Greens Report July 2020

The Green staff continues to work hard on delivering the course in the best condition for us all and it is lovely to see so many new members enjoying the course.

Please may I remind members to ensure they do not leave litter on the golf course as it is unfair in the current conditions for our staff to have to pick it up.

All greens have been lowered to 3.5mm. They have been groomed, pencil tined and dressed. Recently we have applied a wet agent, fertiliser and soil tonic to the greens and surrounds. We still have a few patches to repair in a few of the greens surrounds.

The greens, fringes and aprons are all now showing great improvement but can I please remind all players not to takes trolleys or buggies past the white discs or onto the teeing area.

We have now replaced the upside down holes and will being inserting a new softer foam to help prevent the balls bouncing out.

We have recently raised the height of cut on the tees and that has shown some good improvements to the grass covering. Vince and his team have been busy trying to improve the tees with new signage and a new maintenance programme of fertilising, levelling, tining and repairing.

The 16th teeing area that was looking very sad continues to improve and has had a heavy dressing and all being well should be back in play shortly. We do not want to return to the tee early and undo all the good work. One of the problems on this tee is that the water pressure is low and the small teeing space takes a lot of play.

We will be soon commencing the paving of the 10th, 18th and 1st pathways. In order to keep the cost down we would be pleased to hear from anyone who could assist our small working party in preparing and laying the bricks.

The old worn out wooden tee markers have now been replaced with the granites and thanks must go to Brian Osborne and Mr Captain for painting the ladies and yellow granites that are now looking splendid.

The area where we removed the trees between the 5th and 6th fairway has been a problem to us and we have therefore taken professional advice on how we could bring this area back into play before winter.

Within this area there will be the construction and landscaping of four shallow grass bunkers with banking. We will then plant out some gorse and heathers and ensuring that it will be easily maintainable. The work will commence shortly, so please can we ask all golfers to be mindful of the workmen in this area.

The damage on the 7th, 9th and 12th fairways caused by animals and birds digging for leather jackets was significant this year. These areas have now had a slow release fertiliser applied to them that will hopefully bring them back to good condition.

The bunkers have long been a contentious issue at the club and the green staff have implemented a programme of sifting out the stones. This has already shown significant improvements to how they were presented and how they play. The edges of all the worn/damaged bunkers have been carefully edged and the surrounds trimmed to fairway height.

We also have now introduced a semi rough cut to the bottom half of the course.

The green staffs have also been working on maintaining the winter greens that hopefully we will not have to play on too much in the winter and the temporary 2nd green has also been levelled.

The tree planting has been a huge success with the loss of only one tree. For those members who wish to sponsor a tree on our next batch please register your interest in the secretary’s office.

A few thank-you notes:
• Steve Burt for sponsoring the new granite tee markers.
• Jewsons who have supplied us with some very competitive paving bricks
• Scottie Snelling (Blackler-Snelling ) who have sponsored the pathway improvement project.
• Colin & Ann Marshall for feeding and watering our feathered friends

Glyn Rowett
Green Chairman