GOLF COURSE MAINTENANCE
MONTHLY REPORT – July 2020
Prepared by,
Course Manager, Robert Bacon
Weather Stats
Overall, the weather has been generally pretty good although it has turned wetter and cooler through the end of June into July.
Rainfall to date for 2020 stands at 1.1metres (0.7m for the same period in 2019). January to March this year was as wet as I can remember, a very difficult lead up to the start of our season. Little did we know what was to come…
2020 has also been generally cooler, approximately 2oC cooler on year to date averages.
The image below gives you the daily weather for the end of June/July (to date) ….
A lot of rain days… 2 dry days in the last 38….
Greens
The greens received a cocktail of Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, Magnesium & Iron over the past week and that has picked them up nicely and resulted in an improved surface.
Penetrant wetting agents are also being used to drive the water through the greens surface and down through the soil as much as possible.
The damage caused by crows digging for leatherjackets will, hopefully, soon abate, although the life cycle of the crane fly is all over the place this year will multiple hatchings. The greenkeeping industry is working hard to find a product that is legal to use and will produce the desired control of the leatherjacket grubs. In the meantime, we will continue to spray the emergency product that is sporadically effective.
Our Greens are scheduled to be HOLLOW-CORED & overseeded on the week beginning the 17th of August, weather permitting. Please anticipate a cluster of temporary greens in play throughout this week. There is never a good time to carry out this work, so we appreciate your support as we look to complete this vital task.
Following on from hollow-coring we will be overseeding with ‘bentgrass’ seed which will be in turn followed by a high calcium application to the soil via the hollow-coring holes. This application helps maintain the pH of our soil to maximise nutrient uptake. Please continue to repair your pitch-mark
Tees & Approaches
Our tees & approaches are scheduled to receive a 15.5.15 granular fertiliser which will provide nutrients to our tees and approaches for up to 3 months without giving us a big flush of growth. Both areas are performing ok although the tees are not as strong as we would like. Both areas will receive solid tine aeration and sand topdressing in August. Our tees will also be overseeded using Dwarf perennial Ryegrass seed as well as any bare patches on our approaches. Please continue to lift your broken tees.
Fairways
Our fairways have received additional fertility over the last period in the form of a slow release granular fertiliser which will provide nutrition to our fairways until the end of the season and as a result they are now growing well. We require some extended dry weather in order to refine the surfaces and clear out some of the laggy grasses to further improve the ball lie. Please continue to replace your divots.
Bunkers
The majority of our bunkers have again been recently ‘topped up’ with sand (although a few remain to be done). We have been fairly pleased with the condition of our bunkers this season so far although we are aware of some issues relating to stones in the bunkers which we would hope to remedy shortly.
Staff
As most of you will now be aware my Deputy, Mark Gallacher, has recently moved to a new job. This is a good opportunity for Mark, and we wish him every success. Mark has been a terrific member of our staff over the last 8 years or so and he will be missed.
With change comes opportunity and we will take our time regarding how best to fill this vacancy in a permanent fashion. In the meantime, Graeme Price has joined the crew until October 30th.
Other areas
We have had a lot of feedback from the course be that observations on mowing patterns, tree or gorse ingression or areas of GUR via direct contact with me or via communication with the Pro Shop.
Please continue to provide this feedback as it helps us to keep on top of all issues from the course.
Thank You
Robert Bacon – Course Manager
Email – robertbacon@hotmail.co.uk