Greens Report – May 2024
It has been a much better month for the course. The rain has been minimal and the course is slowly drying out. There are still plenty of wet areas but we have managed to cover almost the whole rough areas.
The greens are in good shape heading into winter considering how wet it has been.
The roller is back in action and the quicker speed on the greens is definitely noticeable, and we will continue mowing at this height unless we get hit with bad weather again. The protection of our surfaces is more important than speed, and this is a big factor with many of our greens suffering from shade at this time of year. Hopefully more sunny days.
All trees on the course were snipped this month and sprayed with a specific herbicide that will halt weeds for up to six months.
The front nine is now complete with new tee signs.
The tees have stopped growing and the shade is becoming a problem to some. I will be oversowing some RYE seed to some tees this month to help with grass coverage. The boys top dress the divots on tees weekly, however I please ask members to repair any divots they see as it all helps.
The bunkers have been weeded and snipped this month.
The carpark will also be tidied up, and this will be a lot easier when we get a bigger blower later this year.
The 17th bridge has started to rot and fall apart, and I have ordered new material and we will be replacing the bridge next Monday pending the weather.
Whilst we had many days of minimal mowing on the course, we were able to service all machines, and complete a big clean up of the machinery shed.
Considering a very tough wet period, the course looks great, and we are finishing the month with snipping all dams, and following up with black hazard line marking and that will be completed this week.
PITCH MARKS: We are seeing a lot of unrepaired pitch marks. A correctly repaired pitch mark will recover in 24 hours. An unrepaired pitch mark left unattended for two hours will take up to two months (or longer) to recover. A pitch mark that is incorrectly repaired can take up to four weeks to effectively recover. Your help with repairing your ball marks will dramatically help with our surfaces especially as our greens are so small.
ANDY BOSWELL – COURSE SUPERINTENDENT