Bunkers

The divot tree is out on the course, we ask you kindly to help us keep the fairways in top condition by repairing your divots. This year we have adopted a new system in which divot boxes are located two holes after the divot tree. The aim is for you to replenish your divot bags on these holes, allowing you more mix to repair three holes rather than one. The empty bag is then placed in the basket as normal.
 

 

Divot box to refill divot bags.

 

 

 

Basket for empty divot bags.

 

Unfortunately last week one of our staff members had a incident in which diesel from a greens mowing machine was leaked over a select few greens. This has only affected 1-6 with the worst being the 5th green. The diesel will bio-degrade naturally and the affected turf make a full recovery within approximately 4-weeks. The damage has no affect on ball roll.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earlier this month Aaron Hamer joined the team from Bath Golf Club, replacing Matt Carver who left us to set up his own maintenance company. Aaron has 18 months experience in the industry and has settled in to the team very well. We have enrolled him on his national diploma level 2 in sportsturf management through Myerscough college, if you see him on the course please make him feel welcome.

 

 



18/04/2017

We welcomed David Seabright back this week, who kindly helped us with some detail jobs before the Jock Lawrence senior scratch competition. Dave retired back in 2015 but often helps us out on the golf course with jobs such as cleaning tee description signs.

 

 

 

This year we have purchased new tee markers which have the Kingsdown logo on them and have made a dramatic impact on the presentation of the tees, we hope you like them as much as we do.



Spring Maintenance

Spring greens maintenance is over for another year with the greens back in play ahead of schedule. This year we reduced the spacing of the pro core machine removing a vast amount of organic matter which had accumulated over the winter months. Despite one day of heavy rain this year the weather played ball allowing us to work 60 tonnes of top dressing into the profile. We appreciate this may cause some disruption to play initially but thank you for your patients on what is a vital part of sportsturf maintenance. 

 

 A short video of some of the tasks involved during greens maintenance. Please excuse the filming, it was my first attempt at editing a gopro video.

A detailed graphic showing the importance of aeration.

Cores ready for collection on the 1st green. 



Top dressing applied.

Its fair to say, plenty of organic matter was removed.

Greens cut a week later.

Holes filled and recovering well, back on main greens ahead of schedule.

Ecology Update:

12/9/2016

This season our bird nest box scheme was a success, with half of our boxes occupied with either blue or great tits. This winter we aim to construct more boxes of different styles to attract and record a wider range of bird species including barn owls. I call upon all members who have an interest in birds or woodwork that would be willing to build and donate us nest boxes for our scheme, it would be a great help for preserving the wildlife on our beautiful site.

We have recorded a wide range of wild flower species this year including our newly seeded areas although the best is yet to come, with wild flower plots often taking over 18 months to establish. We are in talks with local farming contractors regarding cutting some of the long wild rough areas starting with the academy as a trial. By cutting and collecting the long rough the nutrients are removed that would normally return to the ground which in turn favours the finer grass species and wild flowers, making the rough more playable, visually appealing and ecologically sustainable.

 

This winter we will continue with our scrub clearance when weather allows, restoring areas to meadow species rich grassland and managed woodland. I call upon all members that are interested in donating any wild flowers to our cause, especially bluebells to plant in our cleared woodland areas.

Many of you may have seen small logs with holes drilled into them dotted around the course, these are bee hotels created for the solitary bee species to use to reproduce. I have also utilised our dry stone walls by inserting dry hog weed stems in them for the bees to use as nest sites. Many of our native bee species are in decline, so small steps like this aid their vulnerable population. Harvest mice are a species in decline due to habitat loss so this year we have also erected harvest mice nesting pods made from old tennis balls, all records will be forwarded on to the STRI.

The Heat Is On:

12/06/2016

The season is in full swing and we are preparing our surfaces with methods that ensure the best possible conditions for you to play. One thing you may have noticed is the white patches on the greens, these are the seed heads of the Poa annua grass plant reproducing. One method of control is vertical-cutting or verti-cutting as us greenkeepers like to refer to it. Vertical bladed units on one of our greens mowers are used to enter the canopy 1mm bellow our greens height of cut, standing up and removing a proportion of seed heads on the greens.

Verti-cutting in progress on the 14th green

An additional benefit to verti-cutting is the removal of dead roots, shoots and leaves (Thatch) and to stand up any lateral grass growth, which improves ball roll and surface speeds. In an ideal situation we would look to verti-cut once every two weeks during the growing season however sometimes excessive moisture or heat stress delay our operations as we have a duty of care towards the health of the grass plant.

We are in June and have already seen temperatures hit the mid-twenties. We apply a wetting agent monthly that allows the soil profile to hold on to as much moisture as possible and manage levels at times of heat stress and high evapotranspiration rates. We also hand water any localised dry spots with an additional wetting agent that breaks the surface tension and allows water to penetrate into the soil profile.

 

Hand watering to apply additional wetting agent.