Having had a bit of respite in June the wet weather came back with a vengeance to start July. Even before the month was half way through, it became the wettest so far this year, which says a lot coming in one of the wettest periods for over a decade.
Temperatures also continued to be well below average, but we finally saw a good spell of warmth to end the month which was most welcome and the course quickly reverted to it’s usual, firm & fast playing characteristics.
Course Maintenance
During difficult periods of weather, we just have to deal with whatever comes and we all know how unpredictable it can be in the UK. July was just a question of doing what we could and at times, picking up the pieces after some very destructive spells of rain.
Reinstating bunkers becomes a thankless task with time and effort often wasted, as one downpour follows another.
Wet grass becomes difficult to mow and at times the course has to be left to drain off, even just to get machinery out safely. The team have had to continue to go above and beyond, which has been vital and a great credit again to them.
With so much rain, there has been no need to get use out of the upgraded irrigation system and the course is still usually green for July.
Using Data
Over the years we have tried to be as organised as we can and part of this is recording data and keeping records. Along with rainfall, temperatures, course closures we also use spreadsheets to keep track of where we spend our time on maintenance. This is extremely useful for analysis and it can help us to make better decisions.
One thing you can see is how our work is directly impacted by differing weather patterns.
The below charts show two separate weeks, one recent and one from two years ago. Both are considerably different and reveal how the different conditions alter what we can and need to work on.
The first shows the first week in July this year which was incredibly wet, with 146mm of rain falling in seven days. This is an incredible amount even by this years numbers and to put it in perspective, this meant over 150 million liters of water fell on the course in only a week!!
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The above chart shows how time consuming the bunkers can be during wet periods. In this particular week the bunkers took up more of our time than any other area. This isn’t an isolated occurrence either and it certainly makes you question the rationale for bunkers on the course. However, bunkers do provide strategic value and visual appeal and can often be the difference between an average hole or a great one, so it’s a difficult balance to strike.
When taking a step back though, it is hard to justify spending so much time on a part of the course that golfers are meant to avoid!
Another area above shows we spent 8 hours repairing washed out paths. This isn’t a routine task, in fact a normal season this wouldn’t even be required at all, but one that we have recently had to do several times.
The second chart above is from two years ago during a period of drought. The stand out issue here is the time spent on irrigation. As you all know this has been largely rectified with a new system well on the way to being installed. However, it does demonstrate how our labor allocation changes quite dramatically.
Summary
So what can we take from the information provided by data collection?
Firstly I hope it shows to everyone the reason why sometimes parts of the course aren’t as we would all like them to be. In an ideal world we would want to be able to rectify any unsatisfactory area immediately, but alas, this is often beyond us.
Secondly we use the information to prioritise areas of the course from day to day, week to week. Most of this prioritising comes from daily visual assessments of the course, which is something that is being done almost all the time as we work. But the data is good when you need to step back and make a more detailed analysis and helps when setting up work programs in advance.
Thirdly, in the longer term we use the data to look out for patterns over more prolonged periods. This can help us to make structural changes to the course to allow for more efficient maintenance. There are many examples of this over the last decade, here are just a few:
- Softening undulations around greens to allow larger machinery to maintain closely mown turf and reduce time spent hand mowing and strimming.
- Removing or reducing bunker size to lower maintenance requirements.
- Transitioning grass species on the greens to reduce the labor intensive practices previously required.
- Cutting and collecting fringing rough to reduce it’s growth rate, reducing it’s mowing frequency from every week in the season ten years ago to two or three cuts annually now.
- Installing a new irrigation system to prevent time consuming repairs.
This shows that to be more efficient in our maintenance, sometimes it takes significant structural work in the off season to achieve, when looking at the bunkers or irrigation system for example.
With regards to changes made on the greens or with the rough, these required a long term strategy where improvements were gradual year on year, but now allow us to provide the standards of course conditions that are now on offer.
We are always assessing our performance and looking at ways to improve and the pleasing thing is we can and will continue to do this.
Although we rarely have time to play the course, we have managed to get out with the clubs on the odd occasion. This is the rewarding part of our job, with the course an absolute joy at the moment!
Along with our own assessments we do still need your feedback. We really appreciate it and it plays a big part on keeping our priorities on point, especially in the short term allocation of our labour.
August
My next update will give some detail on what work will be carried out during the off season as we continue to look for improvements. For now though August will continue to be one of routine maintenance.
Some bad news to report though is that Ryan Chapman took the difficult decision to resign from his post with us. Unfortunately after his knee replacement he no longer feels he can sustain the rigours of the job and wants to safeguard his health going forwards. We fully understand and respect his decision and we all wish Ryan the best for the future.
We are currently on with finding a replacement and having held some interviews, we will make an announcement as soon as we have news.
If possible we may make one or two changes with the bunkers in August while growing conditions are good. We have been questioning the value of the bunker on Cottage Corner fairway for example. With a water hazard on the right along with the large banking on the corner of the dogleg, there really is enough punishment for shots hit right. As such we may fill in this bunker, which will save the extra time required on maintence but will also allow us to more easily mow around the banking. This will also reduce balls being lost on the banking itself.
Thanks for reading and as always please direct any questions to my email and I’ll be more than happy to respond or meet with anyone that wishes to.
Greg
Thanks for this blog, Greg. As I’m away from the course thru injury at present, it’s good to have a way of keeping up to date with developments!
It’ll be good to reinstate my membership in September!
Keep up the great work!!!😁