Moving into Autumn soon the course is currently very dry awaiting some much needed precipitation.

Priors greens have been hollow-tined and are recovering nicely helped in no small part by the warm weather.  The height has been lowered on the Priors and these greens will be verti-cut next week.  Top soil is being added back to the mounding between 6 and 12 with the final shape now coming through. Soil importation is almost finished with the new 13th and 11th tees receiving a final grade in the next few weeks.

12th green Priors

Greens on the Abbotts have received an early attack of Fusarium but warm weather and strong growth will see this disappear in the coming weeks.  Fungicide will be sprayed early next week as a preventative for the usual autumn attacks.  We are trying not to water to much on greens as the summer comes to a close, hoping to go into the winter months with firm, dry greens.


Area of rough have now all been cut, once we receive some rainfall some of these areas will be sprayed with a product to kill the courser grasses in the sward.  This will leave thin, poor and unsightly roughs throughout the course over the winter.  With good spring growth these areas will fill in with finer grass species leaving rough in better condition than previous years.  As you can see below tree bases are surrounded by bramble so this will be another job for the winter months.

9th Abbotts

13th T Abbotts

Abbotts hollowtining is now finished and very successful it was.  Holes at 25mm centres down to 75mm followed immediately with a ton of sand and brushed in, cut and heavily watered.  The second day another ton of sand and followed behind with an application of granular fertiliser.

1st Green

Recovery in August with warm weather will be very quick, we have over watered over the last week to speed up recovery but will ease of through the week to bring the greens back to their former state.

Day 1

 Within 10 day I would expect 95% recovery and this early tining will see good greens right through into late Autumn.

Day 2

Day 7

Some great shots of the 6th and 12th on the Priors below

12th Green

6th Green

 A not so great shot of the vandalism on the 4th green Abbotts.  The wording says 'where's the hole ?',  for our normal moronic idiot it's spelt correctly and uses good grammar,  if any of these kids went to school i'm sure their English teacher would be proud. The holes further down the green were caused by the corner of a flat screen TV!!!.  I don't get it either.

!!!

The talk on the golf course at the moment is rough rough and more rough.  Whilst the rest of the course is looking good after prolonged rain the out of play areas continue to grow and finding a ball within the canopy is very difficult.  Three weeks ago all the managed rough was shaped and cut to boundaries set 4 years ago.  With continued rain 2 weeks ago some areas of the rough were again widened to allow easier ball retrieval.  

As the weather improves and the rough dries rough thickness should become less of an issue. However going forward this kind of rough should only ever be a half shot penalty and it's certainly not the intention to bring about the loss of golf balls just off cut rough areas, so we will be making some changes over the winter:

Firstly, and this has already started, crown lifting trees; raising the height of the canopy so our machines can actually cut below trees that are still in play allowing easier ball retrieval, this will also keep unsightly bramble and weeds away from the base.

Secondly, key areas are to be sprayed with a product that will kill much of the coarse grass within the canopy.  This will look and play badly in the winter season but by next summer these jungle areas should be much improved.  This product called 'Rescue' has been used with great success in improving fairways 7 through till 14 over the past 4 seasons.

Finally, Hollow tining takes place on the 8th and 9th of August.  Last year we scarified in August with great success leaving surfaces in great condition right through the winter.  This year the plan is to hollow tine down to 75mm with 12mm outer tines and somewhere approaching 30 tons of sand to fill in the holes.  We plan to begin on the 8th after 12(the course will be closed after 12 on the Monday) and continue through Tuesday weather permitting. 

You can definitely tell its summer.  46mm of rain on Thursday the wettest June we've ever had and lots of growth.  A few pictures below of the reason the course is not great.  Bunkers will all be GUR for the next few days while the water level drops.  Everything else is just OK not really good enough but that's flaming June for you.  Long roughs have now been cut to there normal summer position although very thick rough is going to be an issue for at least a few weeks until hot weather arrives.  

7th T

8th T

New enlarged 18th pond!

Priors bunding is beginning to see some definition.  Mounding behind the 6th and 12th green is nearly finished and the new 13th Tee is weeks away from seeding. 

As well as this, new irrigation has been run to the 6th and 12th green

6th Green

12th Green

New irrigation

This week Abbotts greens are being verti-cut, solid-tined and topdressed, this together with brushing of the surface will finally see the greens move into summer mode and will begin improving fast.

New plates for the Abbotts Tee markers, tidying up the deer damage and looking a little smarter.

T-marker

The turf iron has been out in the last few weeks trying to push the quality of the surfaces forward.  Tees and fairways are still behind with this recent weather not helping matters, drying out the surface.  Tees and Aprons are being feed and sprayed for weeds during the week,  greens dressed with 8 ton of sand and areas on the course spot treated for weeds. 

Turf Iron

View back from the 18th green, still lots of holes from winter on the fairways so some wetter, warmer weather is called for to force growth in the weak areas.

Looking good

 The area on the right of the 4th has had tree removed.  I still think we could lose another 3-4 and obviously the stumps will be dug out .

4th Trees

Wet days are still causing lots of trouble as you can see below.  Not for the first time this spring on the Priors, soft isolated spots ready to catch us out.

We have new seasonal staff on the course including Tom back from university for the summer and Rob, who is acquitting himself well in a fresh challenge for him.


Fairways, tees and aprons are being feed with a concoction including Iron to strengthen the plant, and a product to slow down the growth.  This will be finished this week and will target the biggest weakness on the golf course at the moment.  Once these areas have filled in, the course begins to take shape.  Trees on the right of the 4th have still to be finished and the 5th bunker should be back in play soon.