It was nice to have some rain last week, in all 45mm fell in 24hrs, it freshened the course up nicely allowing us to turn the irrigation pumps off for the rest of the week giving the staff a break from constant manual water shifts including having to return in the afternoon and evenings for irrigation on the back 9. Without the need for manual water shifts we were able to spend a little time progressing the 2nd Men's Black Tee construction work which is now very close to having turf laid once some more consolidation of the banks are complete.
It seems like this project is taking forever, we constantly have to remind ourselves we only have 4 staff and with the manual irrigation sucking up huge chunks of time along with the extra mowing requirements of the course through summer with all essential course maintenance taking priority does not leave a great deal left for extra projects such as this one.
The recovery of the rough areas from herbicide treatments over the Xmas period are complete with the Fairway definitions returning, the herbicide treatment for various weeds was successful.
Historically the course has always had issues with Fairy Rings more precisely the Basidiomycetes family of fungi, with some years being worse than others, this summer has been a particularly active one, which increases the risks of indirect damage to the greens, from severe Hydrophobic soil conditions through to infection of secondary diseases, increasing the risk of wear and significant damage during periods of stress for the plants such as hot weather etc, intervention measures to date have so far been successful. We still have a long way to go till the end of the plant stress period of Summer and with other stresses placed on the greens from low cutting heights etc, particularly with the desire to push the greens further for pace there remains a real risk of injury. The staff remain vigilant with intervention measures continuing.
Looking ahead and with the ladies Summer Cup just 3 weeks away we will be focusing on all the 5% jobs, Bunker edging, tidying up around tee boxes , paths and the like, bringing all the various areas of the course together for this event. We have started to bring the greens up to speed for the event as well with some tweaking to the green speeds required for the Summer Cup.
That's all from the desk this month Happy Hooking.
It seems like this project is taking forever, we constantly have to remind ourselves we only have 4 staff and with the manual irrigation sucking up huge chunks of time along with the extra mowing requirements of the course through summer with all essential course maintenance taking priority does not leave a great deal left for extra projects such as this one.
The recovery of the rough areas from herbicide treatments over the Xmas period are complete with the Fairway definitions returning, the herbicide treatment for various weeds was successful.
Historically the course has always had issues with Fairy Rings more precisely the Basidiomycetes family of fungi, with some years being worse than others, this summer has been a particularly active one, which increases the risks of indirect damage to the greens, from severe Hydrophobic soil conditions through to infection of secondary diseases, increasing the risk of wear and significant damage during periods of stress for the plants such as hot weather etc, intervention measures to date have so far been successful. We still have a long way to go till the end of the plant stress period of Summer and with other stresses placed on the greens from low cutting heights etc, particularly with the desire to push the greens further for pace there remains a real risk of injury. The staff remain vigilant with intervention measures continuing.
Looking ahead and with the ladies Summer Cup just 3 weeks away we will be focusing on all the 5% jobs, Bunker edging, tidying up around tee boxes , paths and the like, bringing all the various areas of the course together for this event. We have started to bring the greens up to speed for the event as well with some tweaking to the green speeds required for the Summer Cup.
That's all from the desk this month Happy Hooking.
