Well May was a mixed bag started off dry and then it felt as if it has rained at some point every day since. Usually a month of excessive growth combined with the wet conditions keeping on top of mowing has been tough at times and it can feel a bit like we’re treading water. But we’ve utilised a couple of machinery demos along side our own machinery and battled through.

With the excessive growth and wet weather on occasions there has been some excess grass clippings around the course which we’ve done our best to clear and break up. On the flip side the frequent showers have allowed us to continue our applications of gypsum to aid soil flocculation beneath the greens surface and the rains have helped washing topdressing in all to help dilute organic matter and improving trueness.

From the machines we demonstrated which were a fairway mower, greens iron and tipping truck, definite improvements were noticed and hopefully additions to the fleet in the future. This month we’ve had a few issues with both sprayers having some downtime and the fairway mowers having some new blades and bearings fitted to improve there performance.
So over the last month on the

Greens

• Two topdressing applications applying around 15 tonnes of sand to improve surface trueness, firmness and dilute organic matter (thatch)
• Daily mowing and brush mowing
• Height of cut dropped from 4 mm to 3.5mm
• Sarrel rolling to open surface to allow gasses to exchange
• An application of granulated thatch eater to greens 7,8,9,10,12,18 this is a granulated zeolite which contains fungi and bacteria which will begin to break down the organic matter releasing nutrients back into the green. Thus reducing the organic matter (%), it will also help to firm the greens surface in wetter periods.
• A spray application of liquid gypsum combined with a wetting agent this will continue the soil flocculation process In the greens profile improving surface percolation and water movement deeper down the profile .
• Sprays of potassium silica, growth regulator along with nutrients to help control growth and aid in the management of seed heads and improve ball roll.
• Sand seed filling of scars and imperfections

Tee and approaches

• Regular mowing and height of cut has been lowered from 15mm to 12mm
• Divoting and Seeding of weaker areas
• Divoting box’s out on par 3s
• Application of feed and plant growth regulator to keep the surface strong and improve playability/wear tolerance.

Fairways

• Regular mowing at 17mm with fairway mower
• Cut with trimax snake at 25mm to reduce stalking and allow fairway mowers to produce a better quality of cut
• Using tractor mounted blower to clear grass clippings to improve playability and presentation

Rough

• Constant cutting to help keep areas under control
• Height of cut reduced to 42mm to help control growth improving presentation, and playability producing a fair but challenging rough.

General

• Branch removed and cleared 10th tee
• Strimmer and Flymo work
• Weed sprayed in bunkers
• Maintenance of machines
• Clearing of drains

Next month

Our aim for the next month will be continuing to build on our previous work. Hopefully a little bit drier and growth will become more steady allowing us to carry out more refinements to all surfaces using various techniques including brushing ,grooming and drag matting. The aim is to reduce the amount of coarse grasses in the fine turf areas and allow the fine leafs to fill out to improve how all the surfaces perform. Also we’re hopeful for a big push on tidying bunkers and surrounding and use up the available sand for topping up.
Again, I’d like to thank my team for there hard work and commitment, the members for there continued support, hopefully we get to enjoy a great golfing summer soon.

Many thanks

Rob Lawley
Course Manager OPGC