Staff begin work at 7.00am and finish at 4.30pm with weekend cover provided on a rota basis.
Recent Project Work
The construction of a new water feature on the 2nd and 4th holes, with stonewalls to the existing ditch and new stone bridges, have improved the aesthetics of the course. The base of the ditch was concreted with river stones set in to form weirs. A new pump was installed in the lake to recycle the water back through a 90mm pipe to the headwall where it starts its journey again. A local stonemason was employed and Roger states that “he has done a fantastic job”. Work has begun on clearing the land that will be used for the extension to the course. A further fourteen holes will be constructed on 100 acres of farmland which has not been maintained for thirty years. Fifty of the acres have already been cleaned, ploughed and cultivated and the same process will soon begin on the remaining fifty. Nine existing holes (19-27) will
be redesigned down to four holes allowing space for future hotel development. A new underpass is also planned that will link the old and new courses for access by both players and machinery.
Annual Maintenance Regimes
Greens are mown with a combination of triple and pedestrian mowers depending on the time of the year. Cutting with pedestrian mowers is preferred during the spring and autumn period, especially after any aeration work, as this helps to restore the surface. Greens are cut at 3.5mm in the summer and 5mm at all other times. Tees and approaches are kept at between 6-8mm, fairways at 12mm and semi-rough between 35-50mm.
Fertiliser Programmes
Greens are fed with a cocktail of products using a combination of granular and liquid formulations.
Greens - spring to autumn applications:
• Spray applications of Mivena Granusol 10:10:35+Fe+Trace
• Spray applications of Mivena Granusol 20:0:20+Fe+Trace
• Granular Application of Mivena Granuform 20:6:18+2mg
• Rigby Taylor Breaker Advance used as wetting agent
• Rigby Taylor Microflo cocktail mix 15:2:11+Fe+Trace
• Granular application of Mivena Granuform 15:0:22+Mg+Trace
Tees and approaches:
• Gem Procote. One application in each of the seasons
Fairways:
• Mivena Granupermanen 18:7:15+2mg+Fe - 3-4 months during spring and summer
• Mivena Granumaster 15:0:22 in late summer and autumn/winter
Aeration
As much aeration is done as possible when soil conditions are suitable. The greens are hit hard in early spring and then again at the end of the competition season early October.
The first pass is with the Imants 2.1 metre Shockwave at 250mm depth to decompact the rootzone. This is followed by hollow core aeration with 10mm tines to keep thatch under control.
The final aeration pass is with
the Terra Spike with 12mm tines set at 250mm. The greens are then lightly firmed to restore the surface using the hand mowers. During the growing season the
greens are kept open using pencil 8mm solid tines aerating to 125mm depth on a monthly basis. They are deep scarified with the Allett in the spring and autumn and verticut with thatch removal blades every other week during the season. Greens are scarified and sarrel
rolled to key new bent grass seed into the surface of the greens. Straight sand dressings to
greens and tees helps to keep the surface open. Leighton Buzzard 30 grade sand is used with a light application through the Dakota after each of the aeration treatments. This is vibro/brushed into the surface with Turfworks units on a Greenking 4. The fairways are scarified in spring and autumn with the Trilo SG700.
They are aerated twice a year, once in the autumn with the 2.2 metre HD Imants at 275mm depth and once in the spring with the 2.5 metre vertidrain with 25mm tines set at 250mm depth.
Irrigation
The club has a fully automated Toro Watering system, controlled by a Toro SC3000 controller, that was installed during the construction of the course in 1994. The system uses water from the course’s own lake for greens, tees and approaches. The club are currently upgrading parts of the system to accommodate new pumps and pipe work to increase the flows and performance. Also, a new submersible pump has been fitted to operate the new water features on the 2nd and 4th holes. All of the work was completed by Enviropro H2O.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132