Course Maintenance Update
1st Hole to re-open for weekend
Work to make the well on the 1st fairway safe has nearly been completed and the hole will be ready for play for this weekend. Please note that the area roped off short of the first green remains a ‘No Play Zone’. Thank you
Aeration and related works w/b 22nd January
As development work around the course is progressing, with tee development and other projects, the greens team are also carrying out essential maintenance tasks on playing areas of the course in preparation for the season ahead.
An incredibly important part of this process is aeration of greens and tees. In previups years the greens team have had to depend upon ground conditions that allowed them to use tractor mounted machinery for this purpose. This year they are trialling a new machine, the Toro Procore (pictured below), which as you can see is pedestrian operated rather than tractor mounted. This means the team can work on greens and tees in conditions that might have been prohibitive before.
The aeration of greens and tees is vital for these areas. The process carried out next week will be solid tining which penetrates the ground leaving small holes. Hollow tining is a similar process but also removes small pieces of ground whilst leaving small holes.
The goal of both processes is to improve air flow beneath the surface area as pictured above. With the agreement of the Greens Committee, the greens on the front 9 will be worked upon on Monday, followed by the back 9 on Tuesday.
This means the front 9 will be closed from 9.00 onward on Monday, 22nd January, and the back 9 closed from 9.00 onward on Tuesday, 23rd January.
They will reopen as soon as work is completed but as this is the first time the Procore has been used by the greens team we cannot provide an accurate estimate as to what time that will be.
Following work on the greens the tees will then be solid tined and overseeded with a winter specific low temperature germination Rye grass. This will be followed by regular top dressing of the tees through the rest of the winter.
All being well the Procore will work effectively, and a similar process is planned for late February/early March. In the meantime, development work continues around the 17th tee. Updates on this will be shared in next week’s message.
Thank you