Greens Maintenance Week (2)
Post Renovations
Well, it’s been a very busy week! One with an enormous amount of work carried out, but not without its challenges. Firstly, I would like to thank all the members that stayed off the course this past week, in order to let the staff carry out the work as efficiently as possible. And also to those who moved on from a hole without completing it, we do appreciate it.
Figure 1: Scarification lines.
The week started with a contractor scarifying the greens down to a depth of about -12mm, and this was followed by a light verticut, which removed any further organic matter from the surface that the scarifier had left behind. We also tined and dressed the greens, before they were overseeded on Thursday using another contractor.
You can see the machine in action in this short video captured by Dave Brookes. Thanks, Dave!
The greens have already started to recover, however due to the dry and hot conditions, this may take a bit longer than normal, as we have to try and manage them carefully. This is the first challenge we have faced this week. We went into renovation week with some areas on greens looking quite dry, with other areas looking weak through the summer fungal diseases we have already mentioned in previous updates. But we could not pass on this opportunity to carry out the renovations.
The greens have had about 25 tons of topdressing applied to them this week over two applications. Once was after the scarification, and the other was a lighter dressing to bed the seed in. So there is still some dressing in the surface, which will affect ball roll.
After all this work has been done, the surfaces will take a good few days to recover to where they were when the STRI visited. Then, smoothness and trueness, as well as pace, were looking decent. However, after all this work, for obvious reasons, these elements will all be affected. The greens will not be as smooth, not be as quick, and also won’t run as true. But this dip in form will be temporary, and we are working hard already on the recovery process, having given them a liquid feed at the end of the week.
The other challenges we have faced this week, apart from the hot and humid conditions, have been staff shortages and machinery breakdowns. We have managed to cope with both issues, however it has made the week more difficult, and it has meant that some of the work detailed in last week’s piece has not been conducted. All the work on the greens and approaches has been carried out, however we took the view that trying to scarify fairways and tees in this heat would not be best for the surfaces, so this will take place at a more convenient time, once the ground conditions have softened a touch.
The approaches were verticut, topdressed (with about 5 tons applied) and given a granular feed to aid their recovery. We will add more fertiliser once some rain is on the horizon.
Overall a particularly challenging, but productive week, which will help to improve the surfaces impacted.
- Steve
