Rod's greens newsletter
This week about forty bullocks from the neighbouring farm broke onto the course and have caused significant damage to the 5th & 6th greens and also to several bunkers. The fairways have also been affected. As I write, Jason is repairing the greens and we have decided that the most satisfactory solution is to micro hollow tine the two greens and top-dress today. Micro hollow tining and top-dressing is scheduled for early September anyway so we are bringing this forward for these two greens.
As you are probably aware, it is the Captain’s Final on Sunday and the other major finals this weekend. I am very sorry that this damage has occurred and we are doing our best to repair the damage. The bullocks gained access to the course via the gate on the public footpath adjacent to the seventh fairway – the gate post is rotten and the bullocks forced their way through this small gap.
The Club is in contact with the farmer and the local authority regarding the security of the gate/stile to ensure this does not happen again.
Finally, I should like to thank Alex Evans, Dale Heggarty & Jason Parry for helping to control the bullocks pending the arrival of the farm staff who returned them to their own field. Now to other matters on the course. I have received several complaints/suggestions about the bunkers recently, but the problem is the rain pattern throughout August. We have had a very annoying sequence of dry weather on one day followed by heavy rain the next – usually the day after we have raked the bunkers. Then we have another couple of dry days followed by overnight rain which once again leaves the bunkers saturated and compacted. Many bunkers take a long time to dry out and it is impossible to rake effectively wet sand. Jason has sent his team out to rake as many of the greenside bunkers as possible as and when they are dry enough. So, whilst I am sorry that the bunkers have been in poor condition recently, there is very little more we can do. Having said that, Jason has suggested that we should try to “mix” our sand types to see if that will help. We shall order what is called “bunker 4” sand this week to add to the existing “bunker 1” sand presently in our bunkers. I cannot guarantee success as all sand compacts with rainfall, but it’s worth a try.
Alistair Beggs STRI Agronomist visited a couple of weeks ago for our usual August examination of the course and to take the measurements on our greens. I am pleased to report that the test greens (4th, 9th & 15th) are all performing very well, with the smoothness & trueness figures being the best we have recorded. Perhaps just as importantly, all three greens show a consistency not seen previously. The full report will be on the website shortly. I intended writing an item about pitch marks on the greens this week, but bearing in mind the damage caused by the bullocks, I shall leave it until next week!
Best wishes Rod Backhouse
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