Happy New Year members
I write this blog as we've just passed through a miserable 6 months from July to December. It's been as demoralising for greenkeepers as it has for golfers.
The disruption from the incessant rain has impacted the club's plans to carry out, ironically, much needed drainage work around the 5th green. This project has been planned for many months but the fact that this project work is at the farthest end of the golf course is even more frustrating.
Even small breaks in the weather don't particularly help because getting all that way with any sort of digging or trenching equipment as well as with tractors and trailers.
For context, the rainfall data, which is recorded daily, is provided below:
Month Rainfall (mm) Number of rain days
Jan 107 16
Feb 7 4
Mar 107 19
Apr 46 8
May 25 5
Jun 40 7
July 179 20
Aug 88 9
Sep 78 10
Oct 144 16
Nov 138 17
Dec 152 24
TOTAL 1111 155
It's been a bit disappointing to be honest and that's an understatement. Granted, there have been periods of dry weather in February, April, May and June so it's not been a complete washout.
If you scroll back to my earlier blogs, you'll see a really wet July in 2016, similar to July 2023. I realise it's no consolation but these weather cycles do occur.
That said, if we look back over previous winters, as the photos below attest, we've had this type of weather before:
I remember distinctly a few horrendous winters in 2006, 2009, 2010 when I worked in Nottinghamshire. Terribly wet but typically British too. Conversely, the summer of 1976 when I was born was a proper heatwave summer. Cycles of weather come and go.
Hopefully, as I write, the forecast shows a dry 2 weeks ahead of us so let's look forward to better days.
Autumn provided the annual leaf drop and it wrung itself out until the end of December.
Greens have held up well despite the wet weather. We've had to spike (verti drain), sarel roll (shallow surface spike) and apply a product called Rocastem, which opens up the pore spaces in the soil, to keep the greens as playable as possible for members. They've done very well and it's very satisfying to see how they have developed.
It's critical to keep overseeding with bentgrasses to ensure the greens are more resilient and more disease resistant. We wanted to head into 2024 with good grass coverage, density and minimal disease scarring and I think we've achieved that. Granted, 2 fungicides have been sprayed; in late September and then also at the start of November. The saving grace, if you could call it that, is that disease has struggled to proliferate is because of the consistent rain, ironically.
Fusarium is prevalent in high humidity, mild weather and with heavy morning dew. Disease spores spread over the dew so rainfall has been a buffer to that disease spread.
Tees were all fertilised, verti drained, divoted and cut prior to closing them for the winter. They are looking well so please refrain from playing off them until Spring.
Tee markers have been sanded and repainted.
Our machinery servicing is up to date. Oil & filter changes, done twice per year, have been done. All mower cylinders that needed re-grinding (sharpening) have all been completed. We continue to ensure that any worn parts are replaced. Currently, we are just finishing replacing bearings, belts and pulleys that drive the rear roller brush assemblies on our Tees 3250 mower.
It is pleasing that we continue to keep the machinery in good working order. Perhaps it is an area of our work that goes unnoticed by 95% of members but it is done mainly by us and it is important that the machinery is looked after. 25% of the greens' budget is allocated to machinery repair, servicing and parts replacement.
We managed, eventually, to restore some definition to the golf course by cutting tees, fairways and most rough in the week leading up to Christmas. It was long overdue but the ground conditions prior had prevented us from getting heavy machinery such as the Fairway and Rough mowers out. The weather since has been so mild and wet that growth continues. We'll hopefully get some more mowing done in the next few weeks with a nicer forecast.
The Putting Green (above), has had much work done to it over the years. We continue to integrate sandy soil into this green whenever we change the holes. I estimate that several hundred old hole positions have been filled up with sandy soil over the years. Now, that work is paying dividends. Rarely do we see standing water on this green anymore.
Whilst it will never play like the golf course greens (due to being a clay push up green vs USGA greens on the gof course), we're still keen to get it as playable as possible during adverse weather. Hence, you will see regular instances like this where the plugs are ameliorated with the sandy soil. A couple of weeks later, they tend to settle in. The compromise in the short term is worth it for better long term results.
The directors are committed to drainage work to improve wet areas of the golf course. It will be carried out but when exactly that is, we just don't know. I know many golf clubs have had to postpone course project work in late 2023 as the weather has been just too much to get heavy plant equipment out.
In the meantime, best wishes for 2024.
Ben Allen
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