Welcome to our February update.

The weather pattern continued for most of the month giving us periods of wet weather and periods of frost, however we had a spell of dry conditions at the end of the month that allowed us to cut the fairways.

The firmer ground conditions allowed us to start topping up bunkers and adding shale to the paths around the course.

We sprayed the greens and practice area with Soluble Iron to harden the plant and to control moss.

 It was quite noticeable how the course firmed up in such a short period of time, it got us thinking spring had arrived!!!!!!!!!!!!

Frost on the greens

The picture above shows the surface of the 18th green covered in frost. The link below explains why we keep off the greens until the frost as thawed.

Drainage on the 15th tee

The area at the back of the 15th tee as struggled to drain as effectively as we would like. To achieve a better draining surface we used the hole cutter to take out a full core.

We then shattered the lower profile to break up any compaction and then back filled with 2-8mm grit. We will fill the holes with rootzone, turf and top dress ready for the start of the season.


March Work Programme. 

Lets hope for a good dry period in March, we aim to finish topping up the bunkers and finish shaling the paths.
We will feed and vertidrain the greens and tees,and hope to start top dressing the greens. Weather permitting!!!!!!!!

                                                                      Terry Wharton   Head Greenkeeper

Welcome to our January blog. 

The Unsettled weather pattern continued throughout the month, depositing 154mm of rain onto the course.  Each month we are seeing weather records being broken for the varying conditions as the climate change continues throughout the seasons.

It was quite a surprise in the middle of the month when we had a considerable snowfall, however the mild temperatures soon melted it away.  The picture below shows the view up the 3rd fairway.

Drainage Work




The picture on the right shows repair work on a clay pipe drainage system.

Problem areas are being repaired and rodded with the drainage rods to check for any further problems in the system.

When the pipe work is repaired we will back fill it with 2-8mm grit and top off with rootzone and turf.









Woodland Management

The greens team have been busy on various areas around the course pruning and cutting selective trees.

The programme of woodland management aims to allow the trees  to develop into mature specimens.

This can't be achieved when the trees have been planted close together restricting growth and correct shaping

The agronomic benefits of this work are vast, allowing sunlight and air flow on to the grassed areas, which enables the grass plant to grow in the correct environment.

The sunlight penetration along with improved airflow will greatly assist  the drying process of wet areas.

This practice is regularly carried on many parkland golf courses to achieve the desirable results.














Tee Management.


We've used the digger on the 9th tee to remove the raised
area at the back.

It was quite surprising how much root zone was removed to achieve the correct level.

The area will be raked and the levels will be checked, ready for turfing and topdressing.

February work programme. 

In February we hope to finish off our drainage work, and start topping off paths with shale.We will start topping up bunkers with sand and hope to get the mowers out to put some definition on the course. Weather permitting !!!!!!  

                                                                Terry Wharton      Head Greenkeeper

 December blog.

Welcome to our December blog.

 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the greens team for their workmanship and enthusiasm in producing great playing surfaces at Haydock Park this year.

The weather pattern from the previous month continued with heavy rainfall persisting  throughout  December.                                          
                                                   
                                         Rainfall Figures for November / December 2014/15  

                                               
                                                     
     November 2014    ( 55mm)    November 2015   (176mm)

     December 2014   ( 117mm)   December 2015   (152mm)

The figures above show the large increase in rainfall in 2015 and has you can imagine this impacted on our work programme.

 However the team have been busy with various works. The greens have been cut and aerated weekly, and the tees have been cut regularly.

 The mild temperature in December created the unseasonable growth, the unfavorable conditions have been well documented in the media.

We've made a start in the area behind the practice nets to develop and landscape a chipping area, and maybe a bunker!!

 It is hoped the expanse will run through from the putting green linking in with the nets. This will enable the golfer to prepare on all aspects of their game before they tee off.

                                                     
                                                         Winter tee presentation

                                                         

                                   Tree work and preparation of the chipping area.

                 Digger used to remove stumps and dig out the drainage channel

                                       Stumps removed, drainage channel dug out.

         We will let the soil dry out, and then work it to get our levels ready for a spring seeding


Drainage at the 8th green surround. 

We recently positioned a new drain in the hollow at the right hand side of the 8th green. The area was holding water,we linked the drainage pipe to to a positive outlet to alleviate the problem.



January 2016   

Lets hope for a change in the weather pattern. We need a period of dry weather to bring us on track in our maintenance programme.  We will continue with our aeration policy and selective cutting and pruning of the trees around the course in January.

When  possible, areas on the course will be cut to give better definition and presentation!!!!!!!

                                                                           Terry Wharton   Head Greenkeeper

Course maintenance update for November. 

November has been a really wet month with a total rainfall figure of 176mm, compared to last November's total of 55mm. This excessive amount of rainfall  made it difficult to start some of our winter programme work.

The temperature throughout the month has been above average allowing the grass to keep growing , in fact we recorded only two days of frost over the period.

 Throughout the heavy rainfall the greens team have been kept busy with greens tees, and fairway aeration. The drainage outlets have been monitored regularly to maximize water flow off the course. And we've continued with the leaf clearance and bunker maintenance.


New Toro equipment.

In early November we took delivery of a new fleet of Toro machinery from our local dealers Cheshire Turf Machinery. These machines enable the greens team to present the course to a high standard throughout the year.I would like to thank the members and board of directors for investing in this quality turf care equipment .

Tees aeration.            

Our regular programme of aeration as continued on all of our surfaces, the picture below shows  deep aeration on our tees.                                                                                                                

Bunker Maintenance.

We've used the tiller regularly to keep the sand loose. But unfortunately the rainfall has been so heavy it as compacted the sand . We will continue to use the tiller to get the bunkers back to a better playing quality. Pictured below is Daniel Gildea operating the tiller.

Pitch marks on the Greens. 

PITCH MARKS.

Your Greenkeepers aim to produce quality surfaces. We try to produce greens that offer smooth ball roll for the well struck putt.
 But unfortunately if pitch marks are not repaired it is difficult to achieve the pure surface we all strive for .      
                              Could ALL golfers please repair their PITCH MARKS

December work programme. 

Has usual the weather conditions play a large part in our work programme.If the conditions allow we will start work on bunker reconstruction at the 14th green side and cross bunker at the 6th green.

We've  opened up the area behind the practice nets, that we aim to develop into a chipping area. This area needs to be cleared and shaped.

 Lower branches on the trees down the 11th hole will be selectively pruned,and aeration will continue on all surfaces. General course preparation will continue throughout the month.

                                                                            Terry Wharton         Head Greenkeeper  

October Update.

Welcome to our blog,the weather in October allowed us to solid tine the greens and complete our top dressing programme for the year.

 We also applied a preventative fungicide spray to control a potential onset of Fusarium Patch.
Fusarium is a turf disease that can be damaging to the greens killing the plant, creating patches on the surfaces which affects the smoothness and aesthetics of the greens.  
The weather conditions throughout October were ideal for its development with the warm,humid weather favoring an outbreak.

The 7th gents tee was levelled and turfed, and the back tee at the 8th was levelled and over seeded, similar to the work we completed on the 4th tee last year.

 The picture shows our sweep and fill brush working the top dressing in to the canopy of the greens turf.

The brush is very effective and after a couple of passes the dressing is worked in to the tine holes.

 This action allows the dressing to fill the tine holes and enables good ball roll to be achieved with minimal surface disturbance.



Drainage work at the 15th green

 Early October we started draining the 15th green. Overall the green performs well throughout most of the year.

 However in periods of heavy rain the drainage qualities were slow in removing the water,

 It was decided to put a complete new drainage system into the green and surround.

We used an AFT trencher to dig out the drainage channels.

The machine gave us a neat finish allowing for minimal disturbance to the playing surface.

The picture on the right shows the main drain cut out with the laterals in position.

Levels are checked throughout the work, and the pipe work and joints are positioned in the trenches.

The trenches are back filled with 6 /10 mm drainage stone and topped up with a root zone compost.

 To reduce any sinkage in the trenches the stone and rootzone are firmed down before the turf is put back in place.

Once the green is turfed we will allow it to root and settle down and monitor the surface levels.

We will  then use the Toro turf iron to roll the turf to aid settlement .


This work will be carried out over the next couple of months to achieve  smoothness on the surface






Removing leaves off the course.

Over the next couple of months we will

be blowing the leaves off the course.
The tractor mounted blower does a great job,especially when the wind is in a favorable direction.

 With the blower positioned on the three point linkage of the tractor it allows us to remove  the leaves with minimal marking to the turf.

We also use the blower in the growing season to blow the cut grass in the rough,giving us better presentation in the cut areas.


November work programme.

We hope to start work on bunker management in November alongside levelling up the 9th gents tee.
The course preparation will continue if the weather stays mild  with cutting raking, aeration,and leaf blowing keeping us busy.  ( Weather Permitting!!!!!)                                      
                                                                             
                                                                   Terry Wharton    Head Greenkeeper

Welcome to our September blog.

The greens team have been busy throughout September completing and starting various work. The weather has allowed us to keep on track and progress was good.

 We've applied our last applications of plant growth regulator, followed up with our turf conditioner and wetting agent for this year.    Below are pictures showing the numerous works.

Aeration

 The regular aeration programme on the greens.

Contractors Mallinsons have Vertidrained our fairways.

The soil conditions were perfect giving great results.  After a light roll and cut it was difficult to see any surface disturbance.



Mounds Management


The heavy growth on the mounds has been cut short to weaken the heavy grasses. We aim to encourage finer grass to enable balls to be found,and speed up play.

Weak areas on the mounds will be seeded with bent grass seed to encourage finer grasses..

The picture on the right shows the mounds cut and all the grass raked and removed.

 Removing the cut grass reduces the available nutrients from the grass that would promote heavy course growth if left to break down.




Pond Conservation
 We've managed to start cleaning out some of the dense growth in the ponds. This work will allow the water from the drainage system to flow better and raise the aesthetics around the area.

The picture shows the greens team sympathetically removing the growth avoiding to harm any inhabitants. The weed will be left on the bankings for a short while to allow any pond life to make its way back in to the water before we remove it.













October Work Programme               

In early October we hope to solid tine and apply our last top dressing to the greens reaching our target of one hundred tonnes.

We will start our winter programme of leveling tees and draining the 15th green. Early October will see the greens team start our removal of leaves and continuing to maintain our high standards of course presentation.                            

                                                     Terry Wharton         Head Greenkeeper

Course update.

Welcome to our August blog,the weather has been kind to us and we have been able to complete the work that was planned for the month.

Soil Reliever             Greens Aeration


The soil and turf conditions were perfect for our aeration programme in the early part of August.

We opened up the greens with 12 mm solid tines to a depth of  175mm.

Each month the greens are aerated with the procore,but we felt that the soil reliever would give us a variation in depth.

This action would aid the root structure, benefit the air exchange and relieve surface tension of the soil structure.

We followed this up with the turf iron to smooth out the surfaces, After the rolling the surface was fine to putt on with great ball roll.






                                                 Overseeding the greens

We used the Vredo compact seeder to overseed the greens,using Johnsons J All Bent grass seed with cultivars Arrowtown and Manor.

 The machine cuts a slit at a depth of 5mm through the turf, the seed drops into the cut channel.

 The slit in the turf enables the seed to have good contact with the upper profile soils which will facilitate good germination . We noticed the first signs of the seed coming through after seven days.

 The Vredo machine was hired from Greener Grounds, who provided us with a first class service.

Soil Temperature/Germination.

The timing of the overseeding on the greens was important, we needed to have good soil temperature to enable the seed to germinate. The picture below shows our soil thermometer reading when we seeded the greens. The germination of the seed was aided by some moderate rain showers, giving us ideal conditions for germination.

This picture shows the putting green cut on the right hand side and the early morning dew on the left. You can see the germinating seed coming through from the double pass with the Vredo.

We did not change the cutting height, but have raised the front mounted brushes on the greens machines.

The results are very pleasing.

 Over a period of time using this method we will aim to boost the bent composition of grass species on the greens.










 September work programme 

We hope to cut the mounds and rake off the grass and overseed any weak areas with bent seed. We will also try to reduce the weed in the ponds at the 8th and 11th,

 Deep aeration work will begin on the fairways, and our usual work programme of course preparation.


                                                                               Terry Wharton  Head Greenkeeper