Welcome to our October blog.

On the 29th of September we commenced work to re-drain the 3rd green and to level and extend the 4th tee. This work ran into October and is therefore covered in this blog. 

The 3rd green has performed well and over the past few years contour adjustments have been used to move the water off the surface, however the percolation rates of the moisture moving through the profile were not adequate.

It was decided to re- drain the green in late September, to take advantage of the dry soil conditions, that would enable good recovery and settlement of the surface before winter.

The main drain was marked out alongside eight laterals, the turf was lifted and boards were placed down to protect the green, a mini digger was hired to excavate the trenches to a positive draining outlet.

We dug the trenches and removed the upper profile of rootzone, below this was a thick layer of clay  sitting at a depth of 300mm. The clay (pictured below) was removed allowing adequate depth for the drainage pipe and stone.              
                                                                                       
   

         
This picture below shows the green with the laterals and main drain excavated. It is now ready for piping stoning, and turfing

     

                                                          

  The picture on the left shows one of the laterals dug out and the drainage  pipe in position, The trenches are backfilled with hard 2-6mm grit which is laid in 100mm layers to within 300mm of the surface.  The picture on the right shows the trench filled and firmed with rootzone ready to be turfed
                                                                                             

The picture below shows the turf iron levelling the surface of the relaid turf. Over the next few months we will monitor the levels to achieve good ball roll and smoothness.

The 4th Tee

It was decided to extend and level the 4th tee as part of our winter programme.Sprinkler heads were made visible and the turf was removed. The levels were marked out along side the extension to the tee

     The usable pieces of turf will be saved and used to repair weak areas around the course.

Special thanks to one of our members, Mr Ian Moore for the use of his machinery in this project,it greatly assisted us to speed up the work and remain on track. It was important to get the levels and preparation of the tee in place before the weather changed .

The picture above shows the tee extended levelled,and prepared to be seeded.We decided to seed the tee using Johnsons Pro 40. It was felt that the south facing location of the tee and the soil temperature at the time of sowing would give us strong germination.

Germination of the seed took place after fourteen days, and the mild weather conditions allowed us to apply a granular 4.0.8 fertiliser to aid the plants development.

It is hoped with a mild winter and good growing conditions in spring, alongside good surface preparation the tee will be fine for the start of the season 2015.

Special thanks to the greenkeeping team in showing great workmanship and enthusiasm in delivering these projects on time.


  Our November blog will highlight our maintenance work throughout the Autumn period.


                                                                       Terry Wharton  Head Greenkeeper.