Now is the winter of our discontent.....

I'm reliably informed, by google..., that when Shakespeare penned this quote for Richard III he wasn't referring to the wet winter of 1594 that ruined the bards chance of getting to single figures but more to a time of unhappiness that has passed. With that in mind I'll give a quick review of what's been happening on the course this last couple of weeks as we head into May and the prospect of snow....!!!!

Since course maintenance week we've experienced some of the warmest days of the year that teased us with the onset of warmer weather, the golf course finally beginning to dry out followed by monsoon like downpours and then into a cold snap.
So what has all this meant for the playing surfaces..??

It's this time of year that we try and push the growth on the surfaces to set us up for the forthcoming playing season. A combination of granular & liquid feeds, longer daylight hours, moisture and warming temperatures all combine to really get things going. Sadly we've been lacking the temperatures at the minute so any real growth has yet to arrive.

The continued wet spells have also seen us have to resort to more handmowing across all surfaces, this has the benefit of reduced heavy traffic on the golf course, reducing damage whilst the surfaces get cut, but the downside is it is much more labour intensive.

Some of the recent rain downpours have seen in excess of 50mm, or 2 inches, fall in what our American cousins refer to as a rain event. These massive rain amounts, almost equalling a months total in some instances, end up creating hours of labour required to restore bunkers & paths. I estimate each event sets us back about 2 weeks in the maintenance schedule for the year, so please bear with us whilst we try to repair the damage caused.

In between all this the surfaces have all been top dressed, the greens on a weekly basis to date. This will help with smoothness & ball roll and also help dilute any organic matter that has accumulated. The tees & aprons have also been dressed.

Work has also begun on repairing areas damaged during the winter. This will initial focus on areas that are more 'in play'. Green surrounds tend to take the majority of traffic on and off the greens so these work's are being carried out to improve their playability and appearance. Areas are aerated then top dressed with a combination of rootzone, compost and seed. Once these areas are worked on they will be marked with a blue GUR line to help protect them whilst the seed establishes. Please refrain from playing from these areas whilst the areas repair. Thank you.

I'd like to finish this blog post by thanking all the members who came and helped divot the course in our annual 'Divot Trophy' event held on Good Friday. Over 90 members were out in force, with over 250 buckets used of divot material. This equated too nearly 2.5 tonnes of rootzone put out on the course in just one hour. A tremendous effort. It will make a huge difference to how the course recovers from winter golf once this material starts too grow. So a big thank you again to all those who helped on the day. I'm hoping to sort out some more member work parties throughout the year, details which will be realised closer to the time.