A day in the life....

A pop song by four lads from Liverpool started 'woke up, got out of bed, ran a comb across my head..'

I'm not sure how many of the greenstaff comb there hair but rest assured our day starts nice & early.

This next post will hopefully cast a little light onto the daily routine of the greenstaff at Muswell Hill Golf Club.

During the year our starting time moves depending on when it is possible to get out on the course and begin our tasks. During the summer we start at 6 am, this means everyone is in for 6 and ready to go. The first machine to fire into action is the kettle. I always find an early morning brew is the best way to start the day whilst we sort out the jobs for the day...

The daily cutting regime in the summer can involve as many as 7 guy's out cutting first thing. One of the main reasons for starting early is to allow us to get ahead of anyone playing golf. Although this sounds like common sense, it allows firstly the surfaces to be prepared and presented in their best condition & it enables the greenstaff to complete the morning cutting duties in the shortest time. Giving ourselves a bit of extra time also allows for any unplanned events, machine breakdowns or a change in the weather are the two biggest factors, and gives us time to react and change plans where necessary.
During the main golf playing season the greens are cut a minimum daily, tee's & aprons, greens surrounds & the fairways are cut at least twice a week. On days where all the playing surfaces are cut, by 11am a total of 35 man hours can be spent cutting using anything up to 7 different machines with cutting heights differing from greens up to rough through to our long rough area's.
The machines have different number of blades and unit's, ranging from 15 per unit for the greens mower to produce finer turf quality to the long rough area mower which has five cutting decks with two rotary blades. Quite a difference.
Before each machine goes out onto the course a number of pre start checks are carried out to ensure the machine is safe to use and it's cutting units are cutting correctly. This is important as it ensures the operator's are safe and the machine is running efficiently.
I'm aiming to get all the greenstaff team trained & competent on all the machines we use. This is useful as it enables us to operate more efficiently as a team & allows a variation in job's which we carry out.
There is an immense sense of pride amongst ourselves when we prepare the course and it's all aimed at presenting Muswell Hill in the best possible way.

So when you see the greenstaff out there mowing away please bear in mind it could be the second or third time the lads have been round the course that day.!!!

Keep enjoying the golf.

Thunder & Lightening....

There's an old Greenkeeping tradition of naming the chainsaw's used at each club 'Thunder & Lightening'. The reason for which was long forgotten....

This next post is to offer an explanation of some of the Woodland Management work that has been going on these past eight weeks. I always think the key to Woodland Management work is to go unnoticed, where possible, and judging by the lack of people trying to knock my door down I'd say we have been relatively successful.

Muswell Hill Golf Club is a traditional, classic example of a parkland golf course and long may it remain so. Woodland's, like grasses, require management, planning & maintenance to ensure healthy, sustainable & desirable species.

The first works we have carried out have been the lifting of low lying limbs and branches around the course boundary's. These works serve a number of positive purposes. Firstly it helps the tree retain its natural shape and balance, helping the tree focus more energy into healthy new vertical growth. Secondly it allows us greater access with our mowing equipment and thirdly it also opens up more of the golf course to play. Once these areas have been lifted we can start to manage these areas as long rough  habitats, both improving the visual & ecological aspects of the golf course.

Some of our other woodland management works have focused on reducing the height of some of the gorse we have around the course. Other the years some of the gorse has become tall, leggy, very woody & very unattractive. By drastically reducing both the height & volume of the gorse we are allowing for a more natural shape to develop and one that will also serve as a better feature on the golf course.

The next chapter....

So at last as I sit down to write my first blog post as Course Manager of Muswell Hill Golf Club I'm struggling to remember where the last 8 weeks have gone. I had to count them a few times just to check that it was indeed 8 weeks that had passed. As the old adage goes, Time does fly when you're having fun...

I'd like to begin my first post by wishing Matt all the best with his new challenge at Stoneham Golf Club. Matt not only has been my boss for the previous seven years but also a good friend. His enthusiasm & drive for everything he did whilst at Muswell Hill have moved the golf course on to new higher standards and it is my aim to continue and raise the standards we have set for Muswell Hill Golf Club.

It is my intention to keep the blog updated with the works that are being both carried out on the course and hopefully give an insight into some of the challenges we face  maintaining and improving the golf course.

So lets begin with the previous eight weeks. Hot is a word that would probably explain how things have been. Dry, arid & drought could all be used in equal measure. Some of the temperatures we have experienced have been nearly record breaking. Day highs of 38C and only 10mm of recorded rainfall have made for different challenges as we look to produce fine turf surfaces for golf to be played on.
It has been a balance of protecting the turf whilst providing surfaces which allow for good golf.
A lot of the work which we do in managing the golf course surfaces is aimed at creating conditions that allow us to push the surfaces to high performance levels whilst protecting them from the stresses that turf suffers from. So a lot of the work which we carry out, aeration, in it's many varied forms, topdressing, cutting, watering & feeding is planned with a long term strategy of producing fine turf surfaces.

This brings me onto the work we completed on the greens during maintenance week. Now this week is one of the most important in the golfing calendar for me as it allows us to really work the surfaces. It's important to carry out the work during the season as the recovery time is significantly quicker whilst the grass is still growing. 

So last week we hollow cored the greens, removing a 4 inch core, we then verti-drained to a depth of 7 inches, then using a machine called the DryJect we injected nearly 30 tonnes of sand into the greens profile. This was followed up by two further top dressings. The aim of all this work is to improve the way both the soil & grass plant interact and ultimately healthier turfgrass.

A little explanation.....

Explaining the relationship between a healtyh functioning soil & healthy turfgrass

The DryJect machine

Hollow coring greens

Hollow core, thatch layer visible at top of core

Verti-draining to help improve rooting

Sand being applied to greens

Filling the holes with sand helps drainage of the greens

So as the August rains arrive, eventually, although being a Greenkeeper I'm never completely happy with the weather, it could do to stop for a couple of days so I can dress the greens again, myself and the team will continue to work hard and continue to raise standards at Muswell Hill Golf Club. It would be remiss of me not too mention the Greenkeeping team that I'm working with at the club, their dedication & professionalism both before I took over and since have been first rate and without their continued dedication, support and hard work none of the work we do would be possible.

So as we move forwards I will keep the blog updated of any works we carry out and hopefully give an insight into the wonderful world of Golf Course Management.......   

It's a goodbye from me...

Most of you will know by now that I am leaving Muswell Hill Golf Club to take on a new challenge back home in Hampshire.

I just wanted to write one last blog before I hand the blog over to Kevin O'Neill the new Course Manager. 

Appointing Kev as my deputy in July 2007 when I joined was one of the best things I have ever done. Kev has been brilliant since day one and I wish him all the luck in the world. 

He won't need it as he's that good. Don't just take my word for it, above is a picture of him collecting yet another award this year from Princess Anne! 

Muswell Hill is in safe hands with Kev and the team behind him. 

Lee Brady now becomes deputy. A job he has been ready for, a long time. The rest of the team Martin, Robin, Adam and Graeme will all step up one and be even more fantastic. 

I remember driving into the car park on my first day, the old sheds were still in pieces following the fire. 

The irrigation system had melted (so no irrigation to water the greens) but every time I thought we were in trouble it rained a lot during another great british summer!

There were huge conifer trees in the car park where the buggy and trolley sheds and our heather bed is now.  Our mess room and office were in a small wooden hut that leaked rain water not only from the roof but from the car park as it gathered and ran down in through the doors. I remember building sand bags to keep the rain out. We would lie on that floor to fix machines!! You as members might remember the 18 containers in the car park to hold our demo machines (the rest had burnt) while we waited for our new ones. How different it is now, with fully equipped workshops, storage areas, office, mess room, locker rooms and bathroom with shower.

 

The putting green used to be on the site where the sheds are now and we moved this round to behind the clubhouse. This took weeks after the construction to finish as the turf was coming up in a4 paper size pieces! It was worth it now. 

The 17th tees had to be moved to accommodate the green. 

We built new pathways though the course over areas like below on 13th. 

We then added ditches across 13th, 12th

(Which used to be one big bunker, it also allowed us to drain the right handside of the 12th which was unbelievably wet). The ditch was put in behind 6th green and down the left. Removing the black thorn that used to touch the green at the time!! 

2007

We lowered the 13th tee to play through the gap (making it harder!), the 7th tee was moved back to the 12th whites and a gap created. This was David Wiltons idea and has made this one of the best holes on the course. 

Other changes I will look back on fondly will be the new tee at the 1st and removing the hedge. Level and changing the tees at 2,3,4,5,8,9, 14,17 and 18.

 The odd tree needing to be removed or lifted to improve the course strategy and to prolong and improve the life of woodland. 

Also the new bunkers at the the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 14th have changed the holes for the better. The use of the bunker blinder following the trials has saved many man hours and shows what can be achieved with bunkers on a clay soil. 

The drainage that has been carried out over the years has helped to improve the surfaces and allowed more days of play. I know Kev is going to carry this on and the course will make huge leaps forward once this is completed. 

The installation of the borehole which has secured the clubs water supply for many, many years was something we as a club should be very about getting installed over the last three years. 

(Below the greenstaff receive there borehole training on how to use a dip meter and complete the forms for the EA). 

Lastly, I am most proud of the Greenkeeping team. There professionalism and dedication has been second to none. They have attended many educational seminars and college courses. All of this will mean the club will carry on improving year on year and remain North London's number one golf club. 

 I am happy Kev will continue this blog as its a great achieve of the work that is being completed by your greenstaff and shows the story of the golf course. 

Thank you all for reading the blog! 

See you soon

Matt 

Course update

Just a quick blog and review of what has been happening out on the course lately. 

So like I said the spring was slow but we still needed to aid recovery and get the playing surfaces back. A lot of work from the team went into this. Including major aeration with both the verti drain and pro core. We also hollow tined particularly bad areas to create soil exchange. 

Meaning soils that were compacted with no porosity (spaces between particles) were exchanged for fresh soil with the correct air spacing. This also removed thatch and improved drainage. 

We also Dryjectted the greens again. This was a great way to help break up the compaction layer created this winter. We noticed the difference in the surfaces straight away. Interestingly our surfaces hardness readings were very good during the following weeks but much better compaction readings further down the soil profile. This is a good thing as the surfaces will be firm and fast but the areas around the roots are de compacted which lies for new root growth.  

Other works have included:

Lots and lots of topdressing! 90 tonnes so far this year. This not only smooths the surfaces out and improves drainage, it also increases tillering and makes the new grass species grown from seed to be stronger and healthier.  

We also spent many hours over seeding weak areas and then top dressing these areas by hand (see below). This helps the soil to seed contact and allows the holes made by the seeder to be filled, leaving the surface smooth an little chambers of seed ready to grow in the coming days. 

The fairways got there spring scarification and have been getting regular feeds, growth regulators, herbicides and wetting agents (helps water through the surface and retains it by the plants roots) to help keep there colour and award coverage. They have held on remarkable so far during the long dry spells and still look healthy to date.   

We spent time working on the bunker shapes by removing more of shelf like areas to allow the balls to come to rest easier at the centre. Each year we need to do this on the old style bunkers as years of edging and the clays changing shape as it fills and drys out over the winter months makes this a requirement. 

Another task we needed to do this year was hand mow the weaker greens longer into the season. We normally hand cut all winter but this is very labour intensive especially during the growing season and at weekends is hard to achieve with limited man hours, so this normally ends in April. Extending the hand cutting allowed us to reduce the compaction and allows a better quality of cut on these greens. It allowed us to reduce wear on the weak spots to allow the seeds to come through without leaving the rest of the green long. 

The result in the combination of all of the aeration, hand mowing, over seeding and    Specialised fertiliser program allowed us to get the surfaces back to were we want them even during this awful, cold, dry spring. 

Below is photo of our Hand mower trailer purchased this spring, this saved countless man hours and allowed to hand mow a head of play. 

Other works including lifting the willows, hedge cutting, divotting tees, marking hazards, flymoing and strimming ditches have also been getting carried out none stop over the last few months. 

Robin has been grinding machinery and carrying repairs. Martin has been working on re planting the flower beds for the summer. 

The work never stops and the list never shorter as we keep looking to make improvements all around the course. 

And lastly I have spent a lot of time with Kev as we have worked on the handover making sure he has everything he needs to get off to a flying start. More on this in the next blog!

Anyway enough of my ramblings again. Just wanted share some pictures with you and talk about some of the stuff that's been going on this spring. 

Matt 

Just a reminder for practice areas!

Mother natures curve ball!

Following one of the wettest winters of consecutive rain days in history and our wettest winter ever, we hoped Mother Nature would be kind to us and give us (greenkeepers, farmers, gardeners etc) a great spring to help aid recovery to those winter scars but in true style she sent us one of the coldest springs I have ever known. 

Now, day time tempratures haven't been to bad I hear you cry but the amount of frosts and cold over night tempratures even into May has been unbelievable. 

To show how far behind our growth has been this year I compared two pictures below. These were taken in the same day and month but one year apart. Above is 2014 v 2015 below. The trees tell the story! 

I also looked at the GDD (growth degree days as mentioned in other blogs) rates and compared these until the end of April. 

As you can see our magic (growth) number in 2014 at the end of April was 383 compared to 151 this year. That's 232 less, meaning we were about six weeks behind. 

Luckily May has seen some good growth days but these are only averaging 4-5 days per week not yet at the full 7 days. 

Below is copy of our weather app reading for MHGC in April. This clearly shows night and day peak and troughs. 

Compare that to the end of May and you can see some good growth days but it's still abit unstable. 

So what does this mean for us... Well they are saying we are in for another El Niño, this is a weather phenomenon with one of its documented effects is to create a trough in the jet stream off the west coast of the U.S and this tends to cause the position of the jet stream to sit lower than normal during the deep winter months.  

You may also remember it was also one of the barmiest / balmiest October / November periods as we hit 20°C in late October / early November 2010, because we were sitting under a peak in the jet stream. 

So in other words October and November could be fantastic golfing months this year followed by a cold spell!! 

This means our aim is to complete the winter projects during this good spell and have everything ready before the weather turns. 

Anyway, I m getting ahead of myself at the moment. Just thought I would share with you a little weather update. 

The question is 'Has this stopped work being carried out on the course?'... Not a chance, instead we have been in over drive and playing Mother Nature at her own game as we look to force the course into spring. I will blog more about this next! 

Matt