Greens Update - May 2024

Hi all,

This week has been very busy indeed. Sandwiched at either end of the week with machinery breakdowns, we have had to deal with a double staff absence through sickness, which has set other challenges. Regardless, we have worked hard and tried to achieve as much as possible. The feedback was positive from the Rosebowl competitors, but there is no time to stop and admire the work, it continues at pace.

The fairway mower had a hydraulic leak on one of its wheel motors - quite rare - and literally had to be dragged off the middle of the 7th fairway in order to be repaired. Luckily a mobile hydraulic specialist was on site the same morning to fix the problem. And on Friday afternoon  (typically! Always the best times!) the rough mower had a puncture down near the 14th tee. This will not be repaired until Tuesday, but we were able to retrieve the mower using a wheel from the topdresser, so it did not have to stay stranded - scared and alone - out on the course.

We took advantage of the maintenance day on Wednesday to carry out some essential maintenance on the greens. We put the tractor-mounted sarel roller, the tractor-mounted dimple seeder, and the procore with solid tines over all the greens. This resulted in thousands of holes being punched at minimum depth. We did this as we were spreading a product called Thatcheater. The name is self-explanatory, it is a granular product that is spread and brushed into the holes as much as possible after. (There is still some on the surface, however it will naturally break down and carry out its work. When the product breaks down, the bacteria and fungi then feed on the organic material in the soil profile, helping to clean it up, and releasing nutrient to the plant. We have also dressed the greens a little to help fill in the holes, more may be added soon.

We have also sprayed a product called Rocastem, which also helps degrade thatch and helps to firm the greens up. There are more products to go on in the pipeline, and they will be applied as we work through the backlog of work.

The fairways have been cut the opposite way to normal, to try and relieve some of the nap which occurs when the grass is cut the same way constantly. There is a lot of work to do on the fairways, with more brushing, scarification and aeration works planned, and they will be ongoing.

Much work is planned for the approaches too and this will begin next week, with a tighter cut being the desired outcome for summer.

The bunkers still need a lot of work, and thanks to the Captain and Greens Chair for their time this week, helping to remove weeds from the bunkers. Next week there is a lot of spraying work to be started, with the weeds in bunkers, the daisies and dandelions around the course and the paths all need spraying. There is so much work to do, and we will try our best to carry out as much as possible, in a shortened week, around a busy golfing calendar.

Happy golfing!

Steve