Greens Update - September 2025
On Monday we welcomed our new Deputy Head Greenkeeper Danny Hirst to the greens team. Danny comes from Burnley Golf Club where he held the position of Head Greenkeeper, therefore bringing with him much needed experience to the team, excellent knowledge of greenkeeping and a great work ethic, which he has already shown in the first few days of being here. He brings fresh ideas and an eagerness to improve all the golf course surfaces. I’m sure you will all give him a warm welcome when you meet him on the course.
In other staff news, young Ewan is still absent from work after a hospital visit, but he should return next week, and we will be back to full strength again with all five present. It has been a challenge being short staffed since the end of June, and I would like to thank Harley and Billy Black for their contributions over the summer, to assist with tasks such as divotting and bunker raking. Hopefully, there could be a new apprentice in the making!
August continued the theme of the dry spell we’ve had for several weeks, with only the last week producing some rainfall to the golf course. Only 30mm of rain fell in August in total, over only 6 days, and all the surfaces have been stressed during this month. However, the last 9 days has produced 40mm of consistent rain and there are heavy showers predicted over the coming period. All the surfaces will benefit from this, as with the soil temperatures remaining high, much needed growth to the tees, approaches and fairways is already underway.
The greens were very stressed after all the dryness, and with some failings on the irrigation system, it has been challenging to improve the weaker areas on the greens that suffered from the dry patch and the anthracnose disease mentioned in previous updates. The greens were weak, had blunt cuts after all the added topdressing, and were not up to the usual standard.
Figure 1: Putting Green irrigation failure | Figure 2: Recovery with Wetting Agent Granule Aid
However, this rainfall has eased the pressure on the dry patches, the solid tine aeration has breathed new fresh air into the profile, the added topdressing has closed up many of the weaker areas, and the liquid feed applied last week has kicked in producing added growth stimulation. The cutting units have also had new bottom blades fitted and the cylinders sharpened, so we have already noticed an improvement over the last few days.
This growth and rainfall do however slow the greens down for a while, and the heavy morning dews really do affect the quality of cut we can produce. The smoothness, trueness, and speed of the greens are all affected. Hopefully, we can achieve added dry afternoon cuts on non-competition days in the coming weeks, which will help to smooth the greens further and increase pace. We are also adding fresh bent seed to the weaker areas to help fill them as soon as possible.
New bent seed bedded in well
No sooner have we faced the challenges of the dry summer we then face another issue with the autumnal change of temperature, more rainfall, and heavier dew formations. This can be the perfect storm for fusarium (Microdochium Patch) on the greens and collars especially, and we have already noticed a few spots of it on some greens. The growth is strong on the greens at the minute so I don’t envisage it sticking around too long, however a package of fungicides for the next few months has been purchased, as we did last year, and they will be applied appropriately through the autumn and winter, to keep the greens as disease free as possible. All the microbial work we have done on the greens will also help to naturally defend themselves from disease outbreaks, and regular aeration on the greens will also help.
All the tees have had a new granular feed application to encourage fresh growth to aid recovery after the dry spell. They too have been aerated with solid tines, and I expect some recovery shortly. Once the season is over the tees will all receive a lot of work including hollow coring, topdressing, overseeding and more feed to make sure they are ready for next season. The approaches were fed a while ago, and the recent rainfall has helped them to start improving too.
The STRI visit went very well, with members of the greens committee present to listen to what Gary had to say about the course. We looked at several areas of the course, the greens, and some areas of concern, such as the 18th tees and the second fairway shaded area. The report is now available to read for all members.
Planning for the winter is now already underway with projects being assessed and any outside contract work being organised. More details of what the final project is will come in due course, but it will involve work to tees, bunkers, paths, as well as some drainage. But for now the emphasis is completing the list of little jobs which has been growing over this period and tidying the course as much as possible as we transition into autumn.
