STRI Visit Trentham Park

Wednesday the 12th June saw our 2nd visit by the STRI. It was a long day which started at around 8am over coffee with Paul (our agronomist) asking me questions about what work we have done to the course, how much sand has gone into the greens since his last visit, (which incidentally is around 115 tonnes) what fertiliser has been used and when, what my plans are for future feeds etc etc.
We then went out onto the 18th green to have a look. I think Paul was surprised with the way that the gravel banding has settled and happy with how firm things were underfoot. In the meeting before hand I had mentioned that some members had said to me that the greens were getting too firm, and they couldn't stop a ball on them, and we need to water. The STRI recommend a value of between 80 and 100 gravities produced by the Clegg hammer, the 18th green came out on average at around 106 gravities. So a little on the firm side, the STRI have measured over 4000 greens and are beginning to think they need to alter their target ranges a little to between 90 and 110 gravities, this is because when we have a large amount of rain greens become softer and will possibly fall below target values, especially over winter months. Golf has become an all year round sport now, and we need to address this so members get more value for their money by getting a better course, and playable greens for longer.

The Clegg hammer is the yellow tool Paul is holding.

After doing that it then became Simon, our professionals turn to be the guinea pig!! He took 16 balls up the 18th fairway to 130 yards out. Hitting a pitching wedge. We wanted him to hit 4 soft balls (Pro V1s) from out of a nice lie off the fairway, and then hit 4 hard balls (Ultra, topflight etc etc) also from out of the fairway. The difference in the ball stopping on the green was amazing to see! The softer ball was stopping within 1 meter of its pitch mark! With a nice bounce, check and a little roll forward. The hard balls were coming in from the same angle but pitching, looking as if they wanted to check, but  actually topspinning forward to around 4-5meters away from the pitch mark! 

He then did the same experiment, but from out of the semi rough, The Pro V1s stopped within 4 meters. The hard balls however looked out of control once they hit the green top spinning around 10-12 meters away from the pichmark. I know Simon is a very good golfer, and most members would give their right arm to be even half as good as him, however this experiment really does prove that the greens will take well struck shots, and, if i'm being honest, golfers of a lesser handicap should really start to plan and plot their way around the course (any course for that matter) because the days of banging the ball at the pin are over and a more authentic game of golf is slowly starting to take shape.

Paul didn't just look at the 18th green, I took him to the key indicator greens, which are 18, 16, and 8 where he took various measurements including smoothness and trueness, and speed. speed is a nice medium to fast pace ranging between 8.5 and 9.5 feet, however smoothness and trueness obviously needs to be worked on! Paul was, i think amazed by the way the 8th green looked, and to be fair I'm really pleased with that green too, and if I can get them all to look like that this season, then i'd be a happy chappy! 

We went to visit one of the weaker greens, which i think is the second, Paul said to me it looks as if it needs some water, and asked me if there was any problem with the irrigation on that green. I said there isn't and it works well. So we did some extra readings, with the Clegg hammer and moisture meter, the clegg (firmness) readings were about 110 gravities (on the firm side) however moisture was consistently  around 30% which is a little on the wet side. He then took a core sample and felt down the core, and at around 30mm down the green was VERY compact! Which explains why the green is looking sick. If we had kept banging water on this would have INCREASED the problem with water only sitting in the top 30mm. We have since gone out and verti drained all greens to relieve the compaction and added an extra 10tonne of sand.

We also visited the 6th green, this one, I think is traditionally always the firmest, and most difficult to keep your ball on. Clegg hammer tests proved it was one of the firmest, at around 112 gravities. but moisture was around 28% so I know it doesn't need watering. So how do we make it less firm? We aerated it with 8mm tines on the vert drain, and then took another firmness reading afterwards. The results spoke fore themselves we had reduced he firmness down to target range of 103 gravities just by aerating! 

NOW THATS GREENKEEPING!

Leigh