A little rough around the edges....

A big part in presenting the golf course, and enhancing what we have at Muswell Hill, is the way we present the areas around the golf course which aren't directly in play. There are numerous reasons why some areas are allowed to grow up. One is to help define different areas around the golf course and increase golfing strategy, another reason is to try and reduce the amount of time we spend cutting the rough areas of the course. At times during the year we can spend up to 32 hours a week cutting rough areas of the golf course. One of the biggest challenges we face, and something that is an overriding factor in the management of the rough areas is not making them to penal and for them not to have a negative impact on the speed of play.

At this time of year when the growth potential of grass is at its premium these areas become long, and as some might say 'juicy!!!' So how do we manage these areas?
One thing we have to manage is the woodland areas around the golf course. By thinning out some of the woodland copses as part of our woodland management program it will allow us not to have areas that are both dominated by areas of trees & rough, getting a balance by preserving the woodland areas we have and making these areas easier to maintain so we can get machines in to cut the areas.
Another maintenance practice we carry out is cutting down the longer rough areas to help thin them out and develop theses areas so the grasses become finer and ultimately it's easier to find any golf balls that dare to stray in there.
Having longer, eco-rough areas around the golf course also helps us provide area of importance for wildlife habitats.

Another area we have developed this year is round some of our bunker faces. This is again aimed at helping to preserve grass coverage around these areas which suffer from loss of coverage due to sand splash from the bunker sand and also too add an extra aesthetic edge to the way the golf course is presented.

So if you happen to be out on the course in the thick stuff this week, it could be worse. The rough prepared for this week's US Open at Oakmount is by all testaments 'brutal'. Thick, lush and lots of it coupled with greens stimping at over 15 should make for some interesting scores.