2 weeks since Autumn Renovations

Following a week of golfing on Scotland (aka a busman's holiday), I returned to work Monday and was very pleased to see how the greens had progressed since the hollow coring, scarifying and topdressing. 

Ryan and James held the fort very well in my absence. The golf course looked in good shape and we should head into autumn quite nicely.

 

The 2 photos above show the 2nd green. You can see how well the overseeding has done - the light green lines of new seed are quite evident. 

All we did was to pour some seed into a bucket and disperse it with our bare hands onto the greens before brushing in the topdressing. Successful overseeding is as simple as that - provide a gap for the seed to be sown in and then ensure the seed does not dry out.

We have alternated rolling the greens (to firm them up) with some walk mowing. The greens are now being cut less short but this is to ensure they now have a break from the stresses of summer. 

Mowing them constantly at a low height of cut cannot be sustained forever without some adversity. The main objective for us going into autumn and winter is that the greens are firm, dry and have excellent grass coverage. We believe that this objective is being achieved very well.

James has progressed well with his walk mowing of greens. He has had plenty of practice this week and is now getting into the rhythm of this form of greens mowing. 

We have walk mowed twice this week, the second time without collecting grass clippings due to the fact that we had applied an autumn fertiliser to the greens this week.

Next week we will start slitting greens to encourage good root development and we will give the greens a light topdressing to fill in any surface imperfections that have remained since the autumn renovation week. 

Have a great weekend and enjoy your golf!