November 2016

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Wentworth Greenkeeping support team 2016

Congratulations again to Brett and Steve who have been selected for the second year running to be part of the 'European Tour' Greenkeeping support team at Wentworth at the end of May.
Well done to Ollie too who was on standby but has now been asked to work day one of the tournament.

This gives the boys fantastic experience working and supporting in one of the biggest golf tournaments in the world.

May 2016

Grass cutting now in full flow with temperatures starting to rise..
All bunkers have now been weeded and tidied up for the first time this year.

This week we will be over seeding and top dressing the greens..

April

Finally It's feeling like spring and the grass is starting to grow.. Course finally starting to dry up too allowing us to cut some rough and put some stripes around the place...

Good luck to everyone taking part in the masters this week!!!

14th March

Main 18 greens top dressed to nearly complete the greens maintenance on them.
Overseeding and fertilisation will follow over the next couple of weeks.

March - Greens Work

Monday 7th of March is the planned start date of the greens maintenance...

Scarification, spiking, top dressing, seeding and fertilising will all be taking place throughout this busy week.

Please be patient around us when possible!! Thanks..

The boys :)

15th Feb 2016

After a couple of frosty mornings and a few other methods (including Colin the Cat haha) being tested out we've finally started minimising the crow damage on and around greens...

In other news - Spring is slowly coming around along with greens maintenance which is planned to start on Monday March the 7th. Further information on this will follow closer to the time.

February 2016

After probably the busiest January we've ever had due to continued crow damage and wet weather weather we finally move in to February and closer to spring and greens maintenance.
At the end of January myself, Brett and Ollie did manage to get away for two days to go on lots of work courses in Harrogate at the country's Greenkeeping exhibition.
As well as learning lots, keeping up to date with the latest legislation and new machinery on the market, we also got to do a bit of networking. Oh and a well deserved cheeky beer at night :)
Below are some of the seminars we attended continuing our Cpd qualifications.....

Happy new year to everyone!!!

The first couple of weeks of 2016 has seen us battle everyday with crow damage and also severe wet areas in some parts of the course.
The crows have been very active looking for chafer grubs and at the same time causing a lot of work for us.
They don't seem to be scared by scare crows, golfers or even gun shots and the chemical/insecticide we normally use to minimise chafer grubs has currently been taken off the market and is no longer for sale. Imidacloprid is the active ingredient in merit turf which we have used in the past.

We are hoping that the cold weather which is forecast over the next few weeks should hopefully slow their activity down abit.
All the surrounds and greens will be heavily over seeded and top dressed early spring and we're confident all the damaged areas will come back better than ever.
Please see below photos of damage and the grubs they are searching for.

Nearly Christmas.......

Not looking forward to cutting greens next week if this rain carries on... Haha

MERRY CHRISTMAS from the Greenkeeping team!!

Bird damage

Along with the challenging mild conditions this winter which has kept us cutting more than we ever have done, we're also spending lots of time fixing bird damage!!!!

8th-9th of December - Micro Tining

This week we have micro-tined the main 18 greens at 4 inches deep followed by cutting and rolling them. The turf iron we use to roll the greens after is fantastic and smoothes out the putting surface that much you can hardly tell they've been areated.

Dec 2015

As the mild winter continues, so does the disease activity on and around the greens.

Fusarium which is fungal seems to be causing the biggest problem currently and has been treated with a systemic and contact chemical which stops spore germination and prevents the spread. 

When active these patches become a red tinted colour around the outside and if not treated straight away with the correct cultural and chemical practise, could lead to the grass putting surface being effected.

Head Greenkeeper's report Nov 2015

HEAD GREENKEEPERS REPORT – ANNUAL

GENERAL MEETING 2015

The spring of 2015 was particularly cold and this created problems in getting the course up to the desired condition early. Although the greens were performing well it was late May before I was completely satisfied with the greens surfaces. It was a problem experienced by most golf clubs across the country and in fact we seemed to create better surfaces earlier than most. Once temperatures improved we quickly got up and running and remaining weather patterns for the year have been quite conducive to creating good playing surfaces. Only for a short period in July did the course become a little too dry and bouncy.

Greens Management

I have been happy most of the year with the way the greens have performed. Once again we have met our targets for speed, trueness, smoothness and uniformity.

The fairy rings again provided our biggest challenge but I feel we are managing these better year on year and are minimising the impact of these (which are mostly aesthetic) well.

The 1st green remodelling has worked well and water no longer puddles in the middle of the green after heavy rainfall. There has been a tiny amount of sinkage to the left hand side which may require reworking but it is only a minor problem and will not result in any disruption to play.

As I sit here writing this in early November it is currently 17 degrees outside and whilst good for golfing it is providing its own challenges on the golf course. Disease levels are high and are requiring more chemical control than in previous years to maintain the smoothness of the surfaces. We are also currently mowing greens three times per week, when once would normally suffice.

Green Surrounds

We are still working hard to improve the immediate area around each green. In September these areas were hollow cored, overseeded and heavily dressed with sand. Improvement has been huge, with a much better sward of finer grasses colonising. Further work in the future will result in the surfaces I desire.

Long Rough Management

The cut and collect machine was used this year to give an extra 5 metres of cut rough around most holes and proved to be a great benefit to playability. Sheep, currently numbering 38, are continuing to graze the heavy rough areas and appear to be having the desired effect. The areas are slowly becoming less dense and the coarser grasses are refining.

Gorse

Around 200 plants have recently been transplanted between holes 1 and 2, 8 and 9, and the 9th on the Blenheim course. A further plantation will be planted on the 13th to deter players from playing across the corner. Stakes and guards are continually being removed as the larger plants mature so please ensure you are entitled to relief before doing so. 200 more plants are being grown on for planting in autumn 2016.

For further information on golf course maintenance please view our blog, compiled by Deputy Head Greenkeeper Steve Hirons at www.kirtlingtongreenkeepers.blogspot.co.uk

15-11-15 latest news on the course!!

A very busy few weeks on the course with the grass still growing and the usual autumn work being carried out.
All bunkers on the main 18 have been strimmed, weeded and edged while plans have been put in place to re-shape and tidy up the bunkers on the Blenheim course and also a couple on the main 18.
Blenheim greens have been micro tined this week along with the usual weekly slitting of all 27 greens.
Tees are still getting cut twice a week while the greens are three times weekly at the height of 5mm.
Greens have been sprayed with micro nutrients,  root enhancers and also a turf hardener.

Nov 15

Darker dewy mornings are now here, so lots of brushing and slitting of greens present along with lots of solid tining of tees and wet areas!
This time of the year with the current weather is perfect for disease so we are keeping a very close eye on the greens each morning. A contact and systemic Fungicide will be sprayed as soon as disease appears.
We are currently also spraying for worms as casting is getting a bit messy in certain areas.

Oct 2015

Congratulations to Pam and her family along with all the staff here at the Golf Club, September see us celebrate 20 years since the club formed with a party and golf comps which see lots of past members come back to play.
We managed to get a small fountain in the 7th lake in time for this.
Since then we've carried on with lots of odd jobs and spiked more of the wet areas on the greens, followed by seed and sand filling in the holes.

21st Sept 15

Last week see us spike, overseed and top dress the Blenheim nine hole course tees. A dwarf Rye blend was used along with straight sand over the top followed by solid tine holes punching the sand in to the profile.
The aprons were also spiked and then fertiliser was applied over the top.
On the main course, general maintenance has carried on keeping the greens in good shape for the latest big comps and roll ups.
September has seen quite a bit of rainfall leading to flush growth in some areas giving us lots of cutting on the mowers.

Sept 2015

Apologies for the delay, I've been away on honeymoon :)

I had to come back to help rescue Brett and the boys with the greens maintenance haha...

All greens and surrounds have now been verti cut, scarified, over seeded, top dressed, fertilised, cut, rolled and watered..

Blenheim 9 hole course due to start this Tuesday.

July 2015

A busy month has seen all hands to the deck with lots of work going on all over the course... All bunkers strimmed and tidied, the greens taken down to 4mm and were stimping at around 9.8 - 10 for Club Championships, bits of the 5" rough was cut back and dry patches on the greens were hand watered..
Congratulations to Paul Slade who won this year's big comp!!
Other bits and bobs - Brett and Steve went on a day course which was based on soil science which was very interesting..