Technical
Luckily, the summer of 2011 was kind and, with ample moisture, the greens recovered well and, one year later, boasted virtually full grass coverage. Fertiliser is kept to an absolute minimum,
with less than 30kg of nitrogen and 60kg of potassium applied per annum. There has also been a policy to use zero phosphates. This was employed to ensure that as little encouragement as possible is given to the annual meadow grass. Because of budgetary constraints, there are no biostimulants such as seaweed applied to the greens, yet this appears to have had little negative affect on the greens and their root development. With only very small quantities of disease susceptible poa present, no fungicide has been applied since 2011 and, with the current programme on the greens working well, there is little chance of any applications in the near future. Because of low nitrogen
Church Stretton Golf Course is set in the stunning south Shropshire countryside
Church Stretton
We began our work at Church Stretton Golf Club in the spring of 2011. The Harry Vardon and James Braid designed course occupies a hill top position in picturesque south Shropshire countryside. The site benefits from free draining soil that holds a high percentage of fescue and bent grasses throughout the course. The club has a small active membership and actively encourages visitors and societies to boost their income.
Clients Expectations
With its free draining characteristics, the members are used to playing on main greens throughout the year. Like many clubs, they require the putting surfaces to be the highest standard possible through the playing season. The greens have very limited irrigation and, therefore, the members are used to the greens becoming firm and are content to play the more traditional running golf game. It is felt that the green speed at Church Stretton should be between 8.5 and 9.5 on the stimpmetre, as this suits its clients as well as its exposed location.
The Greens
The greens at Church Stretton, like Shrewsbury, are soil based in nature, but that is where the similarity ends. The soil base of the greens here is free draining loamy sand. This free draining base supports a fescue and bent dominant sward, with only small pockets of meadow grass in more compacted areas of the greens. When we started working with the club,
the greens were struggling due to drought conditions the previous summer. This dry spell, coupled with a limited irrigation system, had resulted in areas of grass loss. The greens have no fixed head sprinklers and, instead, rely on hand watering through hoses or the use of portable sprinklers.
114 I PC DECEMBER/JANUARY 2015
The root system of the bent and fescue sward holding this soil sample sogether
and bent have any long term future. For this reason, the greens were over
seeded with straight fescue, as it was ultimately the grass species we desired, even over bent. The overseeding was problematic at first as soil temperatures limited germination. But once soil temperatures started to rise, good germination and establishment of the fescue was achieved. To help the greens endure periods of
drought, a full wetting agent programme was employed. This has aided water penetration into the greens, and helped re-wet areas that had become hydrophobic.
Because of the nature
of the course, getting water pressure to the top is problematic, so much so that the 10th and 13th greens at the furthest end of the course only register 0.25 bar of water pressure. In this hostile environment, only fescue
Quality fescue and bent putting surfaces at Church Stretton
inputs, the greens are susceptible to red thread disease, however, this has no affect on the putting surface and, instead, this cosmetic disease is treated with small application of nitrogen. In contrast to Shrewsbury, the cutting
heights at Church Stretton range from 3.5mm in the summer to 5mm in the winter. The greens are brushed regularly to pick up any lateral growth from the bent grass. The brushing helps blend the bent grass with the finer leafed fescue and this, in turn, has a positive affect on the quality of ball roll and greens speed. Even before we started working with
Church Stretton, the club had a relatively extensive topdressing programme, applying approximately 90 tonnes of dressing over 8000 square metres of greens. Although this is less than 120 tonnes applied at Shrewsbury, it is more than enough to control organic build up within the greens profile.
With us wanting to retain moisture in the
greens, it was decided to stick with the sand and compost mixture the club had been applying. This would not just help the green retain moisture but, when applied, would also provide the greens with small amounts of organic nitrogen. Because the club doesn’t have an
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