An un-seasonally wet July has seen a few heavy rainfall incidents of more than 20mm including the day before Club Championships seeing 40mm fall alongside strong, gusty winds. This spell takes our month total to roughly double our long-term average. Consequentially we have missed “summer” throughout the month and from a turf perspective, low light levels have slowed growth and softened surfaces.
Taking a positive view on the rainfall, irrigation needs have been supplemented giving us good colour across the course and increasing soil moisture has allowed most golf shots to hold, although there are still a few shots that have little hope.
Height of cut is currently 3.75mm, reduced from 4mm for Club Championships and PGA Nationals. Following greens renovation this week we will raise the height of cut to 4.5mm for a short time to aid recovery from the work before reducing back to 4mm for the remainder of the season.
31st July – 4th August
Greens renovation will involve hollow tining, topdressing and solid tining afterwards to tidy up the holes. We will be brushing seed into the holes as part of our ongoing quest to increase bentgrass populations. Expect there to be some sand remaining on the greens’ surfaces.
The 15th fairway will be hollow tined and topdressed to aid winter playability. Additionally fairways 3 and 8 will be topdressed with sand.
Throughout this work the team will be focusing on completing the task at hand to ensure as fast a recovery time as possible. They will not be giving way to golf, please do not expect work to pause if you are playing the course. Temporary holes will be in play for the whole week, either on fairways or approaches.
See you on the course.
Jaey Goodchild
Head Greenkeeper
