Spring is here!

Well with the St David's meeting upon us tomorrow and a nice day forecast with light winds and slightly colder than average temperatures it looks like a good day to kick start the season. Time has flown by and although there has been no great change in the weather recently with high rainfall inflating the water table and strong Southerly winds being the norm. We survived the major storms that hit most of the country hard but with some trees coming down by the clubhouse which unfortunately proved the end for the practice net but lucky as we are to be blessed with one of the best driving ranges in the country for a limber up before tackling the links all is fine.

There has been tremendous strides made by the Links team in the continuation of the winter programme with the ecological tree and scrub management coming to a close now before the nesting birds return. Here are a few examples of the hard work carried out.

Below the left hand bank left of the 2nd green cleared of the invasive bramble, this will be planted with marram grass and  heather very soon.

The 2nd left hand back as it was covered in bramble, quite horrid!

Below the right hand side of the 2nd green where trees and bramble had again been allowed to take over the area.

 The right hand side of the 2nd green with the area stripped and returned to its natural state with rough turf,sand and heather.

 Below a picture of the 14th with the right hand bank covered in bramble and trees and thick burnet rose on the left hand bank.

Below with the banks stripped to bare sand and returned to it's natural environment as the hole was meant to be played with much better view of the wayward shot's location and improving the visual appeal of the hole.

The left hand bank on the 14th shaped and contoured as nature intended.

This picture below proves how much you can change a hole visually, the approach shot to the 17th in my opinion was ruined by the shell path from 14th tee catching the eye and taking away the natural feel of the hole.
Now with a rough turf bank introduced in front of the path the approach shot now looks far more natural with the green appearing to be in a natural amphitheatre and further highlighted of the natural environment with the sandy waste area in the backround.

The new rough bank in front of the path

The picture below shows another scrub area tackled by the team has been the 170m2 blackthorn and bramble bush on the left hand side of the 17th hole,this again has been reduced to bare sand and will be much more playable as well as being visually much more attractive.

The final piece of this year's ecological work was the removal of the bramble in front of the 16th tee,shown below, this is far better visually with the tee looking now like it's just sitting there in the dune, a fabulous natural teeing ground.

The final few changes to the 17th hole have now been completed with the last bunker on the right hand side of the fairway being filled in, the old grass bunker being lowered to make the greenside bunkers a lot more visible and the raising of the level of the ladies 17th tee. What a terrific hole it now is!

Alongside all the ecological work that has been carried out there has been lots of other maintenance happening on the links with some late turfing/patching of rabbit holes and a few areas on paths etc.
With the high rainfall of 210mm in January and a significant amount again this month we vertidrained the greens and a bit of out of the ordinary took the step to solid tine the greens again the week after as we felt the greens were still  a little wet and felt we needed to dry them out as much as we can to favour the finer grasses and to keep them as smooth and firm as possible. Some lightweight rolling soon restored surface smoothness and firmness to the greens.
The greens have also received an application of seaweed and iron and a little potassium for optimum plant health.
The tees and approaches have also received the same treatment.
The course is all ready for the St David's meeting with the course fully divotted and with presentation complete with tees, approaches etc cut and everything as tidy as possible its all ready for the golfers to get out there and enjoy the links.
I would very much like to thank all of the team for all their hard work throughout the challenging winter period, the quality of the course and changes which i hope you will all enjoy is testament to all their hard work and passion and commitment to Royal St David's Golf Club.

Rhys Butler, Links Manager, Royal St David's Golf Club.