Renovation week (part 2)

This week, we finished our autumn aeration and topdressing work on greens 3, 5, 8 and the chipping green. These greens were solid tined to 3 inches and the holes were filled with sand. This will improve surface drainage, promote rooting and enable better air exchange as a result of having more sand in the soil profile.

Although these greens won't putt that great, they (alongside the greens scarified last week) have been fertilised to enable recovery. Rolling and mowing next week should help to restore these greens to a truer rolling surface.

The greens scarified last week are now recovering quite well and they too should be putting better by next week once the fertiliser has kicked in.

The overall aim is that the greens will be nice and firm as we head into Autumn. In other news, the Board of directors have sanctioned the purchase of a Verti Drain that will enable us to keep a range of playing surfaces firmer, drier and more free draining throughout the year.

This is fantastic news and it demonstrates a really proactive and progressive approach by the club.

Also, we should also be extremely grateful to Graham Barber who has managed to restore a pedestrian verti cutter back to working order. When it was passed to Graham, the machine wouldn't even start. Thanks to his expertise and diligence, the club can now boast another working machine. Many thanks Mr Vice!

Hopefully, the dry weather that we are currently enjoying will remain as long as possible so that members can enjoy the benefits of a dry golf course.

Have a great weekend and enjoy your golf!

Renovation week (part 1)

Wowzers! What a week we've had. It has been absolutely terrific, weather wise although the mornings have been cool and dews have been very heavy. Last week, we were forced to spray a fungicide to check some Fusarium activity which is often a recurring theme at this time of year.

We also started with our autumn greens renovation this week. Greens 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9 and Putting Green were all scarified with the Graden.

This pedestrian operated scarifier removes thatch from the surface to varying depths (we scarified to 15mm depth) and the debris is collected before we blow any remaining debris off the green. Then the final phase is to topdress sand into the grooves and brush it in.

The operation has been a great success and should ensure that the greens surfaces are firm and smooth heading into late autumn. We anticipate good recovery with the application of a very light 4:0:7 fertiliser which will give the plant just enough Nitrogen to recover from the scarifying.

Otherwise, it has been a great week for course conditioning and we hope that the course is now playing drier and firmer than in August.

Next week, we will solid tine & topdress greens. 3, 5 and 8 which will complete the autumn renovation program.

Have a great weekend and enjoy your golf!

The end of a very wet month

After a fantastic July, the weather in August has been very disappointing. 

Traditionally, golf courses are expected to be dry and sunny places to be in August. Yet it has been the wettest month of 2014 with nearly 5 inches of rainfall to date. This will help to explain why the golf course has softened up, rough is a bit tanglier, drives aren't running as far down the fairway etc. 

In particular, our more problematic greens like 4 (above), 6 and 9 are showing true symptoms of thatch build up. It was evident on Thursday morning whilst mowing greens. I noticed that the footprints had still remained from Wednesday evening on these poorer greens.

To combat this, our autumn greens renovation will commence Monday 8 September. We will micro tine, scarify and topdress the greens with the worst thatch build up. Greens 3, 5 and 8 will be solid tined and topdressed to maintain firmness and alleviate surface drainage issues.

It is expected that this work will cause some disruption to golf but it is essential if the greens are to improve in the long term. 

Have a great weekend and enjoy your golf!

The rain arrives in abundance - in August!

After a stunningly warm July, we are now experiencing slightly wetter conditions, weather wise. However, the golf course has held up really well despite receiving over 2 inches of rainfall since the start of August.

This greens in particular have performed really well and we believe this is testament to our continued aeration and topdressing program.

Our greens are now being double cut daily at 3mm and remain looking really healthy with good colour. Considering they were last fertilised on 27 May, this is proof indeed that greens do not require lots of fertiliser to sustain good growth and recovery.

The greens committee recently finalised details of the golf course masterplan that James Edwards, Golf Course Architect, drafted for the golf club. James is currently overseeing the finishing touches to this. 

Thereafter, it is the intention of the Board & Greens Committee to present this to the members, perhaps in an evening at the clubhouse. As a Greens Committee, we feel extremely enthusiastic that the golf course masterplan has been produced because it will allow us to start executing some of the projects assigned to it.

Have a great weekend and enjoy your golf!

New path work at 1st tee area

We have several people to thank for the excellent work to this area by the 1st tee/Putting Green area.

The Vice Captain managed to pull a favour to get the 2 grids made ( and at no cost to the club ). Secondly, Mike Hall, Phil Lockett & Nick Fletcher have resurfaced a large portion of this path area. We even had some of the junior section down to help too. So well done to all involved.

The work that has been done will give golfers a better impression as they arrive at the 1st tee or are finishing their round. Gone are the poor mats and now the area looks much fresher. It is by no means finished but it demonstrates positive progress.

Also this week, I have managed to get the course prepared for the rearranged Ladies Open weekend. With Ryan away on a well deserved holiday, I have done my utmost to get most tasks completed.

During my time changing holes today, I removed the plug for the new hole on the 8th green. The photos below demonstrate the effectiveness of verti draining and topdressing sand into the holes. Notice the sand in the bottom of the new hole and throughout the plug. 

This is what the hard work is all about and we need to continue this work to ensure that our greens remain as dry and free draining for as long as possible throughout the year.

Have a great weekend and enjoy your golf!

 

6 months in!

Wow! Has it really been 6 months since I started work at PPGC?!!

Well, it has passed very quickly and much has been achieved. As we reach the back end of summer, the golf course is playing well and feedback from members has been very positive. There have been a few mad scores in competition play but nothing to indicate that the course is playing overly easy!

The greens are now in a much healthier position than when I started in February. We have added the ExtraCut brush to the front of our ride on greens mower and the difference this makes to surface texture and mowing quality is immense.

The hollow coring in May and monthly sand top dressing applications have assisted in keeping the greens surfaces firm, dry and rolling quite nicely. They are not exactly where I would like them to be but they are getting close.

Rooting is very good and the soil profile is improving with top dressing, aeration plus minimal irrigation and fertility.

We will scarify and topdress the greens in September with the intention that they will be that bit drier and firmer heading into Autumn and Winter.

Our work with James Edwards, Golf Course Architect, demonstrates really proactive and forward thinking progress by the club with a real commitment to making improvements to the golf course in the coming years. It is essential that the golf club progresses in this way in order to continue attracting new members, guests and corporate business.

The impending Environment Agency work will dovetail nicely with our partnership with James Edwards and we are positive that the club will benefit nicely as a result.

As always, I am thankful to Ryan for his excellent efforts and also to many members for their assistance including Tom Frame, Len Dilnutt, Phil Lockett, Nick Fletcher, Mike Hall, Jeff Perkin and Graham Barber. Likewise, we have other members who contribute to the cause and I am grateful to them too .

May I wish you continued enjoyment of your golf for the remainder of the summer and let's hope the weather stays kind to us!

Explaining Pin Positions

Perhaps it is right that we should explain our procedure for selecting pin position locations on greens. 

Our aim is always twofold:

- Spread wear patterns around the green

- Provide golfers with varying degrees of difficulty 

We now have a system in place that we believe is fair for all golfers and assists us in spreading wear patterns on the green.

We adopt a system as follows:

- 3 Front, 3 Middle & 3 Back locations for the 9 greens

- 3 Left, 3 Centre & 3 Right locations for each of the Front, Middle & Back locations. 

For this system, we work on a 3 hole rotation for holes 1-3, 4-6 and 7-9.

So, this Friday, the pin positions were set as follows:

1st hole   -   Front Centre

2nd hole  -   Back Right

3rd hole   -   Middle Left

4th hole   -   Front Left

5th hole   -   Back Centre

6th hole   -   Middle Right

7th hole   -   Front Right

8th hole   -   Middle Centre

9th hole   -   Back Left

What this then means is that the pins will only go back to the above positions every 10 weeks, ensuring variation for the golfer and minimising wear for us as greenkeepers.

Granted, there are occasionally some tricky pin positions out there! That said, it is the same for everybody and I guess that is the fun and challenge of golf. Nobody ever said that it's an easy game!!

Enjoy your golf!

A good week for mowing!!

This week, we have concentrated our efforts on repeated mowing on the golf course in order to maintain the consistency and to keep those playing surfaces firm and ensure good drives are rewarded with plenty of running!

We have been ably assisted by Phil Lockett who has done a great job in getting all our rough cut. So for those of you that find the rough during your round, you can tip your hat to Phil for it being down!! Thanks also to the Vice Captain for fitting a new starter motor on our Rough machine, saving us a lot of money in the process.

Hopefully, you'll all agree that the golf course is now getting to a standard that is very acceptable. The positive feedback following the Seniors' Open was very kindly received. Let's hope this good weather continues.

Have a great weekend and enjoy your golf!

More topdressing!!

This week, we took the opportunity to complete our July topdressing of all the greens. They now seem to be firming up nicely with some really positive feedback from members & visiting guests. 

It is important to continue this essential work and we believe that some very brief disruption to golfers is justified for the long term benefit to the greens and to maintain ball roll, trueness and overall playability.

One thing I was slightly miffed about was the nett 58 in last week's Fairbairn Trophy. A great score by Bill Courtney but I'm pleased his handicap was quickly reviewed. Sorry Bill, no Bandits allowed at PPGC! Maybe we need to try and trick up the greens some more to prevent any more crazy scoring!

This week, we have also continued to spot spray weeds in fairway & rough areas. It should be finished by next week so long as we have dry weather.

Our summer servicing on the mowing equipment has been completed now with the dry weather enabling us the odd hour or two to get off the course and complete oil & oil filter changes to our machines.

Also this week, we met with James Edwards, Golf Course Architect, who is preparing our golf course review for the golf club. James has many years of experience in this field of expertise and his services will prove to be of great value to the golf club in the years to come.

Have a great weekend and enjoy your golf!

Environment Agency proposed scheme

As many of you will be aware, the golf club will be working in partnership with the Environment Agency as part of a huge flood defence scheme that has been proposed for Warrington.

The work that the Environment Agency propose undertaking will centre around holes 4 & 7 with the purpose of ensuring that the housing estate to the left of hole 4 is not affected by potential future flooding.

Although this area of the golf course will be affected during the early part of 2015 (subject to planning approval), the upside is that the golf club stands to gain new tees at the 4th & 8th.

Furthermore, the golf club has now engaged the services of James Edwards, Golf Course Architect, to represent the golf club in its negotiations and discussions with the Environment Agency.

After meeting with James, the greens committee are extremely positive that he will represent the golf club in a professional and diligent manner. 

James will also be assisting the golf club to produce a working blueprint for the development of the golf course. As a result, the golf club will be able to plan more effectively future projects and identify accurate costings for these works.

These are exciting times for the golf club in what could be deemed a pivotal moment in the history of the golf club.

We encourage all members to attend the meeting on 7 July (7pm) and we hope that members can see that out of some disruption to the golf course, there are some real positives to be taken from this impending work.

Summer has arrived!

It has been great to have had some fine weather over the last few weeks. Golf in the sunshine is always more enjoyable, let's face it!

We now think that the greens are firming up nicely and are rolling well too. The comments from a range of members have been very positive and well received. We have spent many weeks double cutting the greens and they look how we want them too.

Topdressing greens next week will maintain smoothness and ball roll as well as assisting with diluting the thatch layer.

We finally finished spraying weeds on tees & surrounds this week as well as hitting some areas on fairways & roughs. 

As important as it is to keep weeds out of key areas, it is also important to remember that spraying weeds en masse can be very costly and unnecessary. I prefer to target the priority areas and leave weeds in out of play areas to remain. As the saying goes "one man's weed is another man's wildflower"!!

Let's hope that this sustained period of dry weather continues (Friday aside!) and that members can continue to enjoy great golf & maintain their sun tan!!

Have a great weekend and enjoy your golf!