June 2022

Greens:
With nothing more than the odd shower, it has been a dry, windy month at the course, which has presented challenges maintaining optimum moisture levels in the greens.  Considering the weather for the most part of June, we find ourselves in not bad shape though, with just the odd dry spot here and there, appearing due to the wind carrying on into the night and affecting coverage from the sprinklers.  Our cause here has been helped massively once more, thanks to volunteers hand watering the new greens and driest tees on an evening.

Height of cut has gone up a little this month, to help us ride out this particular drought period.  This also offers a fairer pace on the greens, particularly when adding wind into the equation. Continued monthly applications of organic nitrogen, wetting agent, seaweed and compost teas appear to be giving the greens some resilience at last against the coastal weather.

The irrigation system continues to cause issue here and there, new faults occurring this month on the 1^st green, meaning the left side can no longer be included in the program.  This mirrors the same existing fault on both sides of the 2^nd green, and 4^th green, simply meaning these greens need additional water each morning. This is achieved by manually turning on each sprinkler after cutting, leaving on for 15-20 minutes then returning to turn off.  The problem is aged and worn solenoid valves, that stick on or off, most are in need of updating.

On a more positive note for the irrigation system, we have found a contractor willing to take on the task of upgrading the system. Work will encompass repairs and replacements where needed, from tank, liner, controls, valves, missing decoders, sprinklers and nozzles. A site visit is taking place on the 12^th July.  Also to be included in such works is getting the chipping green into the watering program.  It is currently redundant due to missing decoders and some broken sprinklers.  As such the quality of this green is well below where we would want it, apologies for this ongoing issue. It is our concern to drastically improve this green once we have it in the irrigation program.

Rough:
Thank you to all members here for their patience on what has been a difficult few weeks managing the rough.  The hot dry weather has paid dividends here, slowing growth, to allow us to cut cleanly and keep on top, but also to spray behind after cutting, which retards growth further still, whilst removing weeds, such as dandelion, clover and thistle from the sward.  The initial couple of years of a rough management program are undoubtedly the hardest, we now have these under our belt. It is even possible at this early stage to see a thinning of the rough in certain areas, as such even though our Amazone collector is seemingly out every week it wont always be the case.  Savings have already come from a reduction in usage and depreciation of our most expensive and powerful mower, down from three days to one. Given the current cost of fuel this offers us a weekly saving of over £350 in labour and diesel alone on this machine through the entire cutting season.

Tees & Approaches:
Its been a very dry time for these surfaces, particularly harsh on those tees not irrigated. It was at least good to get two feeds down in the month, a foliar and a granular along with an application of selective herbicide, wetting agent and growth regulator.

Right at the end of the month we trialled a new slow release fertiliser on our weakest tees. This is with a view to using this product as our main tees and surrounds fertiliser next year. Polyedge offers an array of different rates, covering a 3-4 month, or 4-5 month release granule. This means just two feeds per year (March then July) keeps these surfaces fed, offering huge time savings over the more conventional release fertilizers, which need applying every six to eight weeks.

With regards to maintaining moisture levels on the tees it is in my plans to acquire a 100m hose reel to go on the back of our ATV. This will make it far more efficient to water these surfaces, for both team members and evening volunteers.  A lot of the tees are a long way from hose points, which are normally located at the back of each green.


In summary:
We have had some fantastic support again this month from Ian, who is continuing with strimming and flymo jobs as well as edging bunkers.  Along with helping the overall look of the course it also frees up our time to start knocking jobs of the list.  Just last week we were able to find time to lift two sprinklers at the back of the 14^th green, which was invaluable. This piece of work should now help to bring the surface more inline with the others, whilst ridding the approach of the nasty sunken wet spot on the back right of the green.

Thanks to Mike and team installing the overflow car park, as well as a new fence panels which allowed us to bring the new 17th White tee into play.

Liam has been on hand helping us out again each Monday, and Austin and Bill have also helped with machinery and hand tool repairs along with Harvey hedge trimming around the 1st tee, sincere thanks you to all.

Looking to July:
At the end of July we get stuck into our second renovation week of the year on the greens.  This will consist of micro coring, cleaning up cores, spraying beneficial biology down the holes, then top dressing with sand.  All carried out with just 2-3 days of disruption. Due to the size of cores and time of year I anticipate a quick recovery turnaround.  Its also around this time of year we start to make plans for winter projects. Several new bunkers are to be installed, some tees improved, along with patching up bunker edges that have worn away.  The turf around the right hand greenside bunker on the 5^th has never really taken since we remodelled this area, and as such would benefit from a fresh surface.  There are numerous other untidy areas similar to this dotted around the course, that could be improved with some patch turfing come the time.


Best Wishes, Peter, Jack and Gordon.