Latest Course Information

Welcome to our June blog it was recently confirmed that spring was the coldest for fifty years, however we've seen the temperature gauge moving in the right direction.

 The greens team have been extremely busy preparing the course with significant growth, allowing cutting and shaping on all areas of the course.

Greens Machine And Front Mounted Brush

The pictures below show Daniel Gildea cutting the greens,the machine is a Toro 3250, positioned at the front of the mower is a mounted brush, this follows the contours on the greens allowing the grass to be brushed up enabling a quality cut to be achieved.

The close up picture shows the bristles hugging the turf and lifting up lateral growth.

The picture on the left shows one of the units from our greens machines In the middle of the unit is a setting bar.

The bar allows accurate heights of cut to be achieved.

The unit on the right is a grooming unit, this works alongside the front mounted brush lifting lateral growth.It can be set to various depths,depending on turf quality, and the turf management programme.

The three grooming units are interchangeable with the cutting units on the greens machines.  

Irrigation

The Irrigation system has been checked over recently, this enables prudent water applications to be delivered to the turf areas on greens and tees.

Controlled irrigation will enable firm surfaces to be achieved that offer desirable grass species to be developed in the sward.

The storage tank holds 72,000 litres of water,that are abstracted from a bore hole.

A licence is needed to abstract the water and records are kept of the amounts used.

Stringent measures are used by the Environment Agency to deter excessive use.

The Royal & Ancient Golf Society suggest, 

"The development and maintenance of quality playing surfaces is, essentially, all about water management.
If the greenkeeper gets water management right then the golf course will be sustainable in all regards"

Wild Flowers

The wild flowers at the side of the second tee are showing some beautiful colours.

Early spring showed a colourful collection of daffodils.



As the daffs faded, Oxeye Daisey Feverfew, Red campion, and creeping buttercup have grown in the border, giving a great display.

It is hoped that this area will become environmentally beneficial encouraging, bees, butterflies, and other insects and wildlife to prosper.

Augusta Behind the Scenes

The information below has been taken from the Grange over Sands Golf Club blog. Special thanks to Rob Sandilands, head greenkeeper, for allowing me to reprint this article.  http://gosgcgreenkeeping.blogspot.co.uk

Here are some great behind the scenes photographs showing not only what goes into making Augusta and The Masters such a spectacle, but also how far apart it is in so many ways from member's clubs like ours where most of us play our golf.  
Special thanks to Chris Lomas, club manager at  http://www.worplesdongc.co.uk/ for the pictures.

For the time outside of the tournament, the course is closed from May-October.  During normal times of opening each hole has 2 full-time greenkeepers, this swells by over 100 for the tournament.  The course even has its own Creek Manager for it's famed water features!
The picture below shows the greenkeeping facility; a building that has 2 full time receptionists as well as a trial green and bunker for products and testing 



 Those 100 greenkeepers need a big room for team briefings as well as lots of tea and coffee!

 Below is the chemical store, putting into perspective just what it takes to achieve what is presented out on the course.

 Many of you may think the pine straw beneath the trees is all naturally occurring on the site, but in fact hundreds of bales of it are imported and spread out on the course.  Below is there dedicated storage area.

Many parts of the course are given a helping hand with systems such as the 'sub-air' which is capable not only of drawing water down through the surfaces but also blowing air back into them. Not only is this system installed on the greens, but also on the grass walkways so as to keep the patrons feet dry!  This system costs over £1 million.  Below is another tool used to help growth and condition; these lighting rigs give grass an added boost when sunlight is at a premium.  You may have seen them in action at football grounds in the English Premier League over the last couple of years.

Nurseries serving the site have a replica tree and shrub for each one out on the course that is covered on TV and feasible to replace; monitoring their health as well as that of the hallowed turf requires a dedicated on site turf laboratory, pictured below.

Out on the course, you may well have seen the famous shots of the 15 or so fairway mowers all cutting in formation going from green to tee to make the ball roll 'into the grain' and slow it down, although each on of these machines cost £45,000 breakdowns do happen and the picture below shows how a tennis ball is carried by each operator to throw into the path of the operator in front of them in the line if they develop an oil leak.  A great idea that is used in all major tournaments and one that I have used myself while working at the Scottish Open at Castle Stuart in 2011.

I'm sure you'll agree that it is an impressive amount of resources and a real eye-opener.  The most important thing for us all to remember is that these things are all relative and each club has their own individual level of resources which they must use in a sustainable way that ensure they live within their means, whilst also being mindful of their role in the landscape and their responsibilities to the environment.  Here is a link that sums up the reccomended approach to golf course management in the UK:
The R & A - Sustainable Golf

 Many thanks to Rob and Chris for such an interesting article.

                                                                         Terry Wharton   Head Greenkeeper        June   2013