With the heat continuing, our struggles with the irrigation system have been ongoing. Even after repairing several leaks, changing several sprinklers and repairing several valves, it seems we can’t go more than a couple of days without further problems occurring. However the system is unlikely to have had this much use in many years, therefore it is not surprising that we’ve had these issues.
Another downside of this as well as the obvious, has been we have spent enormous amounts of resources just to be able to water the greens. Unfortunately the problems are not over either, with half the system still down on pressure with further leaks surfacing over the weekend. The week ahead will see us continue to try to rectify these problems and unfortunately this means other planned work may not get completed.
Hopefully we can rectify the problems and turn more focus towards Club Championship preparations. On the plus side at least growth is virtually nonexistent, therefore we haven’t had the pressure of regular mowing. Our hope is to have the greens at their best and all other areas as near to perfect as possible but there may have to be a compromise somewhere.
It does look like there may be some rain in the forecast this week and we really, really could do with this.
We have been able to progress work on Rawcliffe, but again work on the irrigation system has slowed this. All being well after club Championship weekend we should be able to focus a little more time on this project. So far around 300 tons of earth has been moved to make the base for the new green complex. Bunkers have been excavated and these will be incorporated into the complex itself. Once the sub grade is complete, you will be able to see the contouring of how the new Green complex will look with the next stage being to install drains to the green and the bunkers.
Then the gravel layer will be installed following Contours of the sub grade exactly. The next stage will see the rootzone (soil) placed all over the complex at a of depth of 1 foot, again mimicking the contours to give the finished shaping.
After that the final step will be seed and spread cores from our existing greens across the complex, which will then grow and give a finished product that matches well with the existing greens on the courses.
Please be patient, as although we will do everything to give you the best conditions possible, there may be some parts of the course that are looking a little neglected.
Thanks,
Greg