16/03/2018
Hi everyone, I would love to be saying the summer is coming but the snow over the weekend has been a greenkeepers nightmare. Ever since I've been in this industry I have never seen a March like this, all I can say is I'm happy we got all the winter protects completed and they are bedding in nicely.
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| 3rd Green On Sunday Morning |
The cold wet weather we have all seen over the past few months has held the growing season back. Speaking to colleagues within the industry, we are all suffering the same fate and some data from a well respected agronomist, suggests we are at least 3 to 4 weeks behind schedule. Soil temperature at this time of year are usually rising to 7/8 degrees but at present we are still at around 2 degrees. Grass usually kicks in to life at around 8 degrees, so we are still some way off. This is not just us, courses further north are even further behind, lets be thankful we live this far south!
You will see us out cutting on a regular basis, This is mainly to keep presentation up together and to define all areas of play. I have had the hand mowers out on the greens and tees throughout the winter and hope to carry this on in to the summer as often as I can.
Heights of Cut on the course at the moment are -
Greens - 5.5 mm (Cut By Hand Mower)
Tees - 12 mm (Cut By Hand Mower)
Approaches - 12 mm
Fairways - 17 mm
Semi - 2 inches
High Rough - 5 inches
As you may be aware we have been carrying out some spiking. The Tees and Approaches have had inch tine holes at 12 inches in the ground, This is excellent for the turf and will let it breath from our wet winter.
Looking ahead to this week I will be spiking the greens with pencil tines ( 8.3 mm) at 10 inch depth, The greens will be hand mown after and this procedure should have very little, if any impact on your round of golf. I will also be top dressing all areas of the course this week depending on weather conditions but again I will do my best not to affect your golf.
Kind Regards
Paul
Good blog Paul. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteMay I make a comment about the bunkers? A few weeks ago, just after some of the bunkers had been edged, I had two bunker shots (11th on the left and front right on the 16th) where my ball only just rolled into the bunkers, and the lip prevented a normal shot being played. Could you check that there is some slope to the sand at the edges so that a ball will roll away from the edge?
Also, any chance of some new rakes? Many seem to have ‘teeth’ missing.
The course is coming on great. The 6th tee looks really good, and looking forward to playing from it (if it ever gets warm enough to grow!).
Thanks,
Dan Sutherland