“We have, by no means, met our targets but we are well on the way”
water and are more tolerant to fungal attack. We have, by no means, met our target, we still have problem areas, but we are well on our way, we still need to promote the finer fescue grasses. We also still need to culturally discourage the weaker Poa grass. This process will continue over many more years so we avoid disturbing the playing surface, although the greens will be firmer than perhaps some would like.
What other initiatives have been implemented?
We encouraged a natural habitat for many different varieties of flora and fauna. We have some protected species so we have encouraged long grass areas, constructed new ponds and kept the woodland as natural as possible. We have built nest boxes for a variety of birds from blue tits to owls; happily most of the sixty new nest boxes were soon occupied. The last few years we have seen a marked improvement with the wildlife on the course.
What was achieved in 2006?
We implemented an intensive over-seeding programme with pure fescue. We used both Chewings Fescue & Slender Creeping Red Fescue and sowed four times at 25g sq metre each time. We used 1000 kg of fescue seed and the results were immense. This showed us that the environment was now right for fescue and not meadow grass.
During the hot spell the annual meadow grass suffered severely but, instead of feeding and watering it, we let the weed grass deteriorate - when the Poa gets anthracnose you know that the nutrient level is on the limit. We used a small application of Sulphate of Ammonia which enabled the bents fescue to dominate.
We use dry spells as a tool
to stress out the Poa but 2006 was exceptional and the loss was dramatic. This is not something I would normally recommend but we had the full support of the committee to take this great opportunity to further reduce the meadow grass and introduce more fescue. It was an excellent time for encouraging the finer grasses and we believe we have taken a few extra steps up the ‘sustainable’ ladder We took the greens to the limit. As expected, this caused some consternation from members. So we stepped up our
communication methods and held an extra Questions & Answers night for the members to voice their concerns. I conducted a 20 minute Power Point presentation to them on the benefits of sustainable golf and then opened up the floor to questions. Keeping everybody at the club informed is crucial. I am very lucky to have such a dedicated green’s chairman in Wynford Davies who, along with his committee and club members, has continued to support me and my staff 100%.
What ongoing work has been undertaken?
Before we started seeding, we had to make sure the environment was right for finer grasses, otherwise we would have just been throwing expensive seed away!
Over the past six years we
have reduced nitrogen feed from 280kg per hectare to 25kg. We now hand water only, which has considerably reduced the amount we use. We cut no lower than 5mm. We’ve improved drainage, reduced compaction and eliminated thatch problems. We now topdress a little and often (150 ton/per year) and have eliminated Black Layer by using granular charcoal.
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