Has spring finally arrived? Well over the last week the weather has certainly helped us to complete the planned aeration on both courses and given the combination of a little rain and warmer temperatures we should see some good recovery from the long winter.

The aeration on the lodge course went really well and we are currently seeing some good recovery from the work, however given we are completing less disruptive aeration work throughout the year due to our organic matter levels being in our required bench mark, it will not be long before good conditions are restored.  The majority of the work was based on 10mm solid tines with localised wet areas on the greens receiving deeper aeration work. In the region of 40 tones of top dressing was applied to greens collars and aprons.

the work on Highgate has been the same as for Lodge last week and below are a number of pictures showing the work completed.

During this period we have also taken the opportunity to solid tines, top dress and seed walk areas and weaker areas around greens and bunkers as shown in the picture below.

All tees have been been verti drained using 18mm tines and top dressed, we then followed up with an application of lawn sand at 20g/ms. this lawn sand will help to promote a little growth and take out any moss or small weeds present in the sward,

Wetting agent has been applied to all greens,collars and aprons this is the first application in our programme of wetting agent application, we aim to apply this every month during the growing season. Wetting agent helps the soil to retain moisture during dry periods but also helps to evenly spread the moisture through out the profile of the soil.

The ladies tee marker stones which needed to be re-cut in line with the new stroke index's have started to be replaced back out on the respective tees.

Its a good sign the new season is with us when you receive your new flags for the season from the supplier, these will be out on the course very soon.

Finally a fantastic picture of what really goes on in some of our environmental areas!