Course update!!!
It was another big push from the team this past week in some extremely wet conditions…
As the capilary concrete delivery had been delayed until the Wednesday we took advantage Monday and Tuesday, we decided to commit to new drainage installation at the problematic area in between 11th green and 12th tee.
This low pocket has a history of poor turf quality and it has been compounded in that its low lying with no adequate drainage.
We striped and disposed of the thatch ridden turf, installed new drainage then brought the levels back up with a rootzone, prepped and turfed with a new rye fescue turf.
It has been white lined as GUR along with all other new turf around the bunkers until roots have established, we will try and make use of the front blue tee to keep traffic off all new turf in front of the 12th tee surrounds as much as possible.
We also had some preparation to clean out all the new bunkers with some additional drainage installed on the new bunkers at the 14th ahead of capilary installation.
Capilary concrete was set to arrive on site at 10.00am, so we all teamed in to the preparation for that from 6.00 am till 9.30
Martin was on the ball and had brought in his camping stoves and made the team a load of sausage rolls, which went down a treat!!! nice one Martin)
not much time to let it settle as the concrete was coming in 2x loads, and when it arrives its all systems go to get the mixer off site and the capilary installed asap, as there is added cost if mixer is running overtime on site, that meant we didn’t stop from when it arrived at 10.00 until 1700 as there was a lot of preparation in between loads, like moving all turf protecting boards etc, it is a full on exhausting day for the team!!
We got the mixers emptied as quick as possible and finished the day off by covering the bunkers to be made water tight for up to 48hrs to dry set…
That just left us Thursday & Friday for course preparation for the weekend and captains challenge.
we managed to cut a all surfaces except the rough, which is still a tad weak.
Fairways are starting to take shape already.
approaches and aprons all cut.
Tees got a cut early in the week.
Greens cut daily expect from Friday as too wet.
Friday morning we arrived to torrential rain some 15mm had fallen in just a couple of hours, we decided that we should close the course so not to set the course back with the season just around the corner.
We did however manage to get all of our course furniture out in place, bins, benches, markers, distance markers, new pins, flags, holes cups ready for the captains challenge and season ahead.
It’s always a difficult time this time of year, the course has just come out of a very harsh winter with the grass dormant for months, so everything is much thinner than we would like and the last thing we want to do is put unnecessary pressure on weak turf which, if damaged will not have time to recover.
It’s a critical time until we have the germination temps to push seed and recovery, we must be patient and protect the course in extreme conditions.
The captains challenge course set up this morning went really well, we tried something different, with 3 men in and a shotgun start we decided to take 6 holes each, we hand cut the greens, full raked all bunkers, cleared tee surfaces… it was tight but we managed it all in just over 3 hours. It’s something we are considering in times we aren’t looking to roll greens on weekends, it’s a fair spread of the workload and a good quality weekend set up.
Next week the priority will be to install the sand into all new bunkers and then straight out onto the original bunkers, edge up the faces, redistribution of sand depths, top up where required, it’s a very time consuming job which will no doubt run into the following week.
We are also considering some additional drainage works around 10th green surrounds. we will report that if we decide commit.
All surfaces will be cut in preparation for the first medal of the year!!
We will have the practice range holes all cut out in preparation for the juniors Easter camp also.
signs of summer this mornings getting a good quality course is set up in 😎
