Greens Update - April 2025

The greens have come through winter very well and are in a good condition going into spring. We managed to keep the surfaces disease free in the main, which bodes well for a quick improvement for smoothness and trueness.

Having said that we are approaching the time, as temperatures hopefully start to increase at nighttime, that the different grass species in the greens start to grow at different rates, causing smoothness to drop. See the pictures for examples of the bent grass looking healthy and the weaker poa grass still not really woken up from its winter slumber. This is where topdressing and light verticutting will come into play, once we start to see some growth. This always happens, usually in April, as temperatures rise, and just in time for the Masters!

The greens have been given a solid tine, light verticut and a granular feed and are also being given applications of wetting agents, biostimulants and other necessary elements to aid their transition from winter to spring. This work is ongoing, and we will keep disturbance and disruption to a minimum.

The tees have had a topdress and are about to be given a spring feed, which should see some decent growth on them going into summer. Regular divotting of the par 3s will take place on a weekly basis. They will also be deep spiked early next week to help relieve compaction and provide necessary air into the profile.

The collars and approaches will receive more brushing and cutting this season as we attempt to provide better surfaces. Hopefully some of the time given back from not having to cut most of the fairways and some rough by the robots will be used to attend to these surfaces. They will be regularly dressed, fed and brushed with the height of cut gradually coming down over time.

The fairways already look miles better from the razor-sharp lower cut height being achieved by the automated mowers. One main advantage to using these robots is the accuracy of the areas they are cutting. Every time it cuts a fairway it will always cut to the perfect edge every time (subject to the edges being reshaped!!), which will help to improve definition. The aim will be to keep on top of the growth of the fairways on the top part of the course, through continuous cutting, mainly during the late afternoon, evening and through the night. Then during the daytime when the course is busier, the focus will be on the machines to cut areas of rough, so that the golfer isn’t disturbed too much. It also allows us to not work some of our older pieces of equipment so hard.

Talking of which, it is this time of year when we are able to bring out our cutting machinery and start to present the course as the growth starts. And it is usually about now when the old machinery starts to have issues, once it is put under some strain. We have purchased a newer mower, which will focus on the greens, mainly. The old greens mower is currently having some minor repairs done to it, so that it should be ok for the rest of the summer. But all being well the older kit should perform so we can present an improved golf course.

The older bunkers have all been topped up with fresh sand over the last few weeks so that they are ready for the season. The new bunkers built this winter are due to have sand this week. We are just waiting on our deliveries arriving at the club. Many clubs are currently waiting due to a machinery issue at the quarry where the sand comes from. This has put many orders back and we are just in the queue waiting for our turn. The turf around the bunkers has knitted in really well and as soon as the sand arrives, we will fill the bunkers, and they will be brought in to play immediately.

The tree lines have all been raked and the debris piled up as best as possible. This will be removed as quickly as possible and thanks to all the volunteers who have helped with that task. All the roughs have been raked also, and they are being blown free of debris so the robots do not have any large pieces of debris to encounter.

Steve

Head Greenkeeper


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Greens Update - April 25

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Greens Update - March 2025