Cavendish Golf Club Summer Greens Report
Warning!! So as not to tempt fate, this report contains no mention of the weather!
As it is now July I felt that it would be appropriate to let you all know how things are progressing with the course and, as always, we start with the greens and an insight into how we are trying to manage them to promote finer grasses. Trying to put how we are trying to achieve our objective in a simple understandable sentence is very hard but, if you are interested, then let me indulge you. The best and finest grasses, such as fescues, grow best in the most stressed conditions where there is no fertility. For example, it may be windswept, barren and dry, and the grass is hardly ever cut. Think of any links course or at the top of any peak.
The same principle applies to growing finer grasses on golf courses, more fertility and water creates competition, which only encourages coarser grasses that have a larger leaf surface and can harness more energy from the sun for production of chlorophyll - and a bigger root system which can uptake more water and nutrient. Therefore, what we need to do is limit the fertility and water (if we can) and stress on the finer grasses, which is the fun part! There are literally two kinds of stress, good and bad. Put simply, good = low fertility and little water, with little surface disturbance makes the plant hungry and scavenge for food. Bad = high fertility, lots of water and lots of surface disruption (scarifying) favours weed, grasses that are adaptable and can survive continually being disturbed.
I am very happy with how the greens are
progressing. If you remember, our aims were to reduce the amount of fertiliser used and discourage the poa and coarse grasses that are present on the greens. This year, the poa has been a lot less noticeable, and there is a significant reduction in the amount of coarser grasses. However, as with all these things, it takes time to achieve our goals and, strangely, although the situation is getting better, it is as the poa and coarser grasses get less prominent that they become more visible. Again, as we reduce the fertility and put the poa under stress, I need to be vigilant for diseases, especially anthracnose that attacks weak poa. We are also starting to see some type 1 fairy rings (the yellowish roughly shaped circles). These are normally caused by warm moist conditions at the surface and should disappear quickly as conditions improve. The green speed has been around eight on the stimp which, I feel, is an acceptable “friendly” pace. It is our intention, for open week, to try to push these up to around nine which, in a trial run, we achieved four or five weeks ago.
Rough and Bunkers: What can I say, I am in it more than most of you! The deep rough in certain areas has now be bailed and will be left to grow again. Over a few years this process will help “thin” the grasses. In the meantime enjoy it before it starts growing again! The cut rough, or “semi rough”, is cut, in places, twice a week, and even then it is very hit and miss as to what kind of lie you will get. There is a lot of Yorkshire fog in our semi, and a ball tends to nestle down into it, which creates a bad lie. As yet, there is no way of getting rid of this, short of killing all
the rough off and starting again! There is talk within the industry that
there is a product being developed that will kill only Yorkshire fog but, until that arrives, it might be best to try and keep your ball on the fairway!!
I, along with all of you, find the bunkers in a poor state. We are trying to spot treat the worst bunkers with new sand, but without overdoing it. This is because we may soon be entering a phase of complete bunker renovation and, by replacing large quantities of sand, we could be faced with having to remove it all within the next twelve months. An additional problem is, if we replace too much sand, this will dry and create more problems with the “poached egg” type lie. We are also in a position where we simply cannot edge the bunkers any more, as some already have six inch high lips on them, which are in danger of collapsing and undermining the banks around the greens I hope this brief report has enlightened you, and I will see you out on the course, probably looking for my balls in the deep rough, or repairing bunkers that I have spent an hour trying to get out of!! Pete
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