Greens Matters

7th July 2020

That’s us back into our first week of competitions and typically the weather has turned a bit sour of late, as it usually does after an early summer. Rainfall recorded in may was 21mm followed by 102mm in June, which was very welcome for the course in general after the very dry and warm April.

The greens are coming on now and seem to be performing better after all the heavy rain. We also top dressed on six occasions through early spring/summer in order to help fill in the Leatherjacket damage and are pretty much hole free at the minute. The Meadow grass seed heads are abating and our cutting height has remained a little higher at 4mm which in turn reduces any unnecessary stress.   

Our cutting units are razor sharp after a re grind recently and this improves ball roll through the grass leaf not getting torn when cut. Also a clean cut is healthier for the grass as less infection and disease take hold.

Fairy rings

Some fairy ring activity (basidiomycetes fungi) has flared up on certain greens particularly the 4th and 7th for some reason. I can’t explain why some greens get this and not others as all the greens are treated in the same way. Historically I remember treating rings on the 7th green back in the early 90s’ as it was the worst green back then too! There used to be a chemical, long withdrawn  (oxycarboxin) and like everything else that was effective they took it away?? but this got rid of them pretty quickly. These rings always look worse when the turf is lean because there is no colour to disguise them but they are superficial and don’t really hinder the ball roll. We have one more Revolution wetting agent to go on shortly which will help condition the soil and I may have to fire up the old compost tea maker soon to add some beneficial microbes and fight the fairy ring fungi.

Roughs 

During lockdown we were a little limited in how much rough we could cut and concentrated on keeping the semis in check. We managed to get an intermediate cut done and have kept on top of this recently. The tall natural roughs are quite long and got no early golfer trampling with the closure and are certainly a challenge now if you go in them. We’ll need some dry weather again to cut and collect a bit more of the tall roughs here and there.

George Paterson

 

4th May 2020

That’s us into our 6th week of lockdown and typically the weather has been fantastic for golf! We have been quite lucky to carry on with our work on the course with 2 to 3 staff  working individually, keeping on top of essential maintenance and so far we will be ready when golf resumes. Jobs are being completed quicker with no golfers about and many hours saved on not having to collect range balls, rake bunkers and change holes etc.

So what have we being doing?

This spring has brought many sunny and dry days with very little rain which in turn has kept growth to a minimum. Therefore we’ve been cutting greens 2 to 3 times per week and a little higher than normal, tees and aprons once per week and the fairways, range and semi roughs on a fortnightly cycle. We’ve also kept on top of banks cutting otherwise things would have got out of hand. Early into the lockdown we sprayed the fairways with wetting agent, ammonia and iron to give them a wee perk up. With the course being quiet we’ve also managed to treat the weeds on the fairways and range and got our usual wetting agents on greens and tees.

One problem that is causing concern is aeration holes not filling in due to Leatherjackets feeding on the grass roots over winter. The insecticide for treating these grubs was withdrawn from our use 3 years ago now and is becoming a problem for many courses now. I’ve been using the water system to the greens on a fairly regular basis throughout April as the rainfall was so low (8mm) in an attempt to top up the deficit on an average April month. The greens can dry out here very quickly in the spring and with grub activity can go backwards quite quickly. Subsequently we have taken the chance to seed and spike 10 of the worst hit greens and top dressed over a couple of times. With the grubs popping out of the turf now hopefully most of the damage has been done and once growth starts to pick up then the greens will establish full cover. 

We’re all looking forward to getting back onto the course and I expect it won’t be too long now and I see no reason why not. Ireland have set a date of May 18th. It looks like there will be measures in place similar to lockdown and that will include social distancing, no touching flag pins etc. The so called experts will no doubt keep us well informed!

George Paterson

Head Greenkeeper

 

The autumn seemed to pass very quickly with October noticeably colder than recent years. We have had some frosty spells and also a fair bit of rain to contend with but the beauty of greenkeeping is there is always something to do.

New Proshop/office

The greenstaff have been busy with the putting green and 1st tee alterations  and there is more to do with sleeper edging and path work once the new building progresses.

Greens

Following the scarify in late September the greens were then deep slit after the season finish. A preventative fungicide was applied and also an Autumn feed of TX10 (5.2.8) to keep the grass plant as healthy as possible leading into the colder months. Recently we have verti-drained with larger 3/4″ tines down to 11″ deep and this will benefit the greens longer term by helping drainage and promoting new and longer root growth for healthier turf. A micro-core and seaweed meal dressing is planned next weather permitting. This is to help alleviate some troublesome Anthracnose disease (yellowing of the plant) and also Superficial Fairy ring.The tees have also been verti-drained and next to do will be the approaches.

Fairways

All the fairways have been sprayed with Iron and also slit tined to relieve a little compaction, aid water movement and promote healthier turf. The majority of fairways have recovered well after the drought last year and will continue to improve with some more selective sanding, wetting agent and soluble fertilizer sprays.

Bunker repairs

Both greenside bunkers at the 7th have been newly revetted and the front greenside at the 11th is underway. We have highlighted around 9 greenside bunkers to do this year and will be GUR until around mid March.

Whin management

To date we have topped the whins along the roadsides at the 10th and 15th holes for safety reasons. We plan to do the rest of the roadside holes when any frosty weather returns. The whin stand at the back of the 3rd green has also been topped to allow a better view up the right hand side of the fairway. Our big project early next year is to cut down the whins on the right side of 13th fairway allowing for a much less intimidating drive for the shorter hitters.

George Paterson

Head Greenkeeper

Course report  Sept 23^rd 2019 

It’s been a difficult summer greenkeeping wise due to the high level of growth on all areas of the course and practice area. Routinely we cut things such as tee and bunker banks, semi-roughs, range etc on a fortnightly cycle but this year has seen us struggle to keep up on these jobs as everything is needing done more often and more grass equals more time to do each job. The range has been particularly difficult to keep on top of (with a weekly cut) resulting in a lot of smaller jobs just not getting done.

Rainfall in August measured 106mm and that is approx. 3 x more than a normal summer month. Nonetheless the greens have performed very well and the fairways continue to improve with the wet weather.

Greens

Little work on the greens this summer apart from cutting and occasional rolling. Two wetter/seaweed/potassium carbonate sprays with a little Nitrogen have gone on June and July just to tick things along. A verti-cut last week and another seaweed/calcium/iron spray to try and dry up a little Fusarium marking here and there. The top putting green was hollow tined and Graden scarified (Mon 16^th Sept) with some bent grass seed introduced. Recovery has been pretty quick due to the weather of late. This week we will be solid spiking and following up with the scarifier/seed (bent seed at 5g/m2) and top dressing. A wet start today slowed things down but 12 greens spiked and 5 greens scarified/seeded. Rolling to re-enstate surfaces and keeping an eye on moisture levels for recovery and enhancing seed germination.

Going into the autumn I would like to carry out some slitting then late autumn (late Nov) the greens will need another hollow tine with 6mm tines and also a deep verti-drain with larger 3/4” tines during December. All this work will enhance drainage and surface firmness, promote deeper root growth and help combat fairy ring. In turn they will become more resilient for next year.

Roughs

Majority of tall roughs cut and collected and will be sprayed with Laser to reduce course grasses within. 

Semis

All semi roughs were sprayed with herbicide to treat Plantains and clover

Tees

Some tees have been spiked/sanded and seeded

Pro shop/office work – site prep work (Oct 14th)

1. The area of the yellow/red tee where the putting green is to be extended needs stripping back first + RHS of this tee. (Approx 6-7m)
2. Re locate RHS tee sprinkler.
3. Strip turf in front of Medal tee approx 6-8m and lay aside.
4. PG extension area then needs to be excavated and contoured to desired putting green level with sand amended through the soil. De stone. (require mini digger)
5. Stock pile soil front medal tee.
6. Lift turf from car park end of putting green and re lay onto new extension. Lay apron turf as required and excess turf below 1^st hole whin carry.
7. Enlarge and raise medal tee and re turf

Removal of the dust path to the left of the yellow tee at 6^th and some of the turf lifted from the putting green side could be used here.

 

 

TIS Irrigation contractors finished the installation on 7th May. The work was carried out diligently with very little disruption around the greens and tees. A 90mm MDPE ring main was installed generally in the rough and 63mm spurs led to the valve boxes. From here 50mm pipe was fed to each sprinkler along with the new cabling.

We opted to go for Rainbird 751 electric valve in head sprinklers around the greens which gives us individual control of each sprinkler. This can be programmed from the controller in the maintenance shed office and each sprinkler set to a set time depending on its required coverage. We can now apply water to the aprons and approaches with some simple arc setting and adjusting watering times to suit. Another plus with these sprinklers are that they can have a fan tail nozzle fitted which will cast out a fine spray to the rear of the sprinkler and stop these bits from drying up.

On our tees we re-utilized the sprinklers that were on our greens along with other tees sprinklers that were still in good condition. These have been set in to the sides of the tees and some further outwith so as to provide optimum tee watering coverage and also heavily trafficed routes nearby.

The installation included a new galvanized water tank and a variable speed pump which will keep the system pressurized and only work when demand is required, thus saving electricity. We erected a new and slightly bigger shed for the pump house.

 

 

New 17th bunkers

Two new bunkers to the left side rough have replaced the original bunkers with the view to giving a wider and bigger landing area to the majority of golfers.  We have cut the whins back on the right side bank and once removed and returned to grass will offer a much less intimidating direct line tee shot.

We are in the process of re painting the viewing steps at the 17th tee with a sign asking playing partners to observe the top fairways are clear before safely teeing off.

Greens work

The greens were 3/8″ hollow cored at the end of February to remove some organic matter in the top 40mm. This was followed up with a slender 6mm pencil tine down to 7″. Hopefully this will alleviate the unsightly superficial fairy ring disorder which is prevalent on some greens. Subsequently we have sand dressed the greens 3 times and added a Calcium and magnesium prill and lately a Spring feed to help kick start some growth. 

We still have the first ‘Revolution’ wetting agent of the year to go on which will help with soil moisture retention in the rootzone.

 

Leatherjackets

 A sure sign of aeration holes not filling in is due to the presence of Leatherjacket grubs eating away at the roots of the grass plant. Unfortunately there is no chemical control for these grubs any longer and it is going to become a problem for many courses especially in the Spring time when we are trying to promote surface levels on the greens.

New irrigation update

TIS irrigation installers arrived late January to some snowy weather and then a glorious February allowed work to progress at good pace.  All 90mm MDPE ring main pipe and 63mm going to the greens and tees were vibratory mole ploughed into the ground to 600mm deep. The soil underneath is very stoney to say the least and several sections of the old original 1″ steel irrigation line got unearthed. During March all the 50mm pipe and Valve in head sprinklers were installed around the greens and positioned a little further out so that the aprons can receive irrigation also. Recently the tees sprinklers have been going in and all our old greens sprinklers have been re used to save some money. These are being set in down either side of the tees to allow accurate watering of the tees themselves and also taking account of heavily walked areas by the tees. At this date there are still 5 tees and the lower putting green to complete, the new tank to erect and a new variable speed pump to go into the pumphouse. All going well once electrical and softwear work is tested, the pipe lines and sprinklers flushed and primed we are looking at around a mid April completion.

 

 

 

 

The black tee at the 4th has been re leveled and re turved while we widened the 8th by a couple of metres and re turved also.

 

 

 

 

2nd Hole alterations

Three groups of whin bush have been removed on the right hand side. The first bunker which was seldom used has been filled in and made into a little mound which will border the fairway line.

A new right hand side fairway bunker has been built further down the fairway 245 yards from the back of the white tee.

 

 

 

 

3rd hole alterations

The whins up the left for the first 220 yards have been cut and burnt.

 

Then we dug out the whin stumps and roots with an excavator and created some dune like mounding on the beach side. Next step was to dig out down into the sand and create a sand scrape and cover the mounding with a good layer of sand. Hundreds of Marram grass clumps have been dug into the mounding and it is hoped that these will establish and thicken out over time and help keep the sand in place. They are quite tussocky at the minute but over time and when some trampling takes place then they will settle down and become more cropped like. We hope to keep the sand scraped area as open sand and it will require a little maintenance from time to time in weed and gorse treating. As it is not a hazard it will be play the ball as it lies, ground your club etc. We will have the mounded areas as GUR for a few months but the fairway side of the new scrape will come into play early season.

 

 

 

 

 

17th Hole alterations

Lately we have started the work on this hole to enlarge the fairway landing area and discourage golfers aiming up the 16th hole for safety reasons. The old bunkers are to be filled in and two new ones created further on and to the left.

 

 

 

We hope to get these bunkers finished by mid January and then tackle the whins on the bank once any poorer weather comes in.

Pot seeding of all greens took place on September 10th – 12th. 160kg (17 grammes/m2) of Bar Fescue seed was broadcast over the open tine holes created by our versatile SL6 Wiedenmann machine  with solid 16mm tines set into the turf about 30 – 40mm deep. A heavy sanding of around 15 tonnes in total went on first and when it had dried enough it was all drag matted back into the tine holes. Further brushing and rolling took place to help fill up the holes and restore the greens for play.

 

The benefits of introducing Fescue seed into our greens are that it is firstly a perennial fine leaved grass native to links environments. It is a hardy grass as it is deep rooting and requires less water and fertiliser to keep it happy as oppose to Meadow grass (Poa annua) Ultimately the fineness of leaf offers less resistance to the golf ball and a better all round / year round putting surface. If we can achieve some success from over seeding it would be great to achieve a blend of Fescues / Bent grasses and Poa reptans.

The reasons for doing this kind of work just now and not in October is that it will turn noticeably colder then and that would result a very poor strike rate. With a warmer soil as we have now and some decent rain the greens recovery rate and seed germination success are much improved. Fingers crossed!

We have raised our height of cut to 4.5mm and are rolloing the greens on alternate days and this will give the new seedlings a chance to emerge.

A week later we have sprayed the greens as a little coating and helper for the seed with some liquid seaweed, wetting agent and a little feed.

 

Course report – Friday 20th July

At long last a dry and warm summer has brought firm and fast playing conditions to our links. Rainfall figures have been low for the past 3 months – April saw 31mm, May 21mm and June 13mm. Combine this with almost furnace like heat and the turf doesn’t take long to dry out. We have been watering the greens on a regular basis apart from the odd shower of rain that we’ve had. Today the heavens have opened and we have puddles everywhere apart from on the greens. That’s good news. The rain will soak in and help the grass recover along with giving some well needed moisture to the divot filling.

 

The Scottish Boys U16 Championship went well with a couple of dull and damp days to start then a lovely sunny day to finish. We were nursing the greens along as it was so dry before the event and doing a bit of hand watering to areas under stress. When the rain came it greened up the greens and prompted more growth than I would have liked. We double cut and rolled the greens for the last 2 days and gave an extra roll before the final round producing a perfect speed and test for the boys to enjoy. We had a truly International field and the winning score of -9 par was excellent from Italian Matteo Cristoni.

Our fairways had only been cut once in a month just before the boys U16s and this week just to go over any green bits. I prefer to keep a bit of grass on the fairways during drought weather as it really does help them sustain cover in difficult times. We are also saving on diesel! The wetting agent applied in spring also provided a little insurance. Thank you again to all the helpers giving up their time to help with the fairway patching.

Irrigation system – the system has been put to the test this summer and has had it’s fair share of problems. The system was installed in 1981 and is now 37 years old! I was noticing some greens were looking more stressed than others and others particularly green looking and realised that  some greens were sticking on and others not coming on at all. There have been a few issues with valves needing cleaned out or renewed, electric coils and decoders replaced and 3 burst pipes to contend with. The tees sprinklers on most tees are at most inefficient and wrongly placed and need re configuring for more efficient water use.

Burst pipe next to 6th greenside bunker

 

This uncertainty has required the irrigation cycles to be watched at night to see that everything is getting water as it should because it seems like we are getting one problem after another. Just the other morning the 4th green stuck on and it got 50 minutes of water before it was noticed. Not easy to keep the greens consistent when this happens.

The system is limping along with old components at breaking point and it is around 10-12 years overdue in being replaced. Speaking to an irrigation contractor recently he indicated a renewal price of roughly 130-140k for a full replacement of the system.

 

 

The tall roughs received a cut back of a few metres in early May and there has been little regrowth since then. The remaining uncut taller roughs have thinned out as well and the balance seems fair with not too much searching going on. No complaints so it must be ok!!

Overseeding – the competition calender eases a bit in the middle of September and it is then that we hope to spike, seed and dress the greens in order to improve the grass cultivar quality. Longer term this improves turf hardiness, appearance and playability with reduced water reliance. Dates are 10 – 12th Sept for this work.

Hoping for a continued warm and dry summer

 

Geeorge Paterson

Head Greenkeeper

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

18th April 2018

Spring has finally arrived after a prolonged cold winter this year. The fairways received there first cut last week and other areas are starting to show a little growth as the soil slowly warms up.

Following on from hollow tining the tees back in March we have recently verti-cut to refine the sward and today applied a slow release feed. We applied 14 bags of 16.2.10 + 2%Mg + 3%Ca + 6%S which equates to 50kg Nirtogen per Ha / 6kg Phosphorus and 32Kg potassium per Ha. This is the recommended rate to give the turf 3 to 4 months of required nutrient and steady growth to enhance the appearance and aid recovery from wear and tear.

The greens were also vert-cut last week and the height of cut lowered to 4mm. Our 4th sanding of the year went on this Monday to help fill in any imperfections and the 17th green and two putting greens were spiked and seeded to try and ultimately promote some denser turf cover. The greens were also given their base feed today with an organic mineral fertiliser. This contains 5 different forms of nitrogen for a gentle release as temperatures rise.                                                  13.5 bags were used over the 20 greens and this provided 17kg N and K/Ha. This is intended to last for around 7 to 8 weeks to which point liquid feeds will take over as we enter into the hotter summer months. The greens will be slightly slower for a few days until the feed has fully broken down into the grass sward.

Leatherjacket grub activity so far has been minimal and maybe it is due to the cold spring? I’m keeping my fingers crossed that numbers will be low and not cause any real superficial damage as and when they do start to feed on the roots and fill out.

Bunker work

We have over the past couple of months replaced the very fine sand in many bunkers. Some have been dug out down to the membrane and new sand put in and others have had an up turned sod base put in before the new sand added. It seems to be working with not nearly as much sand blow as previously which will save a lot on our labour.

New swailes at 6th hole

These two swailes are taking a little longer to bed in than first expected and mainly due to so little growth. They have been previously sand dressed a couple of times and also rolled, fed and given a flymo recently. Once some regular cutting takes place they will begin to fill out properly and be brought into play then.