Course maintenance review

I'd just like to give everyone an update of the works we carried out on the golf course last week. One of the biggest fears for greenstaff at the start of any major renovation works is how the weather will hold up, obviously panning these work's the one thing we can't plan for is the weather, but thankfully mother nature was well and truly on our side this week.
The plan for the week was to aerate the greens with two different types of tines giving us varying degrees of depth and then work sand into the profile. Using two types of tines and depths allows us to break through any compacted layers that have formed during the winter. This will give newly formed roots greater access to nutrients and water within the soil profile. This will enable the grass plant to be better able to deal with the stresses that the surfaces will have to deal with during the playing season. The addition of top dressing to the surfaces will help with ball roll and smoothness and help dilute any organic matter.

Over the winter the club purchased a new Sweep & Fill Brush to help us work top dressing into the profile when we carry out top dressing operations. The success of this piece of machinery last week was staggering. So much so that we had to order an extra load of dressing in..!!! So our target of 40+ tonnes to work into the greens was achieved. The important point aswell is the majority of the sand was worked into the profile.

The greens were then rolled, and as the dry weather continues, we'll have to start putting on some water. Not something I thought we'd be doing 2 weeks ago when we were closed because the course was so wet..!!!!!

The rest of the maintenance week was spent verti draining & hollow coring green surrounds and aprons. These areas will now be fed and top dressed to help improve playability.

So I'd like to thank everyone for the understanding whilst we carry out the works during maintenance week and look forward to seeing everyone at the Divoeers Cleek on Good Friday.