Course Update
Hello, I would like to start by saying thank you from me and the guys for all the positive comments from the Ladies and Men's Club Championships. Great wins by Louise and Harvey. It means a lot and keeps moral up in the team. Its a hard time at the moment trying to keep presentation an up when the grass isn't growing!
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| 7th burning off lovely |
The course held up very well last weekend with the very hot weather and the amount of golf played. The greens had been hand mown since Wednesday to help with presentation and quality of cut and the roller was out as well to help with smoothness and a little extra pace. Rolling is not something I want to do at Broadstone too often and many of you out late on Sunday will have seen how close the greens can get to being on the edge after 3 or 4 days of extra stress. I watched a video of Harvey putting on 17 in his playoff and could not believe how stressed they looked.
After the Club Champs, we have raised the height of cut very marginally due to the high stress levels over the course and this may produce slightly slower surfaces but for me this is something we need to do to get our course through this unusually hot summer.
I have been asked by a number of people why I am not watering many different places on the golf course from approaches to fairways and even bunkers.
My easy answer is 'I do' I water every night at the moment. We have 4 fairways with part irrigation on which I do use, but we have to balance this with ensuring that the ball reacts in a very similar way when pitching on any a fairway. I regularly speak to course managers around the area and some have wall to wall irrigation on their courses. They began in June pumping lots of water out on their fairways to keep them lush and green, but by the end of June they have all given up as the weather has beaten them plus some have used all their water allowance up and now have had to spend £1000's on mains water, not ideal!
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| 17th from the green |
I love the picture above, from the freshly painted hole to the dry brown but well presented fairway.
The course is beginning to look like the wonderful heathland golf course that it should be and deservedly sits amongst the top courses around. This dry weather is benefiting our roughs and fairways and bringing back the grasses that can survive this weather. Grasses that do not take as much maintenance and can fend for themselves.
Can I just remind everyone to repair their pitch marks and rake foot prints out of the bunker after playing a shot. Also when smoking be so careful as there has been many fires recently. The par 3 course next to Hayling Island GC had a fire started by a cigarette butt.
Have a great few weeks of golfing.
King Regards
Paul
King Regards
Paul
