Last week we spent time mowing greens and approaches with our hand mowers, which helps keep up presentation and playability.
It was also the annual Turf Management Exhibition at Harrogate which presents a good opportunity for learning and development. All the team attended for a day and were able to take part in various workshops. This is a vital part of our aim to continually improve and there is always something new to learn.
This week we will be treating the greens with Iron sulphate. They have suffered a little this winter from wear, particularly from play during frozen conditions. There are several reasons for this, but mostly due to the lack of course closure. Drainage installed in recent years has been of huge benefit in this regard with the course recovering quickly after wet weather, but also worth pointing out that we have had a reasonably dry winter so far. The iron will help to boost the health of the turf and also discourage disease which is evident on a couple of greens at the moment.
Many courses protect their greens during frost, some don’t, but in my time here this is the first winter that I have noticed significant damage to the turf. We will continue to monitor the situation and look for ways to improve the situation, but we may also need to review our policy on playing in the frost.
More work will be carried out on the bunkers too, with Toon’s Tier being the next to be readied for the season.
Thanks for reading and I hope to see you out enjoying the course!
Greg