Post Club Championships and PGA Championships sees the weather follow a familiar pattern, hot, dry spells followed by periods of rain which give a little respite to our irrigation needs but we are in the middle of summer so it is to be expected, and it beats winter hands down
The hot spell through mid-July gave us six consecutive days up to and including the PGA Championships registering air temperatures above 29°C, sweltering for most and challenging from a turf perspective. Irrigation to greens was generally more than usual during this spell which meant that greens were a little softer and slower but they did hold shots more easily.
Our annual summer course renovation programme will commence on Monday 2nd August with the programme including hollow tining, over seeding and topdressing the greens, topdressing and tining the approaches, and topdressing selected fairways and the driving range. Given that we have warm soil temperatures and substantial moisture in the soil profile, essential conditions for this type of work, recovery should be reasonable. I will publish the numbers next month to give everyone an idea of the quantities of material that we will be shifting. Always a fun week!
Changes to COVID regulations from England Golf have enabled us to reinstate the traditional flag and cup system. This is great to have back in place and I’m sure that you’ll enjoy putting in the traditional manor once again. I expect to see handicaps plummeting….
Bunker rakes are also back in play and we have placed an appropriate number of rakes in each bunker of the course for your use once you have played from the hazard. Our bunker raking efforts will continue with the same gusto, but your efforts will help us maintain better playing conditions for you.
Please remember that our bunker rakes work best when you push them – in my opinion this is the best finish out there!
A reminder to please correctly repair your pitchmarks. They are your greens and it is your putt that will be affected when ball-roll is disrupted by pitchmarks. This is not quantified, but observations over the years lead me to feel that the period when the highest incidence of un-repaired pitchmarks occurs is immediately following greens renovation. At a time when it is in everyone’s interest that our work recovers quickly, it is most important that all damage is repaired to minimise the recovery period.
Finally, the feedback that we have been getting from everyone on the course is great to hear. We have had outstanding reports from the professionals who played in PGA English National Championships and from across the membership and visitors. Full credit to the greenkeeping team who have put in the work for both our big events and daily course set-up, great effort everyone.
Yours in sport.
Jaey Goodchild
Head Greenkeeper
