbor.A) to inspect the tree. Chris reported that he felt the tree was unsafe as it was top heavy and wouldn't survive high winds. The greens Commitee made the decision to remove it safely before it fell. The tree was due to be removed as part of the five year plan but it has been carried out earlier in the schedule than first thought due to Mother Nature. The tree has now been removed and the area will be repaired. 

 

Course Maintenance - The necessary evil

Course maintenance weeks are not the most appreciated weeks in the golfing calendar but without this work the decline in the green surfaces would be noticeable. This week we just completed our works and I just thought I would blog a quick update. For the greenstaff it’s been a busy week. They worked late to get the major works completed by Wednesday on the greens to help aid recovery but it has been worth it and the weather was kind(ish).

Greens

The work on the greens got completed the 20 mm tine(250mm depth) is the biggest tine we have used on the green to date. See picture below:

Aeration is so important for many reasons most I have mentioned previous blogs.

These will include decompaction, improved drainage, improved root development all leading the better putting surfaces. I know most people will say, they don't understand why we do it when the greens have been good... The only way they are good is because we carry the work out at the correct time. 

This is mainly to allow us to get more dressing in, which in turn will see the surfaces infiltration improve during the winter months and help dilute the thatch layer. We ended up putting 45- 50 tonnes of sand dressing down so far and will need to apply a couple more in the coming weeks to fill any holes and improve the levels. This was followed by dragging matting the sand in to the holes.

We then followed the verti drain with the Pro core with a 12mm tine going in over 100mm deep.

We then applied more sand to fill all holes up applyinganother application of sand at 20 tonnes.

 

 

This was then followed by a deep scarification and then cleared. The greens were then over seeded with bent grass species and fertiliser 4.3.4

 

We then gave the greens a light top dressing a brush and roll to help smooth them out.

 

The benefits

Above you can see how the sand has gone down the profile and the top view. Doing this yearly will and is having a great effect in the winter months.

This picture was taken (22/08/14). The greens will take around 10 days to recover (if we get the right temperatures) but the benefits out way the pain.  

Tees and Aprons

The tees and aprons have been solid tined with a pro core and the verti drain at 3 and 5 inches. They are very dry underneath so this will help to get water into the profile. The aprons were fertilised last week.

In the coming weeks:

Next week we will top dress, over seeded and fertilise the teesand aprons.

Surrounds – Solid tine to 4 inches and then scarify. After we will over seed any wear areas with rye grass and fertilise if required.

Fairways – It is intended to scarify fairways in September and clear them after due to the dry conditions.

Other news​

On Monday we had to suspend play and work due to thunder and lightning. We then carried on finishing the front greens (9, 1, and 3). On Tuesday morning we found a large limb had broken off the willow left of the 8th. I asked Chris Hill the tree surgeon come and take a look at the tree. He informed me the tree must have been hit by lightning or the storm as it was broken in cork screw fashion from the top down. This was one of the trees we had discussed to be removed as part of the design plans but I think mother nature may have beaten us to it!

I hope this update helps you understand what's been going on this last week. 

The traditional british summer...almost

Firstly I would like to apologise for lack of blog updates lately. The summer has been a very busy period for all of us at the club. I will endeavour to be back to my blogging self from now on. 

In this blog I will just give an overview of what's been happening lately out on the golf course. 

This summer we have seen an almost normal (if that still exists) summer. This has been a mix of lots of sunny days with high tempratures and high periods of rain. 

Interestingly we have had more thunderstorms this year than I can remember and with the thunder comes higher levels of nitrogen in the rain. Normally rain brings 0.25kg of Nitrogen per hectare per inch of rain but when it thunders this figure goes up to 1.25kg N per ha, per inch. This is a huge increase and what we see out on the golf course is new life, new growth! 

Below shows our growth rates so far this year. You will see how high it's been since June with the mix in the weather but we also started off out of the blocks.

This has meant a lot of cutting and applications of growth regulator to help keep the course in good condition. 

What still amazes me about London clay (our soil type) is just how quickly it dries out. We can go from this :

To having to do this within a few days

And we have even needed to get out early to try and keep some areas (the ones we can reach) alive with H2O. See below. 

From extreme heat to thundery showers has meant a lot of our time has either been spent adding water or repairing rain damage. 

The story of our summer is nearly over. I can't believe finals day is this weekend. It's been one of many highs and great things achieved. The South England ladies county, county matches, winning club teams, successful tournaments, swing for sammy making over £100,000! increased membership, staff success and improved playing surfaces. I can't wait for the next summer to come as we have alot of work planned in between. This work will build on this year and raise the bar again.  

I will be blogging some more to catch up over the coming days.

Matt