Its been a great start to the year for the Links Team with winning the golf environment awards at the very prestigious award ceremony during the recent British Turf Management Exhibition at Harrogate and we beat off Carnoustie,Hankley common and Lee Park in the final,my thanks go to all involved in this process of change out on the Links.
On a personal note during the BTME exhibition and show i was delighted to pick up my diploma for Continuing Professional Development within the industry.
During this week we attended various day workshops and lots of seminars,a truly great education programme,you never stop learning!
The winter work programme has been progressing really well with lots of key changes being made to the links,below is a picture of the new sand scrape area to the left of the 11th walkway and the removal of the gorse at the rear of the green,not the best picture but the rest of the area behind the green has now been planted with marram and looks great and the removal of the gorse will hopefully deter the rabbits nd lessen the damage to the rear of the green.
Also the new sandy waste area in front of the 5th tee following the removal of the trees,a great natural look and linksy
feel.
We have also been continuing with the work of naturalising the bunkers,the picture below is of the 7th left hand bunker,a big visual improvement and much easier playability.
The greens are also improving all the time,hand mowing through the winter has seen a big difference in the wear and tear on the perimeters and with the continuation of sand dressings we are now certainty seeing firmer,smoother and a drier environment favouring the fescues and plant health is looking very good for the time of year.
Back to the bunkers(sorry computer is playing up and pictures not in order)
The 8th fairway bunker before and after,again much better visually.
The newly naturalised 8th fairway bunkers which the tee shot has to be avoided,they really look fabulous off the tee!
The team have also been very busy with the maintenance programme with lots of essential aetation by vertidraining on greens,approaches,walkways and fairways.
Couple of remodelled naturalised bunkers.
Below again and what i consider to be the best strategic bunker on the course on the 3rd hole,now you can see it as well as being fairer to play out of.
Also the winter work we did last year has settled down beautifully,here is the sandy waste area right of the 2nd Green with pockets of fabulous heather which replaced the trees and bramble,much better!
We have also been continuing our work on the pathways tufing and matting and the grass will eventually grow through this matt making it appear as a natural grass walkway but with the hard wearing path underneath.This on the 9th is a massive improvement and had transformed what was one of the weakest areas on the Links.
Here also are the changes to the 5th bunkers,these look great visually of the tee and blend in perfectly with the surrounding topography.
Sorry about the random pictures but my computer is throwing up some random orders but anyway as you can see the Links Team have been very busy and we still have lots to do in the winter programme and will keep you posted on our progress.
Happy golfing,
Rhys Butler,Links Manager,Royal St David's Golf Club.
