March Greenkeeper Update
In terms of weather February was a very dry month but March so far has started wet and seems to be staying that way for some time. After the drainage work that was done on some of the green surrounds they were drying up and repairing very well and the drainage seems to be taking away all of the latest downpours.
During February a turf hardener with iron was spread on the greens making them dark green and black in places, this was followed by a granular fertiliser with small amounts of nitrogen which has greened them up well. When the ground temperatures are better we have a course of treatments to do to the greens including re dressing, thatch eaters and many types of biological sprays. The greens were only treated twice with fungicide chemicals over winter which means that the biological treatments have done their job well and we are getting to an almost chemical free stage in their management.
March and the build up to Easter will see us seeding , dressing and fertilising the tees along with dressing and fertilising the surrounds and rings around the greens this will be alongside topping up the bunkers with sand. Also we have plans to put drainage around and across the 1st green in the way of drainage bands that with have pipes and be linked to the outer drainage trench taking the water away from the green itself. This will cause disruption for a few days and will mean that a temporary green will be put near the bunkers hopefully for a few days only.
Along with the above we will be seeding the 1st fairway in order to give it much better grass coverage and hopefully reduce the muddy areas. Earlier in the month the wetter farways were spiked to relieve the water retention and decompact the soil.
At the point of writing this two out of the three bunkers on the 15th fairway have been stripped of their sand and bunker liner and a new liner installed and new sand put in. These bunkers will remain hand raked as they are small and the tight turning of the mechanical rake could damage the liner. The last bunker will be completed during March and the bunker by the 15th green will also have some of the old liner removed.
Finally the majority of winter tree works have been completed across the course with only a very small amount to be completed in March.