July Update 

The weather's been glorious throughout most of July enabling the team to achieve good presentation on the course.Areas are starting to brown off giving that summer look that we haven't seen for a few years.

Correct water management is important in this dry period.We don't want the greens to dry out and stress leading to surface weakness, yet we don't want to over water leaving them to be soft and spongy. Through experience the visul look of the surfaces show the early signs of stress,and when to apply irrigation, however the application of water as become more accurate with the use of the moisture meter, it measures the volumetric water content in the upper profile.We work within a range of between 15% and 30%, when taking readings it allows us to target specific areas and apply correct amounts. Pictured below shows the moisture meter.

Feeding the Greens. 
We recently fed the greens after a period of ten weeks with a low Nitrogen feed, the grass plant needs nutrients to stay healthy. The warm weather has created good growing conditions along side the feed, this growth will reduce and with regular ironing and sensible cutting heights the surfaces will be fine.

Machinery Maintenance.   


Regular maintenance takes place on the machines to achieve minimal down time we have a check list for every machine to be ticked off before it goes on to the course.The check list covers basics like water oil, and fuel levels. All machines are regularly greased up and belt tensions checked.

In August we will look to increase our aeration work on most areas of the course and start preparing winter greens!!!!


                                                                                    Terry Wharton    Head Greenkeeper

Welcome to our  June blog.   

Over the past month we've been busy preparing the course and have managed to spray the fairways with a selective weed killer to control mostly clover. The application timing was good with great growing conditions allowing the chemical to be taken up by the weeds.However we've held back with the plant growth regulator due to a recent dry period,the growth's slowed down on the bunker banks and this would reduce the effectiveness of the product. We will monitor the growing conditions throughout the next few weeks to see if it can be applied.  

The picture above shows the results of the selective application clearly showing the clover under control. 

Aeration on the greens has continued with the use of the procore, to reduce surface disturbance we used 6mm tines with great effect.After the greens mower follows up it is difficult to see any holes on the surface. 

The pictures below show the procore, and the tine action through the root zone upper profile.

Grooming the Greens.

With cutting heights top dressing applications, and weather conditions favourable we've groomed the greens over the past few weeks. This practice enables the prostrate growth to be lifted along side any annual meadow grass seed heads.

 This practice really cleans up the the sward without putting the plant under any stress, we applied most of  our top dressings early in the season which allows us to groom without lifting the dressing.


Open Championship.

We visited Royal Liverpool Golf Club three weeks before the start of the Open to look at the course set up. It was a beautiful evening which helped to show how stunning the course looked,every aspect of the course looked tremendous and was ready to challenge the worlds best golfers.


Over the next month we will look to apply a greens fertiliser, continue with aeration and start planning for our winter work.

                                                                      Terry Wharton    Head Greenkeeper