The Presidents meeting was a great success again with good golfing conditions for the keen golfers.
It was rather a sleepless night for me on the Friday with torrential rain and heavy winds forecast so play was in serious doubt at one point and having got wet feet before even arriving to our maintenance facility on the Saturday morning and big puddles of water everywhere it really didnt look good, however a drive around a couple of the greens in the dark with the lights on revealed dry putting surfaces so it was game on.
The team as usual carried out a thorough course set up, cutting and rolling greens, moving holes and tees markers as well as divotting and all bunkers raked and after a showery start by the time we had finished course set up the sun was out and a glorious day lay ahead for the golfers. Phew!
A check of the rainfall gauge did show that we had 46 mm of rain over the weekend but all the aeration this year with the greens draining and performing very well after such heavy rain fall was a relief!
A small note to all golfers, with the Presidents meeting over we will now carry on with our Autumn renovations, the aim as always is to carry out these essential tasks as efficiently as possible with as little disruption as possible.We are aiming to
- Overseed weaker fairways, walkways
- Topdress greens, tees and wetter fairways.
- Carry out aeration work on Wednesday 8th October, the Links Team will have priority on this day due to the machine being on hire and will need to complete all 19 greens in the one day. Please be patient as this is an essential task. The machine used for this is an Air2g2 self propelled hydrostatic drive three probe air injection machine which fractures the compacted rootzone.The benefits include improved root growth in the root zone through good micro biotic activity. Better drainage and aeration provides a more efficient take up of nutrients and moisture that will have long term beneficial effects to the soil structure and the health of the grass plant.
- Overseeding of the greens the following week to increase the amount of the finer leaved fescue grasses.
- We will also be starting much of the winter work programme soon so there will be lots happening in our quest to improve the golf course even further.
Many thanks,
Rhys Butler , Links Manager, Royal St David's Golf Club.
