I have had a number of members asking me why it looks as if we have not been irrigating through the dry spell that we have just been through. The answer to this is, apart from a little water here and there, we do not need to! The greens have spent the last 12 months saturated with water. Imagine what that is going to do to the roots underneath. With moisture being available in the top inch or so of the surface its not really going to encourage root development, as there would be no reason for them to move down through the surface. The theory that roots grow through the soil is untrue. Roots grow through the airspace of the soil, which is one of the reasons why we have deeply aerated a number of times through the winter and spring. This tied in with drier greens has helped us to get roots chasing after the water, which, will, in turn help the health of the sward on top! Please see the pictures as proof, these were taken on the 11th green, which traditionally is one of the weaker ones.
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| Roots chasing through the profile, using the holes provided |
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| Here you can see the roots moving nicely down the aeration holes |
I must admit, i did get a little worried toward the end of last week/beginning of this week due to the heat so was out with the hose pipe just wetting down areas as i knew the hot weather wasn't going to last and showers were due toward the end of the week.
I managed to borrow a 'moisture meter' and measured 6 of our greens just to make sure i had enough moisture in there. I would have liked to have measured them all however its time consuming work so i chose some historically dry ones (1st, 6th,) and chose some historically wet ones (4th, 16th) then some average ones (12/7) I took 9 measurements from each green starting from the back. so went back left (BL) back middle (BM) back right (BR) then middle right (MR) and so on until i had nine readings of my 3x3 grid over the green. The STRI has recommended a moisture content of between 20-30% throughout the green. However some greenkeepers work between 15 and 20%. When our agronomist came out last, the average green was around 55%! However please bare in mind it was a wet year. Here are the results: Please excuse the scruffy handwriting, I haven't had time to enter them into the computer yet.
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| Moisture Meter |
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| Sorry your going to have to tilt your head, I don't have the option to rotate the image! |
As you can see, even on Wednesday, which was before all this rain came we are still within the 'target' range the STRI recommend with the driest green being the 6th, with an average of 20.56. The thing that does strike me is the inconsistencies throughout a particular green. Take the 4th for instance. We have a reading of 30.5% moisture on the back right of the green however in the middle we have 11%, straight away I can see that the middle could do with some water, however the back right of the green could do with some extra aeration and some more sand to dry it out a little!
I hope this blog goes a little way to explaining why we, as greenkeepers, and professionals of our industry dont like to water TOO much at this time of the year.
Now we're REALLY greenkeeping!
Why no blue tee? The suspense is killing me ;-)
ReplyDeleteWoops. Sorry forgot to mention that. As from now members, and members guest's are allowed to tee off the white tees. Notification of this will be going up in the clubhouse next week. This will be a season long trial to see if we can cope with recovery.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy
Leigh,
ReplyDeleteI don't think you will have t worry about water on the greens by the end of this week!!!
Played yesterday and the course is really coming on now, I think everyone should remember that the weather has meant spring is about 6 weeks later than normal, just look at the leaves on the trees and flower growth in your own gardens.
By the end of May the course will be magnificent.
I had some feedback yesterday that the new flag system is hard to see from a long way back if the pin is at the back as the two flags blend together. The only thing I can think of is to leave a 6 inch gap when setting it for a pin at the back, I will leave that one with you
Well done to you and your team
David
Yes ive noticed the flag situation. Will sort that out next week.
ReplyDeleteLeigh
I applauded the decision to make it possible to play from any tee but can I raise a point?
ReplyDeleteWith knockout matches being played, and I hadn't previously considered this, playing them off the usual mid-week forward positions makes something of a mockery of knock-out matches.
I appreciate that it is the same for both players but it gives the weaker golfer even more of an advantage and loads the odds in their favour even more. I have fallen foul of this (in my Hawthorn match) and benefited (in my Scratch match) but it is something that perhaps needs to be considered.
Due to the new system, aside from a few holes, knockout games are effectively being played off yellow tees.
Hi Dave, this is actually something syd and I were talking about this morning. We've come up with a few ideas just leave it with me for a bit please. I do agree it is an unfair advantage toward higher handicappers though.
ReplyDeleteRegards
Leigh
Cheers Leigh and appreciate the consideration.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't something that I had considered myself having initially applauded the decision to let any member play off any tee that they want to.
I still applaud it, especially if there is a way around this particular matter affecting knock-out games played during midweek.
No worries thanks for bringing the matter up. Ill be looking into seeing what can be done.
ReplyDeleteLeigh