Course Blog by Mark Tucker Course Manager

There was some suggestion that with the hot dry summer experienced, we would pay the price in the winter. It certainly feels that way at the moment. In a “normal” season, the mowing of tees, approaches and fairways would be slowing down by the middle of October. Growth has been prolific and trying to keep on top of it has been challenging. With the 9th project taking the majority of manpower along with leaf drop and the recent spate of vandalism, the course, for a relatively short period wasn’t presented to the standard expected. Some members past comment on this, especially the length of grass on the fairways. I feel that this was justified because I agree, for a time, the presentation of the course was substandard. There were many contributing factors to this. Primarily, the resources just weren’t available to mow the fairways with all the other tasks faced by the greenkeeping team and I had to prioritise the allocation of manpower. The weather also played a big part. Fairways had to be cut when dry because of the worm casts present. Cutting while wet would cause smearing of these casts and cause more damage than good

As mentioned, the main complaint was the amount of grass on the fairways. To put a positive spin on this, 12 weeks ago, all fairways were completely drought stressed with turf loss evident on many. The timing of the biostimulant and wetting agent application, along with an extensive overseeding programme has put us in a position to have full grass coverage on fairways going into winter. If you had told me in August that I would be facing complaints in November that there was TOO much grass on the fairways I wouldn’t have believed you

The 2nd fairway in late August

New seedlings emerging on the fairways

The 9th hole project is complete baring some tiding up and sand to be placed in the bunker . This was a large project to undertake. We were governed by the contractors to a start date. I wanted the mounding, rubber crumb path and the tree pruning to be complete at the same time to avoid multiple hole closures. Upwards of 200 tonne of soil for the mounding was used. It was essential to have suitable ground conditions for this as there was over 70 trailer loads!

I’m really pleased with the outcome. I wanted to achieve a seamless integration of the mounding into the existing topography.

Existing turf was removed, to be re-laid on the lefthand side of the mounding

As you can see from the pictures above, the newly laid indigenous turf is very difficult to see the seam where it joins the existing turf making it look very natural.

Given time, the bought in turf along the right hand edge will also blend well.The trees to the rear of the 8th green were encroaching out too far. So much so that using the left hand side of the 9th white tee was unfair. The middle holm oak was removed and the remaining trees trimmed. Overhanging trees at the start of the fairway were also trimmed. This has opened up the left hand side of the fairway making the tee shot much fairer and enabling us to use all the 9th tee.

The path around the 9th green has been a great success. Everyone I’ve spoken to has agreed that this is a significant improvement to what was a troublesome and unsightly area.

The path was shifted 1 meter to the right which encroached on the bunker. This was rebuilt with a more interesting shape.

You will be aware, we have suffered vandalism on 4 different occasions. Each time it’s getting progressively worse. This is extremely frustrating for all, especially the greenkeeping team because of the extra work it causes. Flags, tee markers, wooden tee yardage markers and bunker rakes have all gone missing. We have found quite a few of these items chucked in the undergrowth but unfortunately most were damaged.

The HAT has been targeted on 3 different occasions. Flooding, smashing of mirrors and toilet seats. The last time, significant damage was caused to the decking area.

Damage was also caused to the 2nd green

The buggies have been targeted on two separate occasions. The first time, 10 tyres were slashed. The second time, all 36 tyres were slashed, along with all of the seats. A special mention to Mike and Jake from the greenkeeping team who, in two days managed to repair all 36 tyres. The buggies are currently being stored in the greenkeepers compound. The green staff are taking the amount of buggies booked on BRS up to the Pro shop each morning. Myself and the office staff are all helping to return them back to the compound in the evenings.

Disease pressure this autumn has been extremely high. The chemicals available to us to treat disease are very limited. We have lost Prochloraz, Iprodione, Chlorothalonil and Propiconazole. We can only apply preventively with chemicals that contain significantly less active ingredients. Less A.I means a shorter longevity of effective control. The main drivers for disease to be able to infect a grass plant is thatch, moisture and humidity. Certain grass plants are also more susceptible than other, namely Poa. This autumn has been notably wet and warm with heavy dews and misty mornings. With disease proving harder to control and the ‘safety net’ of effective pesticidal options becoming more limited by the minute, there is now an increased focus on implementation of an effective IPM (integrated pest management) program. Aside from good surface organic matter management, aeration and topdressing, changing sward composition to less susceptible grass species is also key Its been a tough challenge to fend off the disease with fungicide applications only having 7 days longevity before its ineffective because of the high growth rate. Higher grass growth rates occurring late into the Autumn/Winter period means fungicide actives are removed in the grass clippings at a faster rate. The disease is now under control but unfortunately there is some scaring present. Every effort will be made to have recovery of these scars before the soil temperatures drop, halting growth

As always, thank you for taking the time to read this blog Mark Course Manager