The joy's of Autumn

During the year many challenges are presented on the golf course that we must overcome in order to improve the playing surfaces at Muswell Hill. Difficult weather, high disease pressure but to name two but by far the most frustrating is the annual leaf clearing that we under take each autumn.
Being a parkland course we have a large number of trees around the course, and this adds to the attraction of playing golf at Muswell Hill but come the autumn this large number of trees means large numbers of leaves. Estimating how many leaves we have on the course is a hot topic of discussion in the Greenkeepers shed at the moment. Estimations of between 300,000 to 1.5 million have been raised. I've discovered there is a concept called the Leaf Area Index(LAI) that has based mathematical formula and crown size of trees to work out how many leaves are on trees.
I think I'll just go with there's a lot....

So how do we tackle the problem of trying to clear the playing surfaces of leaves.
On the greens & tees we use backpack blowers and blow the leaves off the playing surfaces. In terms of man hours this takes 6 hours a day. Obviously just blowing leaves around the golf course isn't  a very efficient way of making sure the surfaces stay clear as the wind has a tendency to blow them right back. So we also use a tractor operated vacuum/sweeper machine, the Trilo, which collects the leaves. These are then deposited at our compost site to be incorporated into future top dressing's for the surfaces. To clear areas we have a two different blowers that we use.
The strategy is to blow out areas and collect them with the Trilo. During this time of year 2/3 Greenkeepers a day are on this duty, equating to 21 + hours a day. Then there's also the ditches that need to be cleared.
The recent weather has been fairly dry so idle for picking the leaves up but it had also been very windy that isnt particular helpful when trying to blow leaves into position.
So next time your out on the course and an area is covered in leaves, just take a minute to see how many trees are around and try and equate that into how many leaves that could be. The leaf clearing team will be out somewhere on the course, continuing to hoover up and trying to clear the surfaces and also casting frustrating glances upwards as the wind disperses the pile we've just spent ages getting ready to clear.       
The joys of Autumn......

Making the Greens Great Again........

Sometimes when I sit down to write these posts I struggle to think I'll find anything that will keep peoples interest. But this post isnt really one of those posts.
The greens drainage works have been completed within schedule, so 5 further greens have had primary drainage systems installed into them that will enable us in time to link the drainage up with secondary drainage like sand slits. The schedule I set out was always asking a lot, broken down we were looking at completing the works on each individual green in 3 days. That was from the drainage runs being marked out, the turf lifted, trenching works carried out & then pipe, stone & rootzone added. The turf is then relayed. Quite a lot of work to get done in 3 days!!!! Once again the greenstaff, working with the contractors worked tirelessly & with dedication to complete the tasks within schedule. Working 12 hour + shifts enabled the work to be finished. Without this work effort the work would have taken longer & the disruption would have lasted longer. That as I've mentioned previous is something I'm always conscious off and once again I thank the membership for their understanding whilst we carried out this latest stage of course development works.

So the focus will now shift to getting the greens back in play as soon as possible and preparing the golf course for the winter.

More drainage news....

As the day finishes on the second week of the greens drainage works I'd like to give you an update on our progress.
To quickly recap, the plan is to drain 5 greens & approaches this winter working alongside the contractors we have engaged & worked with before, ProFusion. The greens that are being drained, 5th, 7th, 10th, 15th & 17th will have drains installed every 3 metres with the drains installed at 45 degrees to intercept the water moving across the natural fall of the green surface.
Adding this primary drainage system to the greens is the first step in moving to ensure we have better quality putting surfaces all year long.

So the process involves the drains being marked out by lasers to ensure we have the correct falls and angles. The turf is then cut and lifted and stored to be relaid once the drains have been installed.
Next the drains are cut with a trencher using laser guided technology to ensure the correct levels are maintained, each lateral drain is cut too at least 550mm falling into a main outlet drain which is set deeper than the lateral drains

Once the trenches have been dug pipe & stone is then added, we're using an 80mm diameter pipe that will then connect into the outlet pipe. The gravel layer comes to within 300mm of the surface we're the rootzone layer is then added. This rootzone layer is compacted to reduce the potential for the drain lines to drop once there put in. This year we have altered some of the machines we use to make the process quicker & so we get a better finish.

Once the rootzone layers are back to a level the turf is then relayed and a light rolling program is started to help the turf knit back together.

So far we've made good progress with the first three greens being drained and returfed within the first two weeks. Work has now moved on to the 15th green & finally we will move on to the 17th.

I'll post again soon with further updates.

Draining the Fairways

The initial works to drain the 1st, 2nd & 3rd fairway's are now complete. All the drains have been trenched and backfilled with drainage pipe, stone and rootzone added.
It's at this point I'd like to again thank the membership and visitors for their patience and understanding whilst we carried out these essential works.
The draining of the fairway's, consisting of 1400 linear metres was carried out in ten working days, this is a tremendous effort by both the contractors & the greenstaff. Engaging contractors with the equipment, expertise and professionalism has helped deliver the project on time and with disruption and damage around the golf course kept to a minimum.
Keeping the damage around the course to a minimum level was one of the main deciding reasons to carry out the work at this time of year, with the added factor that the drainage can be functioning when the wet weather arrives.

All the lateral drain lines have been topped up with rootzone & seeded with the main outlet drain across all 3 fairways turfed, these areas are now subject to local rules giving 'lift & place' and I would ask everyone to help these areas establish by using these rulings and not playing from these areas. Boards have also been placed across the turfed areas to use for crossing that will again help the turf to establish.

As part of the project a new outlet is being added to the area behind the 10th medal tee. After investigating the suitability of the current drain there it was felt it would be unable to cope with increased volumes of water, as most members know it often fills up during periods of wet weather giving us an unwanted water feature on the golf course.

The new outlet is being directed into the open ditch on the 10th carry.

Drainage has also been added on the other side of the ditch to help improve this area.

In my initial post on this project I commented on being prepared to find some interesting things as we went and after discovering the shallow depth of the existing drainage pipe that wouldn't have been able to function as we went along the amount of tree roots that were evident in the existing drainage pipe was also playing a major role in the drains being unable to work.

The pictures below show sections of root mass removed against the main drainage pipe that has been installed, the pipe is 225mm in diameter. Moving forward to preserve the continued performance of the drainage system this is an issue we will have to tackle.

So the first instalment of this years drainage work is now complete and work will begin soon on the greens drainage. The continued investment on the course will mean an improvement in turf quality, playability and appearance.  

Thanks again for your patience & understanding whilst we carry out these works around the course.