Course Manager Update
Greens Report as of 21.10.2024
Golf Course Update 21st October
Well autumn came with a bump, temperatures dropping, lots of rain and leaves falling everywhere. The last two weeks have been our planned maintenance weeks and the weather we ordered didn’t turn up.
Despite the conditions the team worked incredibly in the first week, the greens were hollow tined to a depth of 50mm with 16mm tines and then 30 tons of semi round drainage sand were applied, brushed and swished to work this into the profile. The reason we have chosen to carry out this process is to continue our thatch reduction program, improve the surface percolation rate by providing sand channels in the aim to reduce surface water at wetter periods and allow excessive water to move on into the profile.
On the second maintenance week our efforts concentrated on installing primary drainage in the greens on holes 8 and 9. This work was completed over the week and saw us trenching almost 200m out of the greens, laying perforated pipe incased by large gravel then topped with a binding layer of shingle and root zone with the turf then replaced. A couple of questions asked this week about the works were.
Where does the new drainage link to?
The new drainage was linked into existing drainage pipe which was initially installed to drain the bunkers many years ago, but the pipe is in good condition and just needs to be maintained.
Wrapping the pipe in a Terram membrane or not?
The pipe work installed into the greens for this work was not wrapped in a Terram membrane, I’ve used both wrapped and unwrapped over my years of experience and for this type of work I feel the unwrapped works a lot better. This is due to the chemicals and feeds used as well as the metal minerals naturally occurring in the soil. One of the main blockage causes of our drains is iron ochre, which is a gelatinous, rust-colored substance that forms when iron, oxygen, and water react in the soil.
This can quickly fill and block the pore spaces in the Terram wrap where as it can drip through the larger holes in the pipe and be carried away by the water flow. So unwrapped will give us the best efficiency and longevity.
Moving on all these works combine to continue our progression and target our main targets to have healthy greens that perform for extended periods of the year. All the works are aimed at;
• Reducing thatch in the greens profile
• Improving percolation rate
• Primary drainage to take excessive water away from the greens
Our focus for the next few weeks;
• Primary drainage installation into the 1st fairway.
• Leaf clearing and collecting a thankless task but we’ll continue our efforts
• Taking our opportunities when conditions allow to mow and present the course.
• Continue our disease management on greens
• Soil conditioner application to green, tees and approaches to aid in the reducing worm casting and mud
• Slitting, mole ploughing and aeration in various forms across all areas of the course to aid water movement
• Roping off areas and managing traffic around the course to spread wear and tear.
Just to finish id like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding while the above maintenance works have been carried out. I would also like to give a massive thank you to my team for there hard work as always but especially this last fortnight.
Many thanks!
Rob Lawley
Course Manager
Oxley Park GC
Well autumn came with a bump, temperatures dropping, lots of rain and leaves falling everywhere. The last two weeks have been our planned maintenance weeks and the weather we ordered didn’t turn up.
Despite the conditions the team worked incredibly in the first week, the greens were hollow tined to a depth of 50mm with 16mm tines and then 30 tons of semi round drainage sand were applied, brushed and swished to work this into the profile. The reason we have chosen to carry out this process is to continue our thatch reduction program, improve the surface percolation rate by providing sand channels in the aim to reduce surface water at wetter periods and allow excessive water to move on into the profile.
On the second maintenance week our efforts concentrated on installing primary drainage in the greens on holes 8 and 9. This work was completed over the week and saw us trenching almost 200m out of the greens, laying perforated pipe incased by large gravel then topped with a binding layer of shingle and root zone with the turf then replaced. A couple of questions asked this week about the works were.
Where does the new drainage link to?
The new drainage was linked into existing drainage pipe which was initially installed to drain the bunkers many years ago, but the pipe is in good condition and just needs to be maintained.
Wrapping the pipe in a Terram membrane or not?
The pipe work installed into the greens for this work was not wrapped in a Terram membrane, I’ve used both wrapped and unwrapped over my years of experience and for this type of work I feel the unwrapped works a lot better. This is due to the chemicals and feeds used as well as the metal minerals naturally occurring in the soil. One of the main blockage causes of our drains is iron ochre, which is a gelatinous, rust-colored substance that forms when iron, oxygen, and water react in the soil.
This can quickly fill and block the pore spaces in the Terram wrap where as it can drip through the larger holes in the pipe and be carried away by the water flow. So unwrapped will give us the best efficiency and longevity.
Moving on all these works combine to continue our progression and target our main targets to have healthy greens that perform for extended periods of the year. All the works are aimed at;
• Reducing thatch in the greens profile
• Improving percolation rate
• Primary drainage to take excessive water away from the greens
Our focus for the next few weeks;
• Primary drainage installation into the 1st fairway.
• Leaf clearing and collecting a thankless task but we’ll continue our efforts
• Taking our opportunities when conditions allow to mow and present the course.
• Continue our disease management on greens
• Soil conditioner application to green, tees and approaches to aid in the reducing worm casting and mud
• Slitting, mole ploughing and aeration in various forms across all areas of the course to aid water movement
• Roping off areas and managing traffic around the course to spread wear and tear.
Just to finish id like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding while the above maintenance works have been carried out. I would also like to give a massive thank you to my team for there hard work as always but especially this last fortnight.
Many thanks!
Rob Lawley
Course Manager
Oxley Park GC