October 2017

End of Summer update 2017

Weather

Well the summer defiantly through up some surprises this year, from the dry sunny start to the season then the wet stormy mid-July and now to the one day nice and hot to the next pouring down and cold. The weather really does throw us some curve balls in this country.

What a difference a spray makes

It has been quite evident that spraying a wetting agent has helped us recover from the drought really well. As we are a downland golf course we don’t mind hard dry surfaces however we do need to keep grass cover when the rains come back. We spray once a month when the rain is falling this could be at 6am or 6pm as soon as we see the rain coming we get the sprayer out and apply a wetting agent along with some seaweed, the seaweed is great for drought stress and will help the recovery after drought conditions. Now we have the sprayer we can apply feed and growth regulator as and when we need to. Products applied in the right conditions really do work well.    

This years renovation Process

August is the best time to aerate as a lot of people go on holiday and normally the weather conditions are in our favour. This year we decided to renovate the chipping green one week before we carried out the work on the rest of the course, this is a good marker for everyone to see how the recovery is going. Unfortunately the havens opened when we were carrying out this work but we managed to get it done.

 

First we hollow tined the greens using an 8mm hollow side eject tine. (FACT LINE!! these tines are £11.50 each, we have 30 tines on the machine and they last for about 36 holes) this was carried out with a walk behind machine. The lucky person who operated this machine walked 24 miles Mainly backwards to complete the job. Next we have a machine to collect all the cores, this is a lot easier than picking by hand, yes we used to do that!!! when all the cores have been collected one greenkeeper double scarifed the green on two different angels, two greenkeepers followed and blew the green with a backpack blower, blowing as much debris of as possible. And finally the greens were cut with two hand mowers, each person walked around 30 miles to complete this task. Once the greens were cut and cleared we top dressed the following day applying around 1000kg of sand per 500sqm (per average green). This was brushed into the turf, some going into the holes and some into the scarify lines. We don’t mind leaving some holes open as the grass grows laterally and will cover over the holes. (Remember the roots grow in the air within the soil rather than in the soil). The greenkeepers arrived on site at 0530 on the Monday morning and left at just after 1900 the same evening. All work was carried out on the Monday apart from the dressing this was completed on the Tuesday morning.

Winter 2016-17

Winter update 2016-17

We have many little projects on the go at the moment, all as we work outside are weather dependent.

The Range

The range area is an important part of the golf club and has been in need of a face lift for some years now.We have had safety issues with people hitting off the temporary mats while people are on the grass tee. This was mainly down to not enough matting area for a number of people to practice at the same time. We have started to install 8 mated areas well behind the grass tee, this give us more area to hit into with out losing balls over the back net and give us 300% more teeing area for you to hit from.

• First we made 8 frames out of some 6 x 2 joists, 
• We then set them out behind the grass tee alongside the old raised tee. 
• Then the soil was dug out from the old tee to level the new area in order to install the mat frames, 
• The excess spoil was taken to the middle of the range to shape an area for you all to aim at, this is higher at the back down to nothing at the front, its 100 yards from the new tees.
• We filled the frames with a type 1 hardcore then topped them with sand before the mats got laid.
• The surrounding area has been top soiled and turfed.

We will be keeping a close eye on the turf to see when we can open the to you all, the turf needs to have knitted in the the ground before we use it.

 The 16th Ladies Tee

The forward ladies tee has now had some shaping done and is close to top soiling. the center of the tee will be dug out drainage installed and some 50/50 sand soil rootzone will be tracked in to make the top of the teeing area.

Roping off areas on the 3rd 4th and 5th tees

We have installed some lines of 100 mm round post and rope close to the tees that normally get warn. this is to manage traffic going on and off the tees. the posts are in plastic sockets therefore can be taken out in the summer and replaced with a cover. this will free up the much needed removable posts for other areas on the course.

Deep Rough

The deep rough has been cut and collected this was carried out late October, We took 60 bales off all the areas we cut. once cut we sprayed the first two strips with a herbicide to take out the thicker rye grasses, we did have a frost not long after spraying so we will have to see if the product got into the plant to do its job.

The 12th  Bunkers & Rock Face

We started on the 12th rock face back in the summer, A bit of a hard job we all felt like mountain goats but the fruits of our labor were soon visible for all to see. We still have work to do on the rock face, i.e. weeding, and a spray of herbicide closer to next spring. 

The two green side bunkers will be reshaped drained and re-vetted. The small front bunker will be filled in and turfed. this work will depend on the gods above regarding rain snow and what ever else they want to through at us...

14th drainage

As you all know the walk off area from the 14th tee or LHS of the 13th green gets very wet. this becomes unsightly and very slippery. We have had this on our plan for the last few years but weather conditions have made defer the work until dryer conditions were here.

  

This year update

        

 

Summer 2016

This summer started with very wet and mild conditions leading to growth rates far higher than usual.  Some of this was controlled with applications of [growth regulator] primo maxx to fairways, tees and greens.  Obviously it isn’t viable to apply a growth regulator on rough areas. Consequently, cutting frequency increased in and around the coarser areas. 

July started with very hot weather, temperatures actually reaching up to 30 degrees at times and night temperatures staying above the 20-degree mark.  A good deal of time was spent applying wetting agents and hand watering collars and greens to prolong photosynthesis (which makes the grass green!).  

These conditions have enabled us to apply dressing at a good rate this year, applying over 100 tonnes between January and the end of July, this is very effective when it comes to diluting our thatch layer and will help greens to be a little truer & firmer in the winter. 

To minimise erratic growth we have continued to apply liquid feeds with Primo Maxx (The active ingredient in Primo Maxx, is trinexapac-ethyl, this agent causes a temporary halt to the production of gibberellic acid, a plant growth hormone which is responsible for the top growth of the plant. Trinexapac-ethyl is taken up by the foliage of the grass plant and is translocated systemically to the growing point of the plant. After application the turf grass grows more slowly than in untreated areas, with shorter leaf blades, this product is used on our tees, greens and fairways). 

Although we have been using a growth regulator the grass sward can still thicken up to give the surface a woolly look and can slow the ball roll and affect the trueness of the greens. To combat this scruffy look we use vertical cutting (or as we call it a “verti-cut”), it looks like this:

Vertical mowing prunes the grasses and will thin out the surface also improving tillering and stolon formation. In time this increases turf density and is very important for the maintenance of fine turf areas. 

We were fortunate to be in a position to purchase a new unit for this process directly from the home of golf, St Andrews. 

Greens maintenance: Renovations started in mid-August. We used a deep [solid] tine on greens to a depth of 210mm with a 10mm tine then the greens were hollow cored with an 8mm [micro]hollow tine. followed by a double pass with the scarify units set to 6mm below the surface. Ordinarily we don’t undertake work this invasive nor disruptive to the playing surface, however, it was critical that we hit them hard as there was an obvious and large build up of thatch mainly down to mild growing conditions throughout the last two winters. 

 

The Greens Staff applied a 90 – 10 sand and fen soil top dressing this was brushed into the holes using a mechanical brush and blowers. The surface was slightly uneven throughout the process, however it is well on its way to recovery (as at 23rd August). With the weather conditions as they are our team will be on the lookout for anthracnose (this is a foliar disease or a basal rot of the lower stem). Anthracnose is normally stress driven, in this case it likely caused by the high heat levels we had back in July, low cutting heights, and heavy wear. We will be applying a liquid feed little and often throughout the next month or so in order to keep the grass plant as healthy as possible.  With luck this should be enough to prevent an outbreak.

Forward Maintenance: The plan is to deep tine around November with continued light aeration in the form of solid star tining and sarel rolling in between, this is not particularly invasive and should not cause much of a problem to the ball roll. (Sarel rolling is a form of light aeration, essentially it is a steel roller with hundreds of minuscule 25mm long 6mm wide spikes), the idea is to make lots of small holes in the surface to get air into the thatch layer and to make the surface drain better after all the traffic from golfers and cutting machines have been over them. It also creates channels for topdressing to go in to this helping us dilute the thatch layer. 

Also in the plan is to carry out some thatch removal in mid-winter followed by applications of sand. This could be in the form of scarification or micro-coring, it is weather dependant and the decision will be made closer to the time. We will try and carry out all aeration in a manner where we will have minimal disturbance to the playing surface with maximum long term benefits.

Tees: Renovations will take place in early September. We will be deep tinning and scarifying these areas. The tees will have the blocks moved daily and the divots repaired. The height of cut will remain at 10mm for September and October but raise up to 13mm for the winter. Liquid feeds will be applied along with a growth regulator until the end of September again depending on the weather.

Fairways:  Fairways will be brushed and cut to remove all the lateral growth, however, this can only be done in dry conditions.

Rough: We will start to cut our deep rough in September, this will be cut and bailed then some areas sprayed with rescue. Rescue is a highly selective grass herbicide, for the removal of Ryegrass whilst leaving the fine turf grasses to fill in. The areas we will spray will turn yellow to start with then recover over time. This work is again weather dependant but needs to be complete by the end of October. 

Projects

2nd Fairway

The big walnut tree on the right hand side of the 2nd fairway fell down in the strong winds last winter. We left it there for the summer to keep a bit of character in the hole, ultimately we will remove the tree but until then it remains GUR. After discussions with Donald Steel we have decided to bring in a tree spade to move some trees to the RHS of the fairway to replace the dead walnut, we will choose a selection of established tree, all from the estate, this means they will have a very good chance of survival given that the already thrive in our chalky soil.   

3rd & 9th 

We will continue to clear under the trees in run off areas, principally to assist with ball location and of course speed up play.

11th Fairway

As on 2, the dead tree will be removed this winter but until removal it remains GUR.

12th renovation

We will be renovating our signature hole the 12th this year. We would like to restore the 12th hole’s former glory and to have it play as Donald Steel originally intended. We will work on the bunkers, rock face and some of the vegetation surrounding the green and tee. We will be filling in the middle front bunker and reshaping the two remaining bunkers on the left and right. The rock face will be scraped with the weed removed and spoil taken away returning it to a “White Cliff’s” look. 

14th Drainage

There will be a series of drains installed to the left hand side of the 13th green on the walk off from the 14th tee. This area is one of the only areas on the golf course that get really wet and stays wet for most of the winter. This work will be carried out in late September before the area gets too wet to work on.

16th Ladies tee

We will be completing the construction of a new tee on the 16th for the ladies, this will be in the deep rough to the right hand side of the hole along the tree line. Work on this area started last year but the weather took hold and we could not carry on. We will start this project in October.

Range

The decision has been made to dig up the raised synthetic driving tee behind the mats that we installed last year and move it onto the range to create a target to aim at.  We will also be laying at least one more synthetic tee for winter use.  Additionally we will be doing more than routine renovation to the grass teeing areas so that next season they will be properly fit for purpose.

Longer Term

Having had extensive conversations with Donald Steel we have developed a number of ideas which will warrant further consideration over the next two to three years.  These include:

6th Bunker.  Our plan is to fill in the front most of the bunkers as Mr Steel feels that it is overly penal to play from one and potentially find yourself in the next.

Tree planting.  As part of our effort to wage a war on slow play we’ve decided to move some mature trees to strategic points on the course to provide reference points for estimating where their ball may have come to rest.  This will assist members, guests and visitors alike in locating stray shots.

We are looking also at improving the paths around the course.  Our immediate focus will be to the left hand side of the 3rd hole which does get churned up a little during the winter months.  Any new or improved paths will mirror the work conducted last year between 15 & 16.

The bunkers on 13 and 14 are less than perfect.  We will look to improve the look and playability of these bunkers over the next two to three years.  It is unlikely that this will involve re-vetting…

As previously mentioned we will attempt to reduce the amount of invasive rye grass in the long rough.  Rye grass is the short, thick grass which hides your ball and makes location problematic.  We will continue to apply the selective herbicide “Rescue” in the areas immediately adjacent to the fairways so that less wild shots are less harshly punished than others…  This is a 4 – 5 year programme but should help us to manage our rough in a fashion similar to Bearwood Lakes or The Grove.

Staff

There has been quite a big change in our green keeping team this summer with two very experienced members of staff leaving in April. Not the best time to be two experienced guys down, however we managed to shuffle some things around a bit and the guys really dug deep to not let the standards drop and even slightly raise standards this year. I’m really happy with the team around me, Joe Drummond has stepped up to Deputy Course Manager, and we have managed to get an old colleague of mine that has been gaining great experience at Wentworth for the last two years he is our First Assistant Greenkeeper. Mike Davey is another new member of our staff and he brings valuable experience from two local golf clubs. James Downey has moved internally from the bar and is ¾ the way through his NVQ 2 in sports turf maintenance and is doing great. We also have Jon Owin. He has been contracting for us and is also a great team member.  Last but not least we have our summer greenkeeper that will be leaving us 1st of September to go back to Cardiff University studying rat protein!!!!  All round we have a great team that will put in that extra shift to make a difference on the golf course.   

Course Updates/Information

As a reminder for members we update the twitter feed @harleyfordgreens daily this is then fed into the homepage of the website – please keep an eye out for information re: planned and unplanned maintenance. 

For those without twitter/internet access we will of course continue to post relevant information on the board immediately adjacent to the range ball dispenser.

Deep aeration

Green Aeration

Deep Aeration

Work started on the 8th August. This work has now been completed, the holes will stay open until we hollow core scarify and top dress week commencing 15/08/2016. 

This work is important for the long-term benefit of the greens.

Deep aeration will improve surface drainage, relieve compaction, and generate good gas exchange allowing for greater stress tolerance of the turf. It also stimulates beneficial bacteria within the soil profile and helps release locked up nutrients, improving colour and growth, all these factors are important in producing top quality playing surfaces.

We believe in minimal disturbance therefore we have been using 10mm solid tines going down to a depth of 210mm then rolled with the true turf roller.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Craig Earnshaw

Golf Course Manager

deep tine walk on and off areas

Deep Tining walk on and off areas

As you are all aware the weather this winter has been somewhat inclement, we kept our members and guests out playing on full greens and tees throughout this period.

With pleasure there’s always a little pain! We now need to look after all the walk on walk off areas and get them back in a decent state for that shot that just misses the green. (I know that one well).

Our plan over the next month or so is to deep tine, dress and apply a granular feed to theses areas, all this work will give the areas a head start for the season and when we next get some growth. We are using a 19mm time going down between 150 & 200mm. We will be using a sports grade grit sand dressed over the tine holes (WE WILL NOT FILL THE HOLES)

The main reason for deep tining is to relieve compaction and to help move water from the surface. We hope this will not inconvenience you too much.

March course update

Over the last month

Last month:February gave us a slight break in the weather, a little colder but less in the way of rain consequently we were able to catch up on some of the work which had slipped in our programme.

We have a two key projects ongoing:

·         The 15^th path is coming along well with just the topping to put down and roll in, with a little tidy up work around the edges.

·         Artificial range tees; we hope to complete at least two of these before the end of March.  The remainder will be finished as our work load allows but in any event before they're required for next winter.

Members will be aware we now have the new Toro Procore which we use for fine turf maintenance, we had a nice window in the weather to hollow core the greens and apply a sand based topdressing.  We used very small tines thus leaving very little disturbance. The aim is to carry out this task twice through spring.  The disturbance next time will be minimal as we should by then have good growing conditions leading to a rapid recovery.

Greens: We will be hollow coring greens this month with a very small 8mm tine depending on the weather we would like to get a scarify or some sort of vertical cutting on the greens to rip out more of the matted organic layer and any moss that has nestled in throughout the winter. The weather conditions will play a big part in timing of this task and may have to be carried out in April. We will continue to Sarol roll, along with additional sand dressings towards the end of the month. The aim this year is to continue hand mowing throughout March with the Height of cut being lowered from 5.75mm down to 5mm towards the end of the month, again if weather is properly accommodating.

Tees:The tees are a little warn due to more play and us being open more than others in the area through the very wet winter, on the plus side we have had good growth through-out and recovery has been good. I am confident that tees will be in great condition for the start to the golfing season. We will carry out our spring renovations towards the end of this month with a deep scarify along with some deep tines going down at least 250mm! 

Fairways:  Fairways will be sprayed with a selective herbicide as soon as is possible, this has become necessary due to a build-up of chick weed in many of the fairways. This has occurred due to the historic use of a compost product had this weed seed within it. The strategy is to kill the weed early, then we will have the Spring to thicken out the sward. We are looking to apply a wetting agent to fairways this year; this will need to be carried out as early as possible for the rains to wash the product into the turf and soil. 

• Bunkers to be edged
• Turf winter worn areas
• Bunker sand levels to be checked and moved around.
• Finish the range tees with artificial turf.
• Fill newly renovated bunkers on the 6^th
• Finish the path on the 15th

Craig Earnshaw

Golf Course Manager

Fairway pecking

Fairway pecking

As you will have seen we have had some damage to certain fairways here at Harleyford. The 15^th is worst hit however we also have damage on the 9th, 11th 13th & 14th fairways. The principle issue is that grubs live just under the surface eating the root of the grass plant, this can cause a yellowing or weakening of the turf in spring. The main problem we have seen is bird pecking on the fairways, this is when birds start pecking looking for the grubs to eat.

Quick facts

Common name: Chafer Grub, Garden Chafer

Scientific name: Phyllopertha Horticla

Area affected: Golf greens, tees, fairways.

Symptoms:  Chunks of turf pulled back by birds foxes or badgers

Activity: Grubs September to April Beetles May – June

  

What are they?

Chafer grubs are soil dwelling larvae of the chafer beetle. Depending on the species of the chafer they feed on decaying plant material or plant roots. Some species do not cause damage to turf as they live in plant borders and compost heaps, however there are several species that feed on turf roots and can cause problems on the golf course. The main problem are there predators.

  

Symptoms

Some species of chafer grub eat the roots of grasses and other plants. Evidence of their activities can be seen in a number of ways:

• Damage to turf is most obvious in spring when the grubs are reaching maturity
• Patches of the turf may become yellowish
• Birds, particularly of the crow family (e.g. Jays, Magpies, Rooks Jackdaws and Crows), and badgers and foxes tear up turf in order to access the grubs to feed on them
• Damaging infestations can be highly localised and sporadic hitting different fairways and tees around the course.
• Chafer grubs can be found in the soil under the loose turf. They have stout white bodies curved in a C shape, light brown heads, with three pairs of legs at the head end.
• Other less troublesome species of chafer grubs can also occur in turf and garden borders, such as the cockchafer
• Similar root damage in turf areas can also be caused by leatherjackets. Birds and foxes will also try to find theses under the turf and cause damage.

Control

Chemical control

There are currently no chemical controls for garden chafer grubs or Leatherjackets in the amenity and sports turf industry. The active ingredient (Chlorpyrifos) used to kill leatherjackets was withdrawn overnight on the 31^st August 2015. Merit turf (Imidacloprid) was taken off the market in October 2015 and all stock has to be used by October 2016. Luckily we have one hectare in stock of merit turf to use in May on the 15^th and 16^th fairways. Additionally this is a very expensive treatment which can run into 5 figures to complete.

Non-chemical control

• Repair damaged turf by re-sowing with grass seed or laying turf in April when the chafer grubs have moved deeper into the soil to pupate.
• Shooting and trapping and using bangers to move the birds that are doing the damage away, but there are so many this year it’s a never ending task.  
• You can buy pathogenic nematodes, usually Heterorhabditis bacteriophora, which attack the larvae by infecting them with a fatal bacterial disease. These microscopic animals can be watered into the Turf when the ground is moist and soil temperature range between 12-20ºC (55-68ºF). This biological control is available by mail order from our chemical suppliers. The turf around the edge of affected areas should be targeted to deal with larvae spreading out from infestation “hot spots”. However, by the time areas of infestation become apparent, the soil may be too cold for nematodes to be effective. As a preventive measure, we are looking apply nematodes around September. Nematodes should be applied no longer than 5 days after delivery, We may have to water in before and after application to ensure the soil is sufficiently moist for nematode activity and survival. Nemitodes are a little hit and miss, now nemitodes are the only thing on the market to deal with this problem.

Another angle we are going to try is trapping the male beetle, this is for two reasons the first is to see when they are active to apply the merit turf that we have in stock. The other is to reduce the population by trapping them.

The Garden Chafer Trap is a simple but effective product that can allow more accurate treatment timings against the larval stage of this destructive pest.

The trap will catch adult beetles and give an early warning of chafer grub activity. The trap also helps to reduce the number of egg laying adults in the surrounding area. Each trap is supplied with a powerful pheromone, which attracts male Garden Chafer beetles.

Key points:

• The trap will be set in May and will be hung 50 - 100cm above ground level. There will be several traps around the problem areas. Mainly around the 14^th and 15^th fairways. 
• One trap will cover 2000m² or half an acre.
• The trap is supplied with pheromone bait which lasts for up to 6 weeks.

I hope this gives you an insight on what we are doing to get on top of this problem for next year.