Greens News - August 2019
22 August 2019

As we leave the summer months and head towards early autumn the course remains quite dry. Leaf fall has begun probably due to the dry conditions and at times high winds. Mowing is still the priority which has kept us busy especially with being down to four staff (holidays) for most of the month.

Perhaps one if the most important week of the year for the course is maintenance week. This is essential work carried out on the greens to improve surface drainage, dilute and remove thatch and allow oxygen into the root zone. The week prior a fungicide was sprayed preventatively to protect the plant from disease pressure created at this time of year. Maintenance week itself began on Sunday 11^th with solid tining using 12mm tines to a depth 175mm. This was completed on Monday morning and was immediately followed by top dressing and brushing. Rain stopped further work that day but we were able to calibrate the Graden CSI for the next planned task. The Graden is a pedestrian deep scarifier/seeder which cuts a row of 17 grooves and is backfilled with dried sand and drops seed into the base of the groove simultaneously. We utilized our remaining stock of dried sand but purchased 40kg’s of Bent seed from Hurrells of Cranswick. This linear aeration covers over 10% of the greens surface area. The Graden was set to a depth of 9mm to create the seed bed in which the new Bent seed will germinate, it is also imperative that seed has contact with soil. The excess thatch material was collected and the greens blown clean. The final process included mowing the greens, a granular feed and a dusting of sand to smooth the surface. A busy week……..!

Fortunately we had torrential rain at the end of the week to help wash in the dressing and stimulate growth and recovery. However little rain has fallen since but the irrigation has been in action to aid the seedlings establishment.

Rainfall 33mm

Gareth Williams, Course Director

Please repair your pitch marks…..thank you!  

Back to News Articles