September

September Blog.

We continue to discuss the unpredictable weather patterns as we head in to Autumn.

Historically September was regarded as a dry month where fairways could be scarified and deep aeration could be carried out that would benefit the course moving in to the winter period.
Unfortunately the continuous rainfall restricts the work from being carried out,and we look for windows of opportunity. We overseeded the greens in the early part of the month and saw good germination after ten days.

The mounds on the 13th /15th/17th were cut short and raked up. Later in the month we aerated the greens with the procore.

Photographs below show the various works.

October work programme.

We have discussed various projects for the winter programme, drainage on problem areas will be carried out and we will look to thin out heavily planted areas of trees that restrict  sun light  air flow  

 and cause root damage to the drains. 

We aim to allow the specimen trees to flourish by giving them space to develop. Over a period of time we will look at these correctly managed areas and see the long term benefits with areas drying out and the ground  surfaces becoming more playable throughout the year. We will target bunker maintenance on all the bunkers on the 7th hole,reducing overhangs improving drainage and positioning bunker mat. The bunker mat will improve sand quality and reduce contamination from existing soils.  

August

Welcome to our August blog.

We continued with periods of rain throughout the month with a rainfall total of 77mm.

Course presentation was helped with blowers used across the course to disperse the wet grass from the rough and fairway cutting. Tillers were used in the bunkers to loosen up the sand after the heavy down pours.We used the procore on the greens to aid water movement and air progression in the soil structure.

We had our yearly visit from the STRI with their Agronomist  Mr Alistair Beggs reviewing the condition of the course.

Alistair first visited Haydock Park in May 1999 and we are so fortunate to have one of the country's leading Agronomists to visit us yearly The report was very positive with most aspects of the course conditioning being in place, however in these challenging climatic times we need to advance our regular aeration programme to control the organic matter levels in the soil profiles. The full report is available in the clubhouse.


 The picture below showing Alistair taking smoothness and trueness readings on the 18th green.  .

Aeration continued on the greens        

                                Tiller loosening compacted sand caused by the heavy rainfall  

September work programme

We hope to overseed the greens, strim the mounds and
start picking up areas with the soil reliever,and start putting together various projects for the winter programme!!!! 

     

July update.  

We seen a mixed period of weather in july with more periods of rain compared to June, these conditions really got the grass growing.

 Aeration on the greens continued, the weather allowed us to spray a selective weed control on the tee and bunker banks, we followed up with a total weed control on paths and around the clubhouse.

I travelled over to Royal Birkdale to have a look at the course set up for the Open Championship, the course was stunning with fabulous surfaces and great definition. Excellent work by their greens team.


The Pictures below show some of the surfaces at Royal Birkdale.

August work programme.  

We hope to carry out deep aeration to the greens and spray a selective weed control to areas on some of the fairways. General cutting and course presentation will keep us busy.

June update.


We had some glorious weather in parts throughout june.
We applied a little irrigation on some areas on the greens to stop them from stressing out.

Most other parts of the course took the dry spell well with minimal drying out,showing the benifits of regular aeration developing good root structures. Aeration on the greens continued with the procore,and we topped up bunkers with sand. 

 Regular grooming and rolling has been carried out to aid smooth ball roll on the greens. We applied our monthly spray of conditioner and wetting agent on the greens to keep the plant healthy and to help to control moisture levels in the soil structure.

Below are some of the various works completed throughout the month. 

Course Update.

Welcome to our May blog.

The soil temperature increased and towards the latter part of the month we had some rainfall. This started to get things moving on the course. We have applied one hundred tonnes of top dressing to the greens since March, leaving us twenty tonnes to deliver between August/September when we overseed.

We've continued with our fortnightly aeration programme with the procore followed up with the monthly application of wetting agent and soil conditioner on the greens. We positioned new tee signs on each hole which look really good. Below are some photographs showing the various works.  

Procore in action

Sweep and fill brush

Sward density on the greens .

New tee sign. 

June work programme.     

We aim to continue with the aeration work on greens and tees, Bunkers will be checked for sand depth and quality.Weed control will be monitored and sprayed if conditions are fit, alongside cutting of the various areas.(Busy times)       

                            

April blog update.
April has been a really cool and dry month with a rainfall figure of 16mm,this weather pattern as helped to dry the course up but on the downside not allowed the grass to kick in and it has held back sward density.We need the temperature to rise and a couple of showers to get everything moving

 ( Greenkeepers are rarely happy with the weather!!!!!!!!!)

Mallinsons came in to vertidrain the fairways,We applied a touch of water to the greens to wash the top dressing in.The sprayer was used applying conditioner and wetting agent to the greens which was also washed in.


Below are some pictures of our progress throughout the month.

May programme.

We hope to see a rise in temperature to aid growth, our top dressing applications will continue alongside aeration.Bunkers will be topped up with sand and cutting on all areas will increase.

Welcome to our March blog.


The early part of the month was very wet but we seen a change towards the latter part with a period of dry weather.

The cutting programme around the course was increased and the top dressing on the greens moved in to action. The increase in temperature enabled us to feed the greens and tees.

We aerated the greens with the procore and loosed the bunkers with the tiller.

The greens team worked on a landscape project which prepared an area near the club house to be used for photographs for weddings etc.

The pictures below show the various works.

Welcome to our February blog. 


As usual the weather controlled the work programme with periods of rain and a visit from storm Doris that created additional work with the chainsaws.

We carried out deep aeration to the green, tees and walkways.The occasional dry spell allowed us to  pick up a little cutting on various areas.

The wet conditions held us back on applying our first top dressing to the greens

The pictures below shows some of the work throughout the month.

March work programme. 

We hope to start our top dressing on the greens,and our regular aeration work.
We will be starting to shape and cut areas ready for spring.

Welcome to the January blog.

The weather throughout the month allowed us to complete our work programme. We had periods of frost, wind and rain with the course being heavy at times.

We used the mini digger to put in gravel bands at the right hand side of the 6th green to help to drain the area.

Aeration continued on the greens with the procore,followed up with a cut to tidy up the surfaces. The fairways also received a trim to give better definition and shape.

We used the pole saw to remove the lower branches off the trees, the trees look so much better giving them great shape and definition.

The pictures below show the various work throughout the month.

February Blog. 

We hope to use the soil reliever on the greens and tees and start top dressing the greens. We aim to turf drainage lines and start topping up bunkers, and edging paths. The start of the busy period is getting closer!!!!   

December Blog

December Blog. 

Welcome to the December blog.

Our winter work programme continues with most of the bunker work being completed. We've recently purchased a AFT 45 trencher to be used on draining problem areas. It is a great piece of kit that will allow us to tap into existing drains around the course.

The weather throughout December was quite mild and damp with the occasional frosty spell.These conditions are ideal for the development of turf disease.

The most common disease at this time of the year is Fusarium Patch caused by Microdochium nivale. This Fungus attacks the grass plant and kills affected areas.It is most noticable on the greens but can attack all the other grass areas on the course.

The mild damp, humid, conditions in December have been ideal for the disease to attack the turf.To prevent the attack we apply a prevetative fungicide,but if the disease pressure is stronger than the chemical then an attack can take place.

Photographs below showing some of the points that's been discussed.

                                         Sprayer ready to apply a preventative Fungicide.

                                                                 Fusarium Patch

                                                               AFT  trencher

In January we hope to continue with  drainage work and start on cutting back low branches from around the trees.

November Blog

Welcome to our November blog. 

The weather allowed us to make a great start to our winter programme. We looked at shaping,draining and taking off the overhanging lips on selected bunkers.

Work was completed on taking out the small mounds on the 5th hole, the mound on the 1st hole and filling and turfing the small bunker on the 11th hole, The temporary tee on the 12th was taken out because it is no longer used and this area will be prepared ready for seeding.

Removing the leaves continued with no help from the wind, the majority just dropped and were removed off the course with the tractor mounted blower.

We continued our aeration on the greens and tees. The fairways were cut to give definition. The greens were sprayed with a preventative fungicide to control Fusarium patch which is a fungus that attacks fine turf. I will go into more detail in our December blog explaining the conditions that enable the disease to damage the turf.

Below are a selection of photographs showing some of the work that's been carried out.

                                                             6th Cross Bunker

                                                            2nd Greenside Bunker

                                                       Small mounds on the 5th hole.

We hope to continue with our programme throughout December, And as usual the weather will decide what order it is carried out in.