Julio 2019

Dear SRC Members,

Back again with another update on what’s happening on the golf course. Weather has continued to be dry and windy with 0mm of rain again in July.

The fairways tees and greens are holding up to the heat with good grass cover everywhere as we enter August which is when we can experience our hottest days, but as you pass the middle of August the day length shortens significantly and the worst of the summer for us, greenkeepers, is behind us, not to say there will not be days in the high 30s and dry but the length of the daylight hours is shortened so you have a longer time without sun for the grass to recover.

WORKSHOP

Progress is being made behind the scenes as the workshops for the mechanic is continuing to be refitted. The machine lift and the tyre changing machines have been installed and the whole workshop has been rewired. Just need him to move in now and paint around the walls.

POGO

We are starting to harvest data from our new pogo sampler, which tells us water content, salinity, temperature and electro conductivity. These taken over a time give you an average of each green or tee or fairways results and from this you can design different individual programs for water fertilization requirements etc, which gives you a more uniform golf course and you can spot any problems before they occur such as dry patch. At the moment it’s a learning curve in preparation for the maintenance of the old course during and after the reform.

Below is some of the things you can see from the pogo, also it marks sprinkler positions and hole positions as well as the turf conditions.

TEST AREAS

The test areas of grass around the course are starting to take now and like I said in my last report, we are watching them every day for performance and speed of growth to decide which is good for our site. The samples you can see below are on the 4th hole and this has 6 different types of grass in it they are, tall fescues which could be used in shaded areas and 4 different types of Bermuda which will be the grass for the fairways and rough areas.

TREES

The tree surgens are working hard for us and below is a sample of their work and the difference it makes. As when you see the trees now you tend to forget what they used to look like. Take note of the shadow lines as these 2 photos were taken at a similar time of day.

As we are moving closer to the start date for the reforms on the old course, you will start to see more people around the course doing site surveys and inspections; the project is now building speed and lots of information is needed and required before the work starts, area sizes amounts of material needed drainage lines irrigation plans, to name a few.

Also among these preparations we are preparing, the New course for when we move over during the reforms , lots of people have asked me what reforms we are doing on the New course before we move over, the answer is we are not doing big work like has been suggested to me, like moving tees and filling in bunkers. But the big plus point is we will have a full complement of greenkeepers working daily on the New course during construction leading to a very high standard of presentation and condition which has not been able to happen in the past, so it should be a joy to play while we produce a course you can be proud of on the Old. From the 1st of August we will be spending more time on the New course not to detract from our old course as we have our major trophy season coming up, but we will be preparing bunkers and upping the fertilizer programs cleaning drainage grids in fairways and bases of trees in the areas of play also as you possibly already know, if you have tried to book a tee time on the New , we have put in a 2 week period where we will close the New course the 1st 2nd weeks of September to start a Turfgrass recommended program to prepare the greens for the season ahead, This I believe will make the time we spend on the New course more enjoyable and a little easier.

So that all I have at present till next month.

Robert Bell

La entrada Julio 2019 se publicó primero en San Roque Golf Club.