Go to the link below to see a slideshow of the detail needed to host a major tournament.  Most golf courses are filled with dedication and passion which is highlighted at this open venue.


 http://tinyurl.com/mzj5y7o”

A picture below of our maintenance building.  A to small area that is not purpose built so is inadequate for our needs but over the years we have developed it and tried to improve on the area .  This needs to hold over £300,000 of machinery of various types.  I have included a brief inventory for you too see the amount of kit we need to run 36 holes.

An empty building ready for machinery

2 greens
1 spare greens
3 Tees
2 rough
2 fairway
1 semi
3 tractors
4 run arounds
1 sprayer
1 topdresser
1 bunker rake

This does not include smaller hand tools plus a myriad of other specialist tools.  The rough mower alone has a cost attached of well over £30,000 so you can easily see the long term commitment a golf club makes in terms of investment.

Painted line to keep machines off and enable easy access

A small building needs this level of organisation

Markers posts and tee markers ready to go

A number of observations from today's work, the first a picture of some of the rough being cut at 5 inches, we noticed that most of the areas were thin and we found more rubbish in this cut of rough than we did golf balls.  Golfers normally over estimate the distance they hit the ball and if you look 20 yards nearer the tee you will have a better chance of finding the ball.  Most holes on the Abbotts will have some rough cut down but these areas will be reserved for the very thick rough, not the parts we just don't like because we always hit our ball there.

The second picture is of hydraulic oil from the undetected leak on greens 4-15 of the Abbotts.  It will kill all these areas but I think that such a narrow line whilst the greens are growing strongly should fill in quickly.  The lines won't effect ball roll but will look unsightly for a period.

 A mixed bag weather wise, has not stopped the courses suddenly changing almost overnight.  One day the course is still in winter mode, the next day, verdant fairways and thick rough.  We have been out cutting some fairways with tees mowers just to remove some thick course growth and this will help tighten up the sward.
 All ditches,ponds and tree bases have been strimmed and flailed in the last week, this is a monthly job in the growing season and always helps define the golf course.  As you can see from the picture, something we try hard to achieve is the balance between uncut (conservation rough) and in play areas.  Most pond and ditches on the courses have one clean side to help ball retrieval and one unkempt side to encourage wildlife to move through these areas.  During the last winter we spent a lot of time cleaning and maintaining ditches and having one clear side helps with access in the winter months.  

 This week on both courses we will be verti-cutting greens, Priors is being solid-tined on Monday/Tuesday and then heavily dressed, Abbotts will receive a slightly lighter dressing with no tining.  Seedheads are slowly disappearing on the greens and this verti-cut should remove a good deal more.

 Uncut rough on the Abbotts has now thickened up, giving us a better idea of the areas that need cutting so we will be out this week with the mower.  As always it is a balance between how the course looks and how it plays and if we can get through the next month with most of the long grass we will see the lovely seedhead topped thin rough blowing in the wind.

  Course set up at the moment is focusing on the Professional Trophy.  The Abbotts is playing  hard with tight fairways and narrow cut rough.  Uncut rough is exactly the same width as last year but is significantly thinner due to the dryer spring this year.  No long rough will be cut this or next week but after that we will monitor the weather and if need be will add a perimeter of rough cut a 5 inches.  This weekends set up will vary from the norm with a move away from the usual A,B,C pin positions to series hand picked by the Pro.  As I write he is fiendishly trying to find a way of placing the pin in the middle of the 18th pond.
  During the week we have been tweaking heights around the course, the fairways have been lowered by 1mm to 15mm.  The semi is now being cut with our old fairway mower, the height of the machine being raised to 30mm, this is giving a cleaner cut than our normal machine and with heavy rollers on the mower leaving better definition around the fairway.

A good weeks work done

 A lovely week weather wise with lots of sunshine around and temperatures climbing through the week.  Irrigation is our current priority job.  With greens being made of sand it doesn't take long before they dry out.  Normal watering as the temperature goes above 20c is about 10 minutes per green every other night.  As the temperature rises above 25c we will water most nights.
 Greens and tees can be watered manually from the irrigation box or with a hose connected to the box but more often than not we water automatically at night by programming a computer.  This has the benefit of allowing us to avoid wasting water by not applying it in the middle of a hot day and not disturbing you during your round.
 This week on the Abbotts the greens have been Scarified.  This involves cutting  1mm wide 12mm deep grooves in the surface, we remove the thatch, firm the surface up and take away some of those seed-heads we don't want.  Grooves are filled with dressing, brushed and then cut.  All work was finish on Tuesday where we heavily watered in the dressing ready for a liquid feed on Friday morning.

Deep grooves cut in the green

cleaning up with greens mower

Ready for dressing