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| Core Sample on Putting Green 16/4/13 |
Lots of work has been done this week.
We have managed to make full use of the demo topdresser that came in on Monday. With all greens getting a good amount of sand. Around 35tons to be precise. As you can see from the image, which is a core sample from the putting green, we are managing to get a lot of sand down into the vertidrain holes. This will help to dilute the thatch and to improve drainage, but most importantly at this time of year help smooth the surfaces out. Soil temperatures are now around the 10/12 degree mark, which means we can, and have applied our fertiliser to the greens.
You will be pleased to hear that I have turned the irrigation on for this weekend. This is primarily to help soak in the fertiliser, but will also help to 'soften' the surface which can only help us to get the greens flatter after the gravel banding.
You will have also noticed that the tees have been Verti Drained and top dressed. I have used a 3-1 soil/sand mix with a spot of organic material in there to help the tees to recover throughout the season ahead, this tied in with a nice fertiliser should keep them going alot better than in the past. We have also topdressed the approaches, I would have liked to have tied this in with hollow coring, but we haven't really got time as the season is fast upon us. However the sand will help to smooth them out. We will hollow core them in the future.
Plans for next week are to seed the GUR areas around the 12th green, and also to turf the drainage lines that the gravel banding caused.
Onwards and upwards
Leigh
Well done your hard work appears to be paying off. Hopefully with the right weather the course will be in tip top condition in no time. Really good blog too, great insight into what your doing to improve our course.
ReplyDeleteCarry on the good work.
Leigh,
ReplyDeleteLooks great well done.
Huge improvement in the bunkers as well, except the fairway bunker on 14 which has little sand and is rock hard underneath. Looking at the depth of it I assume this bunker is done differently to the others?
Also the ball washers could use some water, with the fertilizer down my balls are getting dirty and I am unable to clean them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Keep up the good work - the blog is great
Dave
Although there is a lot of work being carried out on the greens at the moment, how about investing in a roller to attempt a smoother run of your golf ball towards the hole instead of a roller-coaster ride whilst observing your ball jumping for joy on at least 3 occasions on a 5 foot putt!!!! As the recent medal results for April depicts, no player posted a gross score lower than 80!!! I wonder why????
ReplyDeleteHi. I absolutely admit that the greens are poor at the moment, nobody can deny that. The work that we have done over the winter to the greens and the rest of the course will only go toward turning it around.
DeleteEverything is now set up for this year and the following years to come. I know the greens obviously spoiled the first medal of the year for a lot of people. But please remember that this is the worst they will ever be. As we won't need to be anywhere near as aggressive in the future. As soon as conditions allow (please bare in mind I believe we are around 3 weeks behind where I would like to have been because of weather conditions throughout the first quarter of the year.) The greens will become good. It's just a case of being patient and trusting me. It's a very good idea to roll the greens, which is why we are rolling everyday in some form.
If you have any other questions please do not hesitate to ask them here or whenever you see me out on the course. We're all on the same team. I want the best for the course too, but you can't make omlette without breaking a few eggs.
Kind regards
Leigh
how is the course at the moment? i'm looking at playing here soon but will postpone if the course needs more time. i really enjoyed the course last summer.
ReplyDeleteHi Jamie.
ReplyDeleteThis poor spring is really slowing the recovery on the greens. However it looks like night time temps are rising over the next few days so recovery should be quick. Please look out for my next blog post for more information.
Thanks
Why does the sprinkler system around the greens never get used? We have had dry weather for the past 4 weeks and by looking at the greens, the sprinklers have never been used. Any putt is a lottery but especially from 6 foot inwards, as a tuft of grass will send it violently off course.
ReplyDeleteHi there my next blog post will be all about why we are not over watering at this moment. I can assure you that I am controlling the amount of water that goes onto the greens and tees. The very thought of having them as soft 'puddings' again makes me shudder, please don't worry about the slight browning of the top surface.
ReplyDeleteThanks
Leigh