CAPEL GOLF COURSE MAINTENANCE

A promising start to the month with 60mm rain recorded has tapered out and now we are back to dryish conditions for the past 2 weeks, the dry conditions are forecast to continue for another week at least. A sign that winter is upon us with much colder morning weather resulting in a patchy frost areas on the course, these areas are mainly in the longer cut roughs, we rarely have blanket frosts but with the weather over the past few years being anything but normal who's to say we won't. 10th rough frost  We ask any early morning players to be aware of frost areas, and more so AVOID them, travelling over frost covered turf can damage the plant and leave unsightly brown marks. More info on this will be posted as the need arises. Other than the staff teeth chattering first thing in the morning, the weather for golf has been fantastic by midday, clear skies and warm weather perfect for the afternoon comp players. This week the staff have been busy with preparations ...

Each Winter the staff undertake a few major projects on the course, over the past few years that has included the installation of the front 9 auto retic, tree trimming works and last year the cleaning, re-piping of the back 9 manual system till the auto retic is fully installed. Sometimes the winter period is not conductive to the type of work such as turf establishment however with only 4 staff, manual water system and the extra mowing through the growing season time does not allow these extra works to be carried out, so tho not ideal for some projects, it is the only time we can commit to such works without affecting course quality. This winter period ( I should point out I am classing the winter period from when we turn off the irrigation pumps) some works planned are - Practice Chipping Green and Bunker To improve member practice facilities we will be constructing a 270m2 practice green, chipping area and practice bunker on the site of the existing practice bunker to the l...

This week we have managed to complete all our base maintenance and course preparations for the Capel Classic as planned. This has included fertilising Tees and Fairways, spoonfeeding the greens as discussed previously, bunker edges trimmed and edged, Mowers backlapped (sharpened) and also some post emergent control of crab grass in the greens on top of our normal maintenance practices and back 9 manual irrigation. Freshly Edged Bunker   I might have made a judgement error in spraying out the crab grass before the Classic with the crab grass now turning black as the chemical starts to work, leaving an unsightly appearance on some greens, but with the greens renovations the week after the classic I wanted to get on top of this weed before it goes to seed causing more dramas in future. A dying Crab grass In an effort to clean the appearance up we will be grooming the greens tomorrow, this time not so much for speed or to thin the Bent rather to thin the crab grass and "mask...

180 ladies can't be wrong.........can they ? We have had some fantastic feedback about the course conditioning for the Summer Cup, by all means a very successful preparation for this event. Just goes to show only a green keeper can please and satisfy this many women at once. ha ha So where do we go from here, we only have 3 weeks before the next club major event, the 2 day Capel Classic sponsored by Scott Park Homes, our goals for this event are the same as for the Cup, to present the course in the most positive fashion possible with a focus on turf quality and conditioning, and once again peaking the greens to run true and smooth with a little extra pace. We are going to do this by backing off the greens a touch for the next week or so, not much, not even 1/2 mm, (it is amazing what just a slight increase in height can do to turf health in a short space of time), before ramping them up again for the Classic. A decision to verti cut or lightly groom will be made by the end of the ...