Course Update
Pre-season preparation is well under way on all areas of the course. Please see below for details of continued progress on bunker renovation, secondary drainage and greens maintenance.
Bunker renovation
As the temperature has increased the green keeping team have now got the turf to lay around the recently renovated 2nd and 3rd bunkers. Laying the turf during periods of frost and cold day time temperatures was not possible as the roots of the new turf would not have penetrated the frozen ground. Conditions are now conducive to the turf taking well to the areas laid. Please note that these areas will remain out of play for a while as the turf beds in. Please see images below.
As per the previous course update work the front bunker on 17th began last week meaning the hole closed for a few days. Thank you all for your understanding on this It meant the team could progress the early phase of the work which meant using the digger for clearance of the old sand and base much more efficiently. As the gallery below shows the bunker is a very large area and a lot of materials has been removed. This revealed the old drainage system and base layer of materials. Both of these have now been refurbished which means that once work complete the bunker will drain properly.
Mole ploughing continues
With the ground conditions still ideal for the tractor and mole plough the greens team have continued to work on more areas of the course. With drying conditions some fissures may be visible where the work has been carried out. Once we do have some rain and we enter the growing season for the grass these will very quickly seal. Importantly though the fissures will remain underground allowing water to escape more quickly to find primary drainage. Once again, thank you for being patient when you see the greens team carrying out this slow paced work on the course.
Greens maintenance
It has been great to hear so much positive feedback about the putting greens recently. The quality of the putting surfaces is a key indicator for us all as golfers and to have them so true at this point in the year is really encouraging. To get them into this condition the greens team work very hard to make the surfaces of the greens as resilient as possible. This is one of the main reasons why so much aeration work is carried out through the year. The gallery below shows the recent slitting work and also the deep aerator that will be back out the greens again soon. During the ‘Course Work’ week in early April another important process will be completed, scarification of the putting greens. This will gently remove the any mosses etc from the top surface and leave room for the pure bent grass to dominate instead. As the pure bent grass continues to grow strongly it can then be brushed up to lift the grass leaf to enable a more precise cut by our recently refurbished greens mower.
Main grass tees back in play from 1st April
Thanks for being patient and continuing to play from the winter mats. As the good weather is set continue and the tees maintenance program has gone well we are pleased to confirm the tees will move to the main grass playing surfaces from 1st April. This will hopefully mean the course will return to qualifying status too.
Another update will follow soon.