On the whole April has been a dry month with many warm sunny days, but still some cold nights, grass growth is still slow and patchy but hopefully, in the coming weeks this should improve as long as we do not have any more snow!
Because of a lack of growth, we have only been cutting and rolling the greens when deemed necessary. Greens can be a bit uneven at this time of year due to the variable growth between different grass species. The use of the turf iron at this time helps to smooth out the putting surface.
The greens and aprons have had their second dose of wetting agent and are looking good for this time of year, a lot of seed from last year has come through on the greens and is establishing well, the aprons are also starting to fill in nicely and will be verti cut soon followed by over-seeding for the second time this year, both will continue to be regularly top-dressed. There has been some leather jacket activity on some of the greens, most noticeably the 8th green, the greens have now been sprayed with an insecticide to kill the grubs off.
The poorer fairways have had a granular feed and have been treated twice with a wetting agent, whilst all the rest have only been treated once, there is quite a good recovery rate on the poor fairways, with a lot of the seeded fescues coming through and establishing, this is very noticeable on the 1st fairway!
The fairways will be seeded again through the month of may using the over-seeder. There was again a great turn out for the divot evenings and all we need now is for more warmth and the occasional shower for the seed to take, thank you to all those members and staff who turned out to help.
The rough between the 7th and 11th fairways has had a light spray of selective grass herbicide to weaken the coarse thick grasses and allow the fescues to come through stronger, hopefully this will improve play and how long it takes to find your ball! This will be monitored and given another dose of spray if deemed necessary.
If this spray has the desired effect, then we will be treating other areas in the future.
The new mound on the 12th has taken extremely well and looks like it has been there for a long time, we will not be cutting down the grass on the bank as we are not trying to make the course easier, we will be encouraging the area of land in front of the bank to establish better and look more like the rest of the roughs around the course.
Since my last report we have had a new member of staff start, Ryan Day, he is a fully qualified svq3 greenkeeper, who comes from Glasgow.
Mark Campbell
Head greenkeeper