Golf
decide to replace the existing turf as opposed to re-seeding and, as a result of that work, the greens here have improved consistently year on year.” “Our only course irrigation system is that serving the greens, installed by North Staffs Irrigation and opened on President’s day in 1979. We did, at the time, manage to secure a Welsh Development Agency grant of £6,000 towards the total cost of £17,000.” “The changes we are experiencing to our particular microclimate have resulted in events like November 2010, when we experienced a high average monthly temperature of 8.5O
C. This was followed
by snow and frost, resulting in no golf being played for about two months. Our annual rainfall figures have also fluctuated in recent years with a reduction, to date, in the 2011 figure, to around 11.5 inches when records show that we have been more accustomed to a figure of around 29 inches!” “Another example is May this year, when temperatures ranged from 15O
20O
C during daylight hours and fell to as low as minus 1O
C overnight. Last winter,
for the first time, we even experienced snow mould on the greens as a result of snow falling on moist greens and the snow blanket producing the warm conditions required to produce the fungi.”
“Our exposed location does mean we
are a little on the cautious side where cut heights around the course are concerned. As a rule of thumb, with the greens, we work on the basis of 4.5-5mm through spring, moving down to 2.5-3mm as growth kicks in and through the summer months. From October we will revert back to 4.5-5mm. On tees we maintain at 12.5- 13mm and, on fairways, because of the lie of the land, we stick to around 16-18mm area.”
C to
“Our location on The Hill does mean that we always get growth later in the year than surrounding lower level courses anyway. Other issues we have had to cope with over the years have included foot and mouth outbreaks, most recently in
2002, and damage to greens caused by vandals, when a toxic substance was scattered on the 4th, 5th, 6th and 15th greens. We also suffer from rabbit and badger damage, but the sheep left The Hill at the end of the 1970s when the club purchased the historical grazing rights. I do love to see the buzzards hovering over the course.”
“I think it is fair to say that climate change and global warming will continue to affect the way we greenkeepers maintain our courses. I have kept a daily diary for the past thirty years and the changes in our approach here have been quite radical over the intervening years. Our location does dictate that, whilst we have a basic maintenance plan, we do have to be very flexible within the structure, and be able to react to particular conditions and changes in weather patterns as and when they occur.” “Whilst Llanymynech can certainly be described as a natural golfing environment, we do have to use fertilisers
Playing the 2nd 24 PC DECEMBER/JANUARY 2012
Tee to green are kept immaculate
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