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.

Still not at spring yet but the course is beginning to improve.  Abbotts greens have had the height lowered as the weather has warmed up and surfaces have filled in well already.  We will keep aeration off the greens in this busy period concentrating on light regular fertiliser and topdressing.  Tees and fairways are still pretty poor and weak so the fertiliser and Iron being applied at the moment will push them forward and fill in the patches.

5th bunker is now finished and we will allow the rain to settle the sand before putting it back into play in the next few weeks.

5th bunker

The trees to the left of the 4th fairway are being removed.  Impossible to see from the Tee stepping near these trees would see you subjected to 2 inch spikes, not the ideal trees for a golf course.

New bunker on the 5th is now nearing completion.  Whilst we have spent the last 2 weeks tining and dressing greens, this job has been put on the back burner.  Final shape has now been achieved with new drain cut into the bunker and piped/graveled. A new wooden edge will go in followed be the whole area being re-turfed. The bunker protects the Sunday pin position from the middle of the fairway without being overly penal once we get to the green.

5th Bunker

New drain

2 short weeks on the way are always unhelpful, as is the cold weather.  No matter, the course work is moving on apace now.  Greens will receive a further dressing of around 1/2 a ton of sand on Monday/Tuesday where they will be brushed, cut and fertilizer with a fast release organic to try and force some growth in this cold spell.  Tees have been sprayed with a seaweed and wetter to speed post winter recovery.  New flag poles, flags and cups are ready to go out.  New tee plates to cover ours, damaged by deer or lost have been ordered and will tidy up tee areas.

The madness of this job is that on top of everything next week we will be spraying wetting agent on the green to help prevent summer dry patches.  Go figure!!

8th green Abbotts

Greens receiving a spring treat.  1 ton of sand on each green followed by tining at 30mm centres going down 200mm.  Heavy rain today has made a mess of the course but washed in all the sand.

The Priors car park has had a truck driving over the 18th tee and down to the site by the motorway in order to steal diesel on a regular basis.  Its unfortunate that we may not catch them in this obvious ditch but it will keep them off the course.

New ditch!