Greens Update - September 2025 (2)

Course Update and Winter Planning

Following on from the previous members update, I just wanted to bring everyone up to speed on where we are currently with the course, and which areas of the course we plan to invest time on in the coming months.

After all the rain this month, the course has softened somewhat, which has meant that a growth surge has taken place. All the surfaces that were dormant have sprung into life and so all areas of the course are in need of regular cutting at the moment. The tees and approaches have really kicked on since they had their recent fertiliser applications and they have come back well. Fairway growth has resumed, and the semi and roughs are lush again.

As for the greens, well they are in fine health with strong colour and density. Growth is strong and the greens are softer after all the rain, so they are very slow at the minute. I think the constant cutting and rolling over the last month or so to try and help with pace has contributed to compact the greens a little, and further aeration is required. The sarel roller has been used to help put holes in the top 20mm or so, and that is the area where most of the organic matter is at its highest.

The Procore with its solid tines will be used over the next couple of weeks to provide further, deeper aeration to the greens, which in turn will help provide more air to the profile, allowing more moisture to escape. The greens will be deep aerated just before the frost season comes along, which will help the sub surface fissure, providing further channels for water to escape through the profile, and providing much needed decompaction to the profile. (This deep aeration will also be carried out on tees, approaches and fairways). We will also use the air2G2 aeration machine via contractor over the winter period. This blasts air deep into the profile to aid moisture movement deeper down.

Although we have seen encouraging results as mentioned in the STRI report regarding organic matter reduction, it is clear we need to do more through the season and not just rely on a week in August. More verticutting, scarification and dressing is required during the main playing season so that the greens can be as firm and free draining as possible. This year was particularly stressful for the greens with the lack of rainfall during the main season, and the ageing irrigation system sometimes struggled to cope with the targeted approach for retaining moisture.

Obviously, we used wetting agents to help retain moisture at the top of the profile and tried to add some targeted hand watering, but some repairs to the irrigation system are required before next spring to make sure that all the greens sprinklers are functioning as they should. The 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 10th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 17th and the putting green all highlighted issues at one point or another during the stressed period, and these issues will be sorted.

September has been a very wet month so far, and we are glad of a better forecast for the next couple of weeks. On Saturday 47mm of rain fell to add to the previous 117mm in the month so far, making this month the 3rd worst September since the club started recording the rainfall in 2013. The greens profiles are now wet throughout, but they should dry down as the dry weather continues. The question of whether the greens drainage is working has popped up again, and the honest answer to this question is we simply don’t know. Some greens are over 20 years old now and so we must expect some diminishing returns, although the profiles of the greens are relatively clean. As far as I’m aware, no maintenance of the greens drains has been carried out and many of the greens rodding points have been lost over the years. Further investigative work is required on where they are, so that we could pressure wash them out.

Over the last 15 to 20 years there would have been a large variety of maintenance schedules, products used, aeration techniques and materials used that possibly could have compromised the capability of the greens to perform. Like anything, the age of a product usually means that wear and tear takes places over the years.

As our attention turns to the next six months of work period, we are focussing our immediate plan on continuing the bunker rebuild and lining programme, and rebuilding the 12th white and red tee, as well as the 18th white and yellow tee. The 18th tees for a long time now have let the course down, especially as it is the closing hole of the round. We have made strides to make the whole area more appealing with the introduction of wildflowers and the log wall, however, the actual teeing grounds are of poor quality. A par 3 needs a much larger tee box to enable the staff to spread the wear around the tee from week to week.

We intend to carry out some major works on the 18th, which will mean stripping all the existing turf away, adding more rootzone to the area to achieve a better size, and installing further sprinklers for better coverage. A contractor is going to be used to professionally laser level the tees so that they are of a much higher standard than what is currently there.

We will turf straight after to give the tees time to bed in before their use in the spring. A much better commitment to time management on these tees is needed going forward, and we are already planning this with additional feeds, aeration and dressing, ready for next year. The same levelling process will take place on the 12th tee on the same day, meaning we will have 2 much larger par 3 tees for the amount of play that they receive. This levelling work will take place in November.

Some clearing of tree limbs is also required at both tees to help with airflow and shade in the areas. Ideally, being able to create more airflow through to the 17th green from the 18th tee would give much needed help to the surface, and the clearance of some higher limbs would also allow much needed winter sunlight onto the tees.

Last year we were due to complete the rebuilding of the bunkers near the clubhouse, however the poor condition of the fairway bunkers led us to carry out that work first as a priority. So, this year we intend to revisit the original plan and rebuild and line the bunkers at the 8th greenside, 9th and 18th holes. This will keep us on target to re do all the bunkers in a six-year period. Weather permitting, the lining of the bunkers will be carried out in December should all the initial shaping work be carried out by then (although we do not need to pay for the liner until the new year!!)

So, they are the two main areas of focus for construction in the first part of the winter period. There will be other works to do, such as tidying paths, installing numerous gully pots in low areas, carrying out vertical drainage channels in some areas on the left of the 2nd, as stated in the STRI report. There will be plenty of tree trimming to do, as the staff are continually troubled by low-lying branches and foliage when cutting the roughs.

Staff training will also be taking place, with spraying, digger use and chainsaw certification being investigated for members of the team. This gives the staff a much needed boost as it sees how valued they are by the club.