Green News - January 2019
15 January 2019

To begin just a brief recap of 2018. Late 2017 and up to and including April 2018 was very wet with many days closed and accessibility around the course limited if not impossible. Then by complete contrast the high heat of the summer put the irrigation system under extreme pressure highlighting its frailties. However the dry conditions created natural drainage by shrinking and cracking the subsoil and improving surface drainage. And as I write this mid-January 2019 we have no course closures and limited buggy restrictions this winter.

PLEASE REPAIR YOUR PITCHMARKS!!

The greens suffered through the early part of the winter with disease pressure being high. Mild and damp conditions prevailed and fusarium took hold. With a reduction in available fungicides a new approach will have to be sought to keep the turf healthy and free of disease.

PLEASE REPAIR YOUR PITCHMARKS!!

With a limited budget this year, course improvements have been put on hold allowing us to aerate many parts of the course. All fairways, tees, greens, rough and high traffic routes have benefitted from some form of aeration. This will continue through late winter and early spring. Also just as a reminder that although the winter course officially starts on 1^st November, ropes and hoops did not appear until early December due to the dry conditions. However, it is always a bone of contention when some of our long time members take it upon themselves and ignore the winter traffic routes. Please help us and in turn yourselves and adhere to said routes.

PLEASE REPAIR YOUR PITCHMARKS!!

Around Christmas, early New Year work continued with the planting of a beech hedge at the Halfway House. It was originally intended to plant the hedge along the length of the newly installed telegraph poles, however it has opened up the view across the 10^th tee/course and it was decided to leave it open.

PLEASE REPAIR YOUR PITCHMARKS!!

Finally a note of thanks to Jim Jeffries for organising the use of a mini digger, free of charge, which has enabled us to complete some minor drainage works around the course.

2018 Rainfall                                       662.5mm

January-April 2018                              258mm

January 2019                                       1.5mm

Gareth Williams, Course Director

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