Greens Update - July 2023

Hi everyone,

The golf course has taken a bit of a beating over the last week or so. After the 45mm of rain, which fell last Saturday, we have had high winds and a further 12mm, which has meant that the course has softened up a little. All that rain did mean that the bunkers and paths had plenty of damage caused to them through washouts.

Figure 1: That's a lot in a day!!!

Many man hours were used up this week with the staff trying to reinstate both the bunkers and paths. This had a knock on effect to the rest of the course, and so it has been a frustrating week. Paths and bunkers are probably the two main areas of concern for the members of most golf clubs and this is certainly the case here too. Regarding bunkers, it is such a big topic that is needs its own report doing and so this will be made available next week. Just to say, in the short term we are aware of the issues that the bunkers here cause us, and we will be planning a long term strategy for improvement.

Figure 2: One of the paths repaired this week

It has also been a frustrating week for other reasons, which include machinery breakdowns and being short staffed. Therefore, some of the more time-consuming little jobs were just not carried out. However, next week we will be back to full staff and the machinery should be back up and running and we will carry out as much work as possible, which will bring the overall presentation levels up to speed.

The greens have also suffered due to the changing weather patterns in recent times. Having gone through an extended stressful dry spell, we have just experienced a sudden wet spell, as well as the humidity thrown in. So the greens turf doesn’t really know what’s going on! We are experiencing a few fungal diseases on the greens at present, which is both interesting and challenging.

Figure 3: Waitea Patch

It is quite normal in a summer stress period for Anthracnose disease to appear in the greens, but we have some Waitea Patch, superficial Fairy Ring, and Take all Patch too. It’s amazing how biology works. I suppose if you think of the turf like our bodies. If you get sick, you might feel unwell, or have a temperature or come out in a rash. Same with the turf.

We are working to minimise disruption from these patches by using cultural methods, as well as adding nutrition to the greens to make them better. Just to add, another turf disease called Dollar Spot, which we don’t have here at the minute, was spotted in areas at Hoylake last week. This goes to show that turf diseases can cause issues at all types of golf clubs, and on all different types of turf species.

Figure 4: Fairy ring

The greens were groomed, spiked and dressed earlier in the week to help with ongoing maintenance and this kind of work will continue. They were also sprayed with nitrogen, seaweed, compost tea and humic acid to help them along. Due to all the rainfall and the mower not being at its very sharpest, the greens are on the slower side at the minute, but hopefully the weather turns in our favour again soon. It will make such a difference when we have our own grinders to sharpen the units as and when, and they will be delivered in a couple of months or so. The greens mower will be sharpened before then though.

All the tees and approaches have just had another summer feed to help them maintain decent levels of colour and growth. Again the cutting blades are not the best, but we will endeavour next week to improve their playability. Both areas of the course suffer with very old, wiry ryegrass which is very difficult to cut cleanly. I know, once we have the grinders, it will allow us more time to topdress these areas more, and cut them better. This will improve the general presentation of the course.

Steve Hemsley

Head Greenkeeper