It has been a while since the last report due to the unusual circumstances caused by coronavirus. The course was out of operation during lockdown and during that period the course was maintained by 2 green staff. It was only possible to cut the main areas of the course and this was done keeping the height of the grass at a safe level to prevent undue stress. Because of the prolonged period of dry weather it was essential that the sprinkler system was brought into action but this necessitated manual operation due to problems with the automatic control of the watering system. This was caused by faults in the electrical wiring on the course and resulted in a severe drain on the minimal labour that was available. The fault had clearly developed over the winter as the system was in full operation at the end of the previous season. It is planned to remedy the fault over the next few months, although finding the fault amongst the miles of wiring could be difficult.
When the course was reopened in mid May it took a while to get the grass height down to an acceptable level because it is not good practice to cut back to normal height too quickly. At this time there was insufficient staffing to maintain the course satisfactorily due to the watering demand but happily that situation has changed due to the welcome appearance of rain. There are now 3 staff on the course but at this level it is not possible to present every aspect of the whole course effectively during the summer. We are grateful that there has been a group of enthusiastic volunteer members who have been working on the bunkers and other areas of the course and we all appreciate the effect they have had. There has also been a positive meeting between the club management and a few members who have offered to help with projects involving specialised machinery and it is encouraging to see good progress being made in this area.
Treatment of the course has now restarted and the greens have been treated with a wetting agent and fungicide, followed by liquid seaweed and sugar and finally by the application of fertiliser, which is also being applied to the approaches. Wetting agent is being used to treat areas of dry patch on the greens caused by water repellent material in the rootzone preventing water from penetrating effectively. These waxy hydrophobic particles attach to sand particles, especially in sand based greens, and the application of wetting agents, which are just specialised washing up liquids, breaks down the surface tension problems and allows the effective use of water. As the conditions are now damp and warm we are seeing conditions improve and we should now see further growth to continue this trend.
The tees have suffered perhaps more than most areas during the dry period. They are all based on sand and drain freely which has caused issues during the dry period. They have all now been fertilised and we should see them improve. We can also see the benefit of the work carried out on the fairways last year as the grass covering is good, an encouraging sign for the future.
We intend to bring in the use of divot bags so that the golfers can repair divots as they play. This is difficult at present due to the restrictions imposed but we will introduce them as soon as we have a way forward. It is hoped that soon we will be back to full strength on the course and able to return to full operation when we can look at improvements as well as maintenance.