Course update 29/09/2017

Course update 29/09/2017

Hello from another damp, dull, overcast and wet day. Not sure how you all feel but I have had enough of the rain and the winter isn't even here yet.

Mornings are closing in now and Autumn is alive and kicking. The trees are starting to turn and leaves have started falling.  Over the years I have heard members saying 'why don't you let all the leaves drop and then pick them up' that would be amazing if we could but unfortunately the grass dies under the leaves plus the amount of leaves in the trees would result in a lot of lost balls on the course.

Seeding on the greens.

In my last update we had finished 14 greens and completed the last few last week. At no point during the seeding was it ideal conditions but we had to get the seed down before October which we did. The ground conditions ideally would be dry but this is England and we are never sure what weather we will get. Due to these conditions, the disruption is slightly more than we would like but it has been a successful operation. We were able to get one pass of Brown Top Bent on to the greens and are starting to see the results coming through. The seed will start to germinate after 2 weeks and then its managing it to let the seedlings become established in to the grass sward.

I would like to thank all members for their patience during this vital work. 

Disease

With the warm temperatures and moisture in the air, it is wonderful conditions for disease. I have spoken to many other Greenkeepers around and we are all in the same boat. On Monday morning the Facebook page that Greenkeepers use was rife with people moaning about disease. Fusarium patch is the most common this time of year and if present on the green it is treated with the chemical iprodione.  Iprodione is a chemical that is due to be banned in the not too distant future and this is one of the reasons we are moving over to predominantly bent greens as bent grass is more disease resistant.

I hear you say, why are we getting the disease now we have bent greens. We are working on having predominantly bent greens and are not yet there. Some greens are further into they process because of ground, light and generally ideal growing conditions.

I am currently in the process off recruiting a deputy to assist me in the running of the golf course. The position is currently being advertised and I hope to have someone in place by the end of November. As I have already stated, this will be a person from outside will not only assist in the day to day management of the course, but also bring fresh ideas of their own as well as giving me the cover I need so that I can visit other courses and network with fellow turf managers to help broaden my ideas.

After another inch of rain and forecasts predicting it not stopping, unfortunately conditions are getting to the point where we may need to restrict buggy use. We will try our hardest to keep them on and assessments will be made through the day for the later golfers.

Last but not at all least, can we please keep on top of Divots and pitch marks? The greenstaff will have a smile on there faces if they see us all working as a team!

Thank you for reading, have a good weekend.

Paul





Course update 15/09/2017

Course update 18-09-2017

Hello, another indefinite few weeks of weather. Just under 3 inches of rain this month (69mm).

Please see below an update on a few areas around the course.

Worms

I have had a few golfers ask me about the worm casts on the fairways and asking whether I can do anything about it. My answer is not chemically! The product we have been using over the years has now been banned along with many other products that we use to control worms, grubs, leather jackets etc. In the absence of these products, to try and do what we can, we have today applied sulphate of iron to all of the fairways. We use this because of its acidifying effect on the turf surface, which can be quite effective in discouraging worms and reducing the number of worm casts as worms do not like the acidifying effect on the surface caused by this product.

Over Seeding

(Shaun Whittle seeding 18th Green)

As you may have noticed, we have starting seeding the greens over the last week, now the occasional day without rain has occurred. We only have a small window of each day to apply the seed as any moisture clogs the tubes that put the seed in the ground. The window is roughly between 11.30 and 3.30 meaning that, as mentioned previously, you may experience a temporary green over the next couple of weeks. Apologies if this affects your normal round.

We have currently seeded 14 of our 21 greens. we would have loved to get them all finished last week but due to the heavy afternoon showers we keep having, it is becoming an annoying slow process.

(Video of seeder on the chipping green)

And finally....

We are looking to use the top tee on 17th over the next few weeks, so if you cant find the white markers, they will be up on the very top tee.

With the wet conditions at present we are noticing a lot more people taking divots, please could you replace them as they will grow in a lot quicker that us putting soil & seed in.

PITCHMARKS, every golfer says they do their pichmarks. I'm not sure who is leaving them in the greens, maybe the deer are playing at night!! Please keep on top of yours and if you see others, repair them. Thank you, it is a massive help to us.

Thank you for reading

Paul

Course update 01/09/2017

Course update 01/09/2017

Hello all,

I would like to first say thank you to all the members that have wished me well in my appointment as Head Greenkeeper. It was a hard process, but well worth the wait. I am looking forward to the future ahead at Broadstone and I am itching to get started on helping the course reach its potential. 

Having worked here for over 10 years now and having acted up over this summer, I have many ideas and plans as to how we can improve what is already a wonderful place to play golf. It won't all happen overnight and I would appreciate your patience while we get some of the bigger issues sorted out, (yes, including the bunkers!) but I hope you have seen this summer that we are going in the right direction. 

I see this appointment as only being the start of the process, my initial focus will be to get the staff working well, (you are only as good as your team) and then to ensure we get this winter's projects planned and completed correctly. In the medium/long term, working with Ed, Gordon and the Committee to implement the larger scale improvements, whilst at the same time maintaining very good surfaces, will be the key goal. Alongside this, I am also aware that we must never stop learning and I am already planning various ways in which I can ensure we copy best practice and give members of Broadstone the very best golfing conditions. 

Managing such a high profile venue on such a big site, with the SSSI heathland areas as well as the golf course surfaces to maintain, is no easy task, however, it is a challenge I am up for and look forward to tackling. Thanks again for all your support.

First up on my to do list from Monday, weather permitting, will be re-starting our overseeding of bent seed into the greens.  When seeding, we need the conditions to be dry, meaning we only have a seeding window between 10am and roughly 4pm. This may mean you may have a temporary green at some point in your round next week, apologies for this, we hope not to cause too much inconvenience to you.

The process is not too severe,  the seeder will cut lines into the green at 5mm, the optimum height for successful germanation,  and leave bent seed in at this height. We will then apply a light dressing and cut after to just ease any disruption to the surface. Those of you with good memories will remember us carrying out this operation, with good success, in the Autumn of 2015.

As you may have seen I have removed all the leggy gorse and birch saplings left of 13^th green.  I have always wanted to cut this bank down and bring the old bunkers back in to play, albeit grassy bunkers. There is still work to do on the area,  but after the amount of balls we found in there I’m sure you will all be happy. Most balls will be donated to the practice ground. (I may have kept a couple of pro V1’s!)

Back to the course for this weekend, hole change, double cutting of greens and a bunker rake for all you medal players tomorrow, have a great game. 

Kind Regards, Paul Staples