One of the finest examples of modern golf construction in the UK
The 8th on the Castle course
mulch to keep the seed in place. The change to the seeding strategy worked a treat.
Our main agronomic objective through
the grow-in of the greens was to create a full and dense sward as quickly as possible to minimise the chances of annual meadow-grass invasion into gaps. Regular overseeding continued until a full cover of grass was obtained. Occasional non-aggressive brushing was used to refine texture. Hand mowing was carried out as
creeping red fescue (Barcrown and Barpearl), 30% Chewings fescue (Bargreen) and 20% browntop bent (BarKing). A dominance of fescue was required to optimise playing quality (in terms of smoothness, trueness, pace and interaction between ball and turf), minimise vulnerabilities from disease and extreme weather and, ultimately, provide putting surfaces that fitted in with the golfing strategy of the course. The objective for the whole course was to provide fescue dominated surfaces. The establishment of the greens (and the course as a whole) was tackled on a hole-by-hole basis. The first holes (12, 13, 14, 16 and 17) were constructed through the summer of 2005 and seeded during August through to mid September that year. Initially, hydroseeding was used to distribute the seed but this, on the first attempt, did not prove too successful. The strategy was changed to using a drop spreader then pressing the seed into the surface with dimpled tyres. This was followed by an application of a cotton/jute-based
required, with the height of cut being reduced by 1mm increments each week during strong growth until a height of 8mm was reached. After this, heights were reduced by 0.5 mm per week until a height of 6.5-7mm was reached. Regular topdressing with the Levenseat
LV20 sand was applied right through the establishment to smooth out the surface levels and dilute any organic matter at the turf base. Turf Iron rolling was carried out to keep the surfaces firm and avoid them becoming too puffy. With such a sandy rootzone,
appropriate fertiliser inputs were crucial to generate dense turf. Initially, all the greens received a pre-seeding fertiliser of 18:24:5 and then a couple of applications of an organic based nitrogen product to gently ease the seedlings through early establishment. Thereafter, and throughout the 18-24 month establishment period, ammonium sulphate and potassium sulphate were the main nutrients supplied. We wanted to use predominantely ammonium sulphate based products to create healthy growth and also to acidify the turf base
to discourage annual meadow-grass seed germination. It worked beautifully as we had no annual meadow-grass invasion during the establishment phase. We still haven’t.
The quantities of nitrogen were never
really a consideration. We did not want to be constrained by numbers when feeding the greens. It was important to do what was necessary to establish a dense sward. Starvation would only hamper progress and result in thin turf for annual meadow-grass seeds to invade. It was important to avoid over feeding as this would have required aggressive surface preparations and accelerated organic matter accumulation. The greenkeepers skilfully trusted their judgement about progress with the density, vigour, clipping production and colour to dictate fertiliser frequencies. At the end of the first full season, approximately 200kg/ha of nitrogen had been applied. As the greens became a year old, superficial fairy rings occurred with some severity. A programme of intensive wetting agent treatment combined with appropriate inputs of fungicide (azoxystrobin), HydroJecting and careful irrigation management has been employed to keep the symptoms at bay. It is hoped this programme will gradually reduce the problem over the next few years. During the summer of 2007 some dollar spot developed on some of the greens. Like all east coast links courses dominated by fescue, this is becoming an increasing problem that will have to be carefully monitored to avoid undue damage to the turf.
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