Course Update
It has been great to see so many of you enjoying the recent good weather. The vastly improved ground conditions these past few days means we have now had our first full week of uninterrupted course maintenance work in months. This is showing through in course definition and means conditions are set fair for the planned greens maintenance work from next Monday (22nd March).
The planned work on the greens next week will have 4 stages:
- Deep scarification
- Verticutting
- Top dressing
- Rolling
Deep scarification is an important means of removing thatch (organic matter such as mosses etc) from the greens sub soil. Doing this helps the specialised pure bent grass seed that will be laid through the season to grow properly. It also helps with drainage as the organic mater retains moisture far more than we would prefer.
Verticutting targets the layer of thatch that accumulates slightly closer to the surface of the putting green. Using a specialised mowing unit on the greens mower which slices vertically into the turf to lift and remove this material. This again encouraging healthier, denser grass growth and firmer greens.
Top dressing as the name suggests is the process that follows the deep scarification and verticutting with the application of a mixture of fine sand and pure bent grass seed. There will be tonnes of material spread across the 18 greens, plus practice green and short game area.
Finally, the greens will be rolled with another attachment to the greens machine that will smooth the surfaces out following the three processes described above.
All of this will take some time during the week. It will be greatly appreciated if everyone playing the course can give the greens team the time and space required to complete the work safely.
Thank you