Wow, rough!!

All of a sudden the whole course has started growing and the course has very much a summer look to it and when we have a dry spell the real links like conditions which we all expect in dry,firm and  fast playing conditions are here and a challenge for all. Although a unsettled period is expected for the next few days let's hope the dry and warm weather returns soon.

The rough has certainly grown recently and we have started to grade the rough from fairway to an inch and a half cut into a three inch cut before reaching the deeper rough. Every hole is different but the aim where possible is to have two cuts of each height. Being a championship golf course we are always aiming to produce a challenging test of golf whilst also being fair and playable for all golfers.

The definition of fairway and rough is certainly standing out now and is looking really good.

All playing surfaces , tees, greens, approaches and fairways have received an application of herbicide to clean them out from some of the weeds in them such as daisies,cats ear etc and will result in a nice clean playing surface with much better presentation.

Much of the work carried out over the winter such as the turf and matted areas are taking well and are regularly monitored to keep them in good condition.

We are always looking to improve any essential signage around the course and here we used some sleepers instead of the metal poles to hold up the signs and this is much more natural to the golf course and the history and connection to the railway.

The blog over the summer isn't quite as interesting,varied and exiting as over the construction period over the winter where the winter work programme provides many changes and improvements to the golf course but i hope to bring you all the latest news on the Links Team plans and work schedules.

Through the summer is much more presentation work with regular cutting of roughs, fairways, tees, approaches etc as well as regular aeration and topdressing and regular divotting etc to keep the course in excellent condition.There is a lot of other key maintenance practises that are also key to producing fantastic playing surfaces such as applications of wetting agent which is key on a links course as with high stress drought conditions which has been known to occasionally happen! produces a better rootzone environment which improves plant health to brushing of greens for refinement of the playing surfaces to produce the smoothest and truest playing surfaces possible.

We are currently nicely up to date with all maintenance tasks which is a great credit to the team for all their hard work and we can now work with the weather and make adjustments as we need.

We will be aiming to solid tine and topdress again in the next couple of weeks with the aim to complete the tasks as quickly and efficiently as possible to minimise disruption to the golfers which can mean some very early morning starts for the links team.
That's all for now, hope to see you all out on the links soon.

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