Golf “
Presentation is everything, from straight lines to emptying bins! I was lucky enough to develop a habit of regular hand cutting wherever I have been so far in my career
The well presented 2nd fairway - on the ‘flat’ part of the course
contour striped during the season and 50/50 during winter to save time and minimise turning in softer conditions.
Tees and approaches are cut at 8mm with 8 bladed cylinders on our Toro 3250 triple mower. We 50/50 cut our tees and stripe our approaches. These areas are cut twice a week. They are also sprayed with selective weedkiller annually. They will get one application of a granular fertiliser to help keep them in good shape during the season. The tees are quite small and can take a battering with wear and divots. They are usually divoted when I can spare the time and I have introduced divot mix bins on the par 3s to encourage golfers to help me out.
The rough is cut at 2 inches right across the course with our John Deere 1545 mower. The rough is cut once a week and the heavy growth areas sometimes twice.
I tend to concentrate on the main areas, such as greens and fairways, and I try to keep whatever help I get on board by giving them a variety of jobs from rough cutting to raking bunkers.
Where does presentation rank?
Presentation is everything, from straight lines to emptying bins! I was lucky enough to
Most of our core members follow our Facebook page, and it’s great for updates on projects, course closures etc.
” Clubhouse and 1st tee 20 I PC APRIL/MAY 2016
develop a habit of regular hand cutting wherever I have been so far in my career. I hand cut most of the time as I feel this provides a better cut and enhances presentation. Small things, like emptying bins, divoting tees and edging yardage discs all helps in producing good presentation.
What end of season and ongoing renovations do you undertake?
It can be difficult to get started as, these days, the grass grows nearly all year round. Our main competitions finish in September, but I’m still cutting in late November. I aim to do greens renovation in early October; usually hollow coring and topdressing. Other stuff, such as bunker rebuilds, will start in December and finish in early March.
Most projects will consist of using a small digger and a turf cutter (which is borrowed from a local club) to cut from our turf nursery and also lift the surrounds of the bunkers I intend doing. I usually just hire a digger for a day or so and do all the digger work at once to minimise the hire cost. The club know some of the bunkers are not up to the standard we require, so money is available to help with costs. Members try and support social and fundraising events to help with course improvements.
How have changing weather patterns affected what you do?
It’s been a nightmare this winter, with temperatures in double figures. We have had constant rainfall that has made life difficult trying to do jobs around the course. Fairways and roughs have been growing all winter and it has been frustrating not being able to cut them, as they were so wet and dangerous to cut on the hill. Keeping an eye on disease outbreaks was on my mind all winter, but I was fortunate to get away with just the one application back in late autumn.
How do you interact the your club members?
I used to have a greenkeeper’s bulletin board, but I think this is a thing of the past as I feel members don’t read notices much. What I have found successful is regular course blogs on our Facebook page. Most of our core members follow our page, and it’s great for updates on projects, course closures etc. It saves them a lot of hassle having to phone up on Saturday mornings to check if the medal is on. I usually take my phone on the course whilst I’m checking the conditions and will put it up before the first tee time, which goes out at 8.00am in winter. Myself and my sub-committee will walk the
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