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.

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.

Course Maintenance

It's the time of year again greenkeepers both love and hate. As we hopefully emerge from the ravishes of winter and spring is nearly upon us, meaning better growing conditions & recovery from damage to the course from winter play. It's also the time when we start preparing the course for the forthcoming season. At  Muswell Hill that means we have the opportunity to work on the course during course maintenance week with the knowledge that any golfer disruption has been pre planned..!!!
This course maintenance our greens program will involve sand, sand & more sand, to quote a famous Scottish greenkeeper, and lots of holes. The greens will be top dressed, verti drained, top dressed again and then solid tined.
All these works are aimed at providing the best possible playing surfaces at Muswell Hill for the forthcoming golfing season.

Below is a brief explanation of the tasks we will be carrying out this week -

Solid Tine - These tines range from 8mm in diameter and are generally 6 inches in length. 

Verti Drain - This form of aeration uses a long 12inch tine, 18mm in diameter that penetrates through the entire depth of the rootzone profile. There is a small amount of disruption to the surface whilst we carry out this operation however once the green has been lightly rolled the quality of the surface is back to where it was before the operation took place.

Top Dressing - This term covers the application of sand to the surface of the turf for the purposes of smoothing the surface and enhancing thatch decomposition in turn leading to firm and smooth putting surfaces. 

Granular feeds will also be applied to the surfaces to aid recovery and generally make the grass plant healthier.

The rest of the playing surfaces will also be worked on this week with the focus after the greens on the aprons and green surrounds.

And the reason why Greenkeepers 'hate' this time of year.......

A certain golf tournament that is played this time of year, that although we all aspire too, sometimes we just have to appreciate that some things just have more mowers than we do.....

Woodland update

For the next post and like to offer an insight into the recent woodland management work we have been carrying out.
Let me try and explain the reasoning behind the removal of the bush on the 11th hole. To begin with the bush was actually a willow tree that had split and then regrown from the branches that had split. Overtime this has obviously been left and had grown to quite a size. Added to this there was a lot of invasive bramble that was growing in the area.
A couple of years ago we attempted to cut back & trim the area but this has since grown back more vigorously and also allowed more bramble to take hold. The decision to completely remove the split tree was taken with a couple of reasons in mind. Firstly to stop it encroaching any more onto the golf course, if left this would seriously have altered the way the hole both played and looked. The area is in need of draining and clearing the area now allows us, moving forward to drain the area more efficiently. It will also spread the wear area accessing the bridge crossing the stream.
Removing the damaged tree has also allowed to expose the cherry tree that was in the area, that can now become more of a feature for the hole.
The area will now be turfed and once the grass establishes be maintained at rough height.

In regards to the tree removal the majority of the work has been carried out to thin out copses and remove tree's with stunted stems or poor form. All our woodland management program is aimed at preserving the tree's we have at Muswell Hill that are so integral to the way the golf course looks and feels. We are aiming to sustain continuous cover of woodlands around the golf course so this means removing some tree's to allow younger, better species to grow and flourish. 

The copse to the left of the 11th tee has been worked on and cleared. We can now work on establishing grass cover in these areas whilst maintaining the tree's that are in this area.

Putting only

We've recently put into place a 'putting' only policy on the putting green I'd just like to explain the reasoning behind it. The position of the putting green is very significant at the club, with it being right in front of the clubhouse & too many the first view of the golf course they get. Recently damage has been caused by chip shots played around the putting green, both with damage to the green surrounds and pitchmarks on the green itself. With this in mind, and to protect the playing surfaces, especially during the winter a putting only policy has been introduced. The short game area is only a short walk away and is the perfect place to practice the 'money' shot's and keep the putting green for the 'big money' shot's.....
Thanks for your understanding.

The wheel's back in motion....

Writing this next blog post it occurs to me that every post so far seems to have started with a thread about the weather. Being something of a traditionalist at heart I'll continue in the same vein. So as the frosts have finally arrived & a cold snap seems to take hold its a time for the grass plants around the golf course to have something of a well earned rest. When soil & air temperatures drop below optimium growing point's, 7 degrees for air & 10 degrees for soil, the grass plant will conserve it's nutrient stock pile and won't put any other energies into leaf or root growth. This has positives that we don't need to cut as much, causing stress to the grass plants but no growth means no recovery on areas that have suffered through the winter. The recent weather patterns suggest that these cold spells in February & early March are now becoming a  permanent fixture on the 'season fixture list'. So what does this mean for the golf course? In terms of managing the playing surfaces, we are still trying to protect the playing surfaces so that when the weather improves the playing surfaces will be in better shape for the forthcoming season. We've managed to continue with some aeration work across all the surfaces, it's important this time of year to try & stimulate the soil's as this improves the plant's ability to take up nutrients present in the soil.
The recent spell of poor weather has also led to the implementation of a trolley ban. Now this is something I did as a last resort but a combination of the saturated playing surfaces & the damaged caused by trolleys being used led to the implementation of the ban. One thing I'm very conscious of as Course Manager is giving us the best possible playing surfaces around the golf course once spring arrives and limiting the wear & tear, especially around green surrounds, meant limiting the use of trolleys and the damage they cause. The decision was taken to implement a total ban as the conditions dictated even restricted use would have caused considerable damage. I appreciate for some people this meant no golf could be played, and I thank you for your understanding, and to others who have dug out there pencil bags and started carrying a thank you also. As I stated when the ban was implemented I reviewed the situation daily and reversed the decision as soon as ground conditions allowed. Hopefully the trolley ban won't be needed again this season but that will be dictated by ground conditions.
The Woodland Management work has continued throughout the golf course with thinning the out of copses been the main recent focus. This will allow for better tree specimens to thrive and help is achieve continous tree coverage with different aged strands allowed to grow & develop. Work has also been carried out reducing the height of the the tree line behind the 2nd green to allow more light onto the playing surface.
Keep a look out for the next post, here's to some dryer golf.