Well that's summer over with for another year!!

We have had a successful year with the course performing well in all areas, some better than other I must add but on the whole I am happy with what we produced.
The weather was a mixed bag but in terms of growing it was ok, sometimes too good and keeping on top of grass growth was a real headache at times. Grass growth on the greens still remained an issue, I will be tweaking the nutrient inputs again next season, the main aim is to slow the growth rate down enough so the greens stay a constant speed for as long as possible throughout the day.

NEATH GOLF CLUB

MONTHLY GOLF COURSE REPORT

SEPTEMBER 2015

GREENS

• I am very pleased with the greens at present, the overall health and appearance is extremely pleasing for this time of year and we are going into winter with greens in stunning condition
• Although there were no signs of disease a preventive fungicide has been applied, this is to ensure against any attack in the future, it’s inevitable we would get an attack so as last year proved prevention is much more effective than cure.
• The dry spell has been welcome but with that we lost the temperatures so growth has slowed, In light of this I decided not to top dress as with the lack of growth it makes it very hard to brush the sand in completely, I am expecting another little flush of growth, if this happens I would like to squeeze 1 more dressing in.
• HOC has been raised to 4.75mm on the greens mower
• All greens have been hand weeded
• Sprinkler heads have been trimmed

 

PLAN OF ACTION

• Top dress if weather allows
• Micro tine
• Commence slit tining
• Hand mow when growth slows (HOC 5mm)

TEES

• Tees received a liquid feed with iron to harden for winter
• They have been divoted and worn areas top dressed

PLAN OF ACTION 

• Hollow core weaker tees and solid tine the rest
• Apply granular fertilizer to weaker tees
• Move to mats ready for weekend of 10/11 Oct
• Re position 16^th mat and install astro turf path

APRONS 

• Aprons received a liquid feed with iron to harden for winter
• Traffic management is now in place on most hole to direct golfers away from wear areas.

PLAN OF ACTION

• Start solid tining ASAP
• Verti cut LEVEL
• Brush     

FAIRWAYS

• All fairways and 1^st cut have been sprayed with Porthcawl and ferrous sulphate to harden for winter, there will be some blackening by this especially wheel marks but this will soon fade.

PLAN OF ACTION 

• Brush before mowing when required
• Start solid tining ASAP
• Raise HOC to 15mm

WINTER WORK

• The 12^th bunker re build has been complete, it will be kept out of play until the new year
• Aeration work is needed so that is going to slow winter projects up for a while as the tractor is needed for this.
• Mounds have been sprayed off ready for removal to use as banking around greens starting on 15
• Work will start on the 3 new fairway bunkers on the 4^th and re building the existing 1 (making smaller and lower front edge). I want to remove trees first to double check visibility from tee, this will be done when the leaves have dropped as it’s much easier and more importantly safer after this has happened
• Continue with astro paths
• As discussed before, it’s been agreed to thin the trees from the irrigation tank/pump house to the 14^th green to allow much needed light and air flow across the green, I also think the trees on the mountainside on the right as you play 15 are getting far big and need thinning and trimming to bring the hole back to its original state.

 PREFERRED LIES 

• Preferred lies will come into force ready for the weekend of 10^th October. Along with this I feel it’s a good time to bring the in the request that members refrain from wearing Adizero golf shoes. This request was made last winter and was very well adhered to as the majority of members agreed the damaged caused was unacceptable. Below is the notice I published last year.

 

Adizero golf shoes

 

These golf shoes, especially the Adizero tour 2013 shoe are causing disruption to the playing surface of our greens.

 

The picture below is highlighting the significant damage these shoes are causing.

 

 

 

The issue is more problematic in the winter months (October to March) where the greens are softer and the green recovery rate (GRR) is reduced due to the grass growth slowing down.

 

So during this period where GRR is accentuated, could I kindly ask members who own a pair of these shoes to wear another brand of shoe that is more forgiving to the putting surface.

 

Many golf clubs have put a blanket ban on wearing Adizero in winter months; I am reluctant to do this as I feel it unfair but your cooperation on this matter would be greatly appreciated

NEATH GOLF CLUB

MONTHLY GOLF COURSE REPORT

OCTOBER 2015

GREENS

• Hand mowing is now being carried out (5mm) weekly and currently we are rolling twice a week. The dew has been extremely heavy of late and rolling is a much more effective way of removing this unwanted moisture, it is more time consuming than using the dewy brush but we will reap the benefits in the long term. This time of year it is so important to remove dew as all pathogenic fungi can facilitate themselves very well in moist conditions. Anytime there’s free moisture on the leaves infections can take place as soon as there in an opportunity for that infection to get into the plant.
• The picture below was taken 30 minutes after dewing had been carried out, the tiny droplets are dew reforming but the big droplets are a solution and not water. This is called guttation fluid formation. Notice I used the term ‘solution’ and not ‘water’ for guttation fluid and that’s because this guttation droplet is full of nutrients and sugars, whereas dew is just water.

 

 

 

Guttation fluid occurs when there is sudden increases in air temperature (coming into work last Sunday the temperature was 2 degrees at 05.15, the same time 24 hours later it was 16 degrees) , heavy dews and of course along heavy rain has increased the moisture content in the ground.

The disease population is growing at a very fast rate because of sudden increases in air temperature and long periods of leaf wetness that facilitate the formation and movement of fungal mycelium across the plant leaf.

So in summary disease pressure is very high at present.

• Slitting has been carried out twice
• Kerry has made a sarel roller; a new one to purchase is around £4,000. We reclaimed a scrap drum from Clyne GC FOC and Kerry made the frame that attaches it to our Cushman with off cuts off steel. Some new things had to be purchased but the cost was around £200 for an attachment that is going to have great benefit to the greens. Weekly slit tining and sarel rolling throughout the winter months is great aeration of the soil profile allowing it to breath, combined a cut or roll after I would challenge you to see we have even been there. The roller will also help in the summer months IF we have a prolonged dry spell, a light roll will open the surface allowing the penetration of water

Kerrys sarel roller in the development stage

 

 

• The 2^nd application of the disease management plan has been applied
• The 14^th has had 2 applications of the trial product Rocostem with 2 more scheduled
• I had a few moans about the hole stabilisation rings being to high and affecting balls entering the hole. They were set at the correct depth but what was happening was the flags were rattling around in the wind causing the cup to rise up slightly. This is due to insufficient funds this year for the purchase of a new set of pins and cups so there is wear in the socket and ferrule which causes this to happen. We are now setting the cup deeper to counteract this.     

PLAN OF ACTION

• Micro tine
• Slit tine
• Sarel roll
• Roll  
• Hand mow (HOC 5mm)

TEES

• Tees 1,2,3 13,14,15,16,17 and 18 have been hollow cored
• All other tees have been solid tined
• All tees received a slow release granular fertiliser

PLAN OF ACTION

• Possible mow (see fairways on soft growth)

 APRONS

• All aprons have been solid tined
• All aprons received a slow release granular fertiliser
• Winter holes have been trimmed

PLAN OF ACTION

• Continue with traffic management
• Possible mow (see fairways on soft growth)

FAIRWAYS

• I’m very pleased with the fairways; they had a cut on the 15^th. The sward quality and composition along with uniform colour is exceptional.
• They may need a tidy cut up before the season really ends but I am going to prolong this as long as possible as I want them with length going into winter. It’s a fine line in this unseasonable weather as the plant wants to grow, producing “soft” growth. This time of year you want the plant putting its energy into root production, sometimes it can be very beneficial to mow off the soft growth so the plant can revert its energy back to its roots  

PLAN OF ACTION

• Mow if required
• Start solid tining ASAP

 

WINTER WORK

• New paths to mats 11 and 17 have been installed to combat wear.
• 16^th mat re positioned
• Work on the 3rd path has started, this is progressing well and should be complete this week (6/11)
• New mats on 2, 5,10,14,15 and 17.
• It will be weather dependant where we go next, if its relatively settled work will start on the 15^th run off, if not we will continue with paths.

The winter projects are now in full swing, we started by re siting the 16th winter tee, this was to move the wear area away from the 15th green as we intend to redevelop this area.

 

The 12th fairway bunker has been rebuilt

 

 

 

 

 





 

 





We have improved the access to the 11th, 15th and 16th winter tees, this is also to help wear as these areas were prone to getting very wet.

 

A path is to be installed on the 3rd carry as this also becomes very wet in winter. This path will be raised up to create a causeway with pipes allowing water to flow underneath. It is hoped by doing this we can prolong the use of buggy's.

 

I've stopped the astroturf there as I think to go any further up it will come into play an will be in the eye line from off tee. Turf will be laid with a grass mat placed on top so grass will grow though to strengthen allowing for the volume of traffic



Continue the Astroturf from the 7th tee to fairway.

Astroturf path from 10th tee to fairway.

Link up Astroturf from 17th green to ladies 18th tee.

This then only really leaves the 5th path to be done but the drainage needs to be corrected first. I'm in talks with the council regarding the road along the 4th with the view of running drains across into the farmers field. Until we rectify this we have no way of exiting the water off the course in this area.

The horseshoe mounds around the course are to be removed ( 11,14,15,16,17 and 18 ) the soil gained from these areas will be used to soften banks around greens creating runoff areas, this has been a big success on the 7th and 16th. We will be starting on the 15th green.

3 bunkers are to be installed to the left of the 4th fairway sited at 270, 280 and 290 yards off the tee. Some tree removal in needed as I'm against placing a hazard on a fairway that is not visible from the tee.

The original bunker on the 4th is going to have the face lowered and made smaller into a more circular shape.

The Laylandii next to the ladies 1st tee are to be removed, they are coming to the end of their lifespan, anytime we have strong winds part of these trees will come down so its inevitable they will be blown down in the near future which causes a big safety risk. The 2 smaller Laylandii opposite will also be removed. If we have time while the chipper is on site the remaining Laylandii to the rear of the 12th green going to the 9th fairway will also be removed exposing the pines
Trees around the 14th are to be removed (leaving the pines) for air flow and increased the light across green.

Now winter is upon us I shall endeavour to update this blog monthly.

Mark Tucker