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!

New matting has been laid on areas on the course, small footbridges on the 6th and 7th fairways Abbotts and the 10th T Priors

Safety matting 10th Priors

3rd fairway

New sand

Priors bunding is moving on at a pace.  After a slow start in March/April the project is moving very fast now.

12th view

The far mound to the left of the 13th Tee has been completed ready for final level and seeding.

Work will continue on the area between the 6th and 12th  with a view to finish the far side by spring and working on the  11th hole through the summer.  The new 13th tee position has been agreed with building beginning along with dry weather later in the spring.  The new 11th Tee will be situated on the old 9th medal Tee, with some scrub clearance needed in front of this area.

11th fairway

New 11th T position

It is hoped that work should be finished by the end of the summer with some small GUR areas over the winter 2017.

 Current conditions on the course have dictated a shut down this week.  We have had rainfall for the first 12 days of the year.  That and still days have meant a complete water logging of the profile.  Shutting the course has enabled water table to lower the course is now tacky and very slippery still with Thursday bringing yet more rain and then some dry weather is on the way.

11th T

The 11th path edge has been trenched and filled with gravel to help dry the bank of the Tee.  The same again on the 16th ladies Tee.

16th T

The new unintentional ditch on the 16th has been caused by a partially blocked pipe and large volumes of rainfall.  Until the water drops we cannot fix the problem so hopefully the water level will drop in the next few days.

16th new ditch

Had a little time of from the blog but hope the next few will come thick and fast.

Unseasonably warm weather means the courses are growing constantly.  The greens have been feed on the Priors which has seen an outbreak of disease, which has been treated, something of a plant health merry-go round.  Abbotts greens have had an extra disease treatment in early December which has meant very good coverage and a dense tight sward being maintained.  Hydraulic oil scaring is now filling in with only a couple of areas that might have turf loss into the spring.

horses of course

 

The Priors has suffered horse damage in the last few days on 2 greens so once had repaired and divotted the green we attempted to close the area the horses came in from.

 

 

 

new path

The path in the picture above has been laid all the way through the par 3.  This will enable all staff to access the Priors without driving through the Abbotts and damaging turf at sensitive times of the year.

The mild weather does have some benefits,  tees are growing strongly mitigating wear, allowing tees to be used further into the winter.  This came be seen everywhere around the course, with wet areas no dryer than normal but visibly less damage to weak parts of the course.

Once Christmas is out of the way, mats, sanding, more rope and a stricter attitude to damage on the course will hopefully keep conditions playable but ensure better quality in early spring.

 The weather has been brilliant all through October, although it will no-doubt get us back.   Solid-tining of Abbotts fairways starts this week, the 18th fairway below took 3hrs to solid-tine 4" deep at 2" centres, 3 fairways tined today.  Once again we have 20 ton of coarse sand being spread on the poor and wet areas.  Greens are still looking good on both courses with the Abbotts receiving a second fungicide application this week to keep disease levels down until winter weather sets in.

A slow job!