Well that was quite a contrast in months with September's rainfall a mere 16mm and October's rainfall at 175mm!Having just looked at the forecast for this week it doesnt look to great either.
The Links Team have been very busy with the Air2G2 aeration machine having done its job brilliantly and with no disruption to the playing surfaces at all, this machine really is the future of aeration.
Following this we have been overseeding many of the fairways, grassed walkways and green surrounds which have suffered after 40,000 rounds of golf this year,it is however very pleasing to see these areas greatly improved form last year with the use of wetting agent's and a bit more feed on these heavy wear areas to gain more grass coverage.
The overseeding on the greens has been a great success again this year with fabulous germination, we used the plant pot method of using a 13 mm solid tine to an 8mm depth,broadcast the fescue seed on the surface,we use a mix of slender creeping red fescue and chewings fescue with a few different cultivars, the seed is then matted in with a drag matt and a fendess topdressing to help germination.
After steady rainfall and warm temperatures which was perfect germination we applied a sand dressing to the putting surfaces to improve surface levels and a smooth ball roll.
The initial solid tine,seed, matt and topdress.
Now im happy when i see this!Germination!
We have now also decided to switch to a straight sand dressing which will enable us to apply more dressings through the autumn and winter periods when conditions allow.This is one change im very exited about and one i believe will make an enormous difference to the greens as we will accelerate organic matter reduction at the base of the turf which is one of our key objectives whilst creating a drier environment for the fescue to thrive whilst from a playing prespective will give much firmer, smoother and faster greens,now im sure that sounds good to everyone!
And here is another piece of the jigsaw which i believe will again improve the greens tremendously,this is our new greens roller, a demo machine which has come straight from the Ryder Cup, it was so good i couldnt let it go!
The winter programme is now well underway and we will have finished this project behind the 15th green tomorrow of raising what was a very low lying and always flooded in the winter with the high water table.We have raised this area around 18 inches, extended the drainage which was under this green and which goes out to the sea via on outlet pipe,we have also created subtle mounding and turfed and matted the worn areas to the tee and onto the fairway.
The golf course looks in tremendous shape at the moment with the greens undoubtedly as good as they have done all year, the few little changes we have had to carry out to improve plant health in the last few weeks is now really paying dividends.It really is great and very pleasing to see the Links Team's hard work coming to fruition.
We have a very busy winter schedule in front of us with lots of tasks to carry out which will improve the golf course even more, these will include
- Rabbit hole patching
- Removal of Scrub and consented gorse clearence
- Tree removal
- 8 naturalised bunkers
- Removal of shell and astro turf pathways
- Creation of sandy waste areas
- Rough management
As you can see there is a lot to do and there is a lot o rabbit holes,lots of scrub and lots of paths to do as well as also presenting the golf course to the best possible standard on a daily basis.
Best get on with it then!
Regards,
Rhys Butler,Links Manager,Royal St David's Golf Club.
