Greens & Facilities Report February 2025

Greens

Play to the main greens has been impacted due to the continuous heavy rain showers on a weekly basis. We do understand how frustrating this, especially when showers seem to time themselves for maximum disruption sometimes, but we must always balance responsible protection of our main assets with the desire for golf as usual.

In February we carried out verti-draining, spraying of a turf hardener and applied a light granular feed. Visually the surfaces are looking very healthy, so we approach the spring in a very good position.

Tees

They have been cut twice in February at half an inch higher than summer to allow them to recover and fill out. They also have been verti-drained, fed with a slow release fertiliser, and lawn sand ( iron ,nitrogen and fine sand). Feeding and seeding has been carried out this week, with the plan being for normal tees to be back on 28th March once the seed has taken.

Course cutting

Due to low soil temperatures, growth is sparse. We are only cutting areas when required. But keeping definition to the fairways has always been crucial in my eyes.

13th Fairway

The drainage and turfing of this area is complete and now needs a period to bed in. This particular area should never flood again, stopping a muddy patch appearing.

Bunker work

The 12th fairway bunkers have been increased in size, removing the steep face and once completed giving you the chance to reach the green.

Tree stump removal

5 stumps have been dug out whilst we had the digger on hire, they will be reinstated in the next few weeks.

Turfing worn areas

1st tee, 13 th tee approach, 13th fairway dip ,14th temporary green and the back of the 16th have all been completed in February.

1st Tee Hedge Cutting

The drastic height reduction of the hedge around the 1st tee was carried out by an agricultural contractor in order to quickly bring the hedge back to a manageable height before bird nesting season. The greens team will now "finesse" this rather unsightly first cut, and spring growth should see it recover quickly to something more pleasing to the eye.

Final Thoughts

As I have previously mentioned in my monthly reports wetter winters are a feature we must adapt to and plan for as best we can, this is something golf courses around the County and indeed the country are battling with. We must be patient as we cannot cure this problem overnight, but we can seek to improve the sand content of our greens year on year on year which we are doing. We must continue with extreme measures of thatch removal, aeration and topdressing over the next few years to see an improvement to the greens playability over the winter months. We also take the learnings and feedback from each winter's experiences forward to the next with the aim of continuously improving the course, your experience, and as a team.

As we head into Spring, you will see our commitment based on survey feedback to make some of our greens bigger again, and to keep certain areas of long grass cut shorter, delivered upon.

Thanks to Ben Pill for his Facebook post about pitch mark repairing! When we wait patiently for Greens to be back on it really is demoralising for all of us to see pitch marks left, there's really no excuse.

Happy golfing!

Matt