Friday 18 March 2016

A dry spell at long last!!


It's been a long time since we were last able to get the mowers out. But a welcome dry spell gave us the chance to start giving the golf course some much needed definition. 

Tees, approaches, surrounds, new turf, fairways & rough were all cut this week to some degree. Understandably, a few fairways and roughs were long after a wet, mild winter. They need a few more cuts before they are back to how we would like them to be.


The greens have firmed up nicely after a couple of Vibro rolls. The cold, frosty weather of late has stunted any growth but maybe this is not all bad. It should give us a bit of breathing room before the mowing season really kicks off.




The raised beds that will become the new memorial garden by the 1st tee are now ready for planting. Jeff Perkin and Dave Clark are sourcing the lavender and rosemary for the beds. Great stuff guys!


The right hand green side bunker at the 3rd hole has been shaped and edged. It is ready for drainage and sand now. 40 tons of bunker sand has been ordered and will arrive in the next fortnight.


The 13th path is now looking really good. Big thanks to Phil Lockett and John Newns for helping with path work. It is a massive improvement on the previous path, looking cleaner, lighter and more defined. 


Quite a transformation really!

Many thanks also to Dave Asprey and Barry Barlow for collecting twigs this week. Also thanks to Tom and Len for burning a load of brash in the woodland between the 4th and 7th. Jeff Perkin had finished painting a complete new set of tee markers and they look brilliant! 

I am away for a week of holiday next week. Ryan has taken a few days off this week and James will take a few days off after Easter. We all need a break after a long, wet and tiring winter!! 

Have a great weekend and enjoy your golf!

Saturday 12 March 2016

Another busy week


What a busy week!! It is all systems go now with Spring just around the corner. We are now looking to tie up most of the winter work within the next few weeks.

Some greens were verti drained on Friday after having to suffer a long and very wet winter. We will finish the remaining greens on Monday. A nice roll with the Vibro rollers will restore the surface smoothness.


We have made great progress with the 13th path. John Newns and Phil Lockett installed all the timber edging which looks great. We added a bit more MOT to the base to fill in any low areas. Then the path was compacted with a wacker plate and mostly topped off with grey stock dust. We will finish this surface next week. 

This path will complete a fantastic transformation of this entire area from being dark, shady and unkempt into a light, modern and maintainable area.



We have also made a start with shaping the bunker bases. The left greenside bunker on Hole 3 has been graded, edged and new drainage installed.


It now looks a lot better than what it used to look like...


The bunkers should be shaped, edged and drained by the start of April. Bunker sand is on order and as soon as the paths have all been resurfaced, there will be room in the yard for a bunker sand delivery.

Further progress has also been made with the landscaping around the 1st tee. John Newns has made a great job of creating 2 raised beds that will look fantastic when they are planted. Dave Clark and Jeff Perkin are in charge of the planting.


We cleared the remaining logs that were left over at holes 4 & 7 and now, this area looks awesome. There will be less leaves and twigs to clear next autumn, less strimming (less trees to strim around!!) and most importantly, it is a lot fairer for golfers. Any golfer who drives slightly off target will now be able to play a proper recovery shot!

 
Finally, the 7th white tee has been turfed! This does not solve the wider problem of shade that affects this tee but at least the teeing area is better. Much more tree thinning in this whole area will have to be done so that the tee gets adequate sunlight required for good grass growth.


That said, we have now refurbished 12 tees (in one form or another) in 2 years. That is some going and stands us in good stead for the future.

Have a great weekend and enjoy your golf!

Early season greens renovations

Hello (patient) members Well, turn of the new year, we greenkeepers were hoping that the weather would turn a corner and provide some much n...