Maintenance Week
Course Renovations
In early September (7th, 8th, and 9th), we will be concentrating our efforts on maintenance procedures, especially on the greens. It is essential that routine maintenance is carried out on all surfaces, to present them at their best, as well as improving their health. We will keep disruption to a minimum, and it will greatly aid our tasks if you allow us the space to carry out the work as quickly as possible. It might be the case that we need to have temporary greens available and have a rolling system, where certain greens will be out of play at any given time. The quicker we can do this vital work, the quicker you will be back playing on the greens.
On all surfaces organic matter builds up and can hold water at the surface like a sponge, which is not desirable, especially as we are situated in the rainy Northwest! This thatch is a layer of organic material, such as dead grass stems and roots, which forms between the grass surface and the soil beneath. This material contains lignin, a compound which slows down its natural breakdown within the turf.
Because thatch forms between the grass layer and the soil, it can prevent essential water and nutrients from reaching the soil. This makes the grass weak and easily damaged since the roots will tend to grow into the shallow thatch and not penetrate deeper into the soil below. It also makes the turf more vulnerable to changes in weather, becoming wetter during rainy spells and dryer in the summer months.
In order to keep this down to the minimum amount required, it is imperative that we remove some from time to time. You can do this through various methods of aeration, such as pulling out cores, scarification, verticutting and by using biological products to aid its reduction.
So, in September we plan to carry out some tasks on the greens to remove as much thatch as possible, subject to favourable weather conditions. We are hiring in a deep scarifier, called the Koro, which will scarify the greens down to about -20mm. This material will be pulled out and transferred into our utility vehicle, for disposal. The greens will then be dressed with sand to stabilise the surface once again. (Prior to this week in September we will be spraying products on the greens which will aid the removal of the thatch, pulling out more than normal).
If the weather is favourable, we will then hopefully be able to micro core the greens using 60 6mm core tines, which will pull out further material, and create small drainage channels through into the sand profile underneath. These tines are very small and create very little disturbance. The organic material will be cut off the surface using our own verticut units.
If the weather is not quite acceptable to do that, then we will solid tine the greens instead, so that we can fill the holes with more sand. We will try and create as little disturbance as possible, as we need recovery to start immediately. This will be aided by a granular feed. The greens will also be overseeded with bent grass, which is a much more desirable grass species, not relying so much on food and water as Poa grass does and is more disease tolerant.
As I said earlier all the surfaces need maintenance routines every year, and the fairways will also be receiving some attention. A contractor is coming into deep spike all the fairways in the same week. This work is of paramount importance if the fairways are to improve. This allows air to penetrate into the subsoil, aiding drainage and helping deeper roots to establish. We are also going to scarify the fairways with our own machine, again to remove the unwanted thatchy material.
Finally, KPM contractors will be coming in to start their drainage work. They will be finishing off the other half of the 2nd fairway and approach to the fairway. So it’s going to be a very busy week on the course, and we thank you for your patience during this time while we make these long term improvements.
Steve Hemsley
Head Greenkeeper
