Cutting it ...
The mowing regimes at Woodbury Park are as follows:- Site
Mower Type Greens Tees Fairways Jacobsen
Greens King 6 5mm 4mm 3mm Triple cylinder
Greens King 6 and 22” pgm 15mm 10mm 10mm Pedestrian cylinder
Jacobsen
LS3800 Multi 22mm 17mm 15mm Gang cylinder
Semi Rough Jacobsen AR250 rotary
Rough Jacobsen 50mm 50mm 50mm 90/16 rotary
35mm 35mm 35mm Height of Cut Winter Summer Tour
Above: Members of the PGA Seniors Tour on the beautifully manicured practice putting area
Right: IAN CHENERY at the office
Ian was grateful for the dry weather leading up to the event. He prefers it to be dry so that he is in complete control of the grass growth on the course. They have a full course valve-in-head irrigation system on greens, aprons, tees and fairways, allowing total control of the course’s water requirements. Ian has a fully computerised GPS radio linked irrigation system that allows him, via a palm top computer, to switch on any individual sprinkler at any given time. The irrigation system is fed by a series
of lakes and reservoirs built into the course. However they only have an extraction licence to pull off 18,000m3 per year from these lakes, and an extra extraction licence to pull a further 10,000m3
from the bore holes on the
course. The irrigation system is designed to
deliver, when set at 100% output, the following rates:-
• 25mm a week for greens • 18mm a week tees • 15mm a week fairways However, Ian rarely has to do this. He only waters as necessary, usually targeting specific dry spots. The greens, a total of 2.2 hectares, are mowed daily. The mowing height for the Senior’s event is 3mm, keeping it at this height for two weeks. As soon as the event is finished, the cut is returned to 4mm to prevent the sward from becoming stressed. Ian takes stimpmeter readings to check
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the speed of the greens, which are usually running about 9 feet during the summer. Greens speed
during the Seniors event were increased to 11.5 feet.
They achieved this speed by increasing mowing and green preparations prior to and during the event. The frequency of cutting was upped to twice daily. Staff came in at 5.00am. Mowing all greens was undertaken morning and night, cutting two ways each time and following up with a rolling programme using the triples fitted with roller units. It takes the team about 3 hours to complete each cutting cycle.
The morning stint is completed about 8.00am, the staff then remain on site all day, ready to undertake any unforeseen works that might be required. All the staff are issued with radios for communication purposes, so they are in full control and ready to work when and if required. Once the last player has finished the team go out to re-mow and tidy the course. This will include repairing divots and raking all 46 bunkers.
The worst situation for Ian regarding the bunkers is a sudden heavy downpour. It usually takes three days alone to rake the sand back up the faces, a time consuming job. The holes are changed daily for the
Seniors event with the Tour committee marking out where the pin positions will be. The holes are then cut by Simon, Ian’s assistant course manager. Ian’s whole management plan for the course for the year is geared around the Seniors event. He usually sets the dates of the tour in his diary and works back to plan all the fertiliser, mowing and topdressing regimes. The feeding programme for the
greens involves ongoing cycles of work. Headland Tricure is usually applied and a super concentrate seaweed extract every five weeks during the playing season April-September, which is backed up with the annual spring, summer and autumn fertiliser feeds.
He applies a fine granular 8-0-0 NPK in the spring, followed by applications of a 13-0-15 NPK in the summer and finally an autumn/winter feed of 4-0-4 with Fe in September. The tees receive applications of summer 28-3-15 NPK fertiliser during the growing season and the fairways and football pitch get a shot of 30-3-9 to keep them going.
Aeration, scarification and top dressing is an ongoing process, working with the weather. Ian aims to hollow core once a year, vertidrain twice a year and solid
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