As I write this post we are experiencing some very wet and windy weather not very seasonal!

We are taking this opportunity when we are limited with the jobs we can complete out the courses to get some much need work completed inside the maintenance facility. Tee balls are beginning painted along with all hazard markers, this will be an ongoing process through the winter period.

We are also continuing getting the new workshop ready by painting the walls.

The area used to be a storage area at the rear of our staff facility, as it is larger and more easily accessed we are making this into our new workshop area. We can then move the grinding units and workshop machinery into this new area.The old workshop will give us an area to store large pieces of machinery such as tractors and aeration equipment.

Over the last two weeks we have been able to strip out a number of areas of rank grass around bunker contouring which made ball retrieval difficult and detratced from the heathland look of wispy fescue grasses. We have also at the same time planted heather into some of the faces giving and even greater natural look, the fecue turf we have used to replace the rank coarse grass has come from our own turf nursery.

The picture above shows the start of the process with all the rank grass removed and the fescue and heather being put into the face and surround.

The picture below shows the job completed, this type of work will continue over the coming weeks. 

The alterations to the 15th Lodge Green surround have also progressed well with the Left hand side of the greens now being shaped and turfed, the front left bunker has been constructed and turf as the picture below shows. Our aim is to finish this project early in the new year.

General maintenance has continued including further slit aeration to the greens,collars and aprons being completed along with pedestrian cutting of greens and raking of bunkers.

I have mentioned on many occasions the importance of tree thinning around playing surfaces to improve air and light penetration onto the plaing surfaces which in turn help create a better environment for the finer grasses to flourish. One other point which is sometimes overlooked is with tree clearing you increase the ability of early morning sun thaw surfaces during frosty conditions, below is a picture of the 4th Green on highgare, a green which we have completed some tree thinning work but from the picture it is clear we need to do more! You can clearly make out the areas of frost behind the tree cover.

Finally I would like to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous New year. Thank you for your continuing support.

Over the last three weeks we have experienced some fantastic weather for the time of year, this has enabled us to progress nicely through both our construction/renovation work and our maintenance work. Aeration is avery important part of our management of all the playing surfaces it enables the rootzone dry out and any moisture to peculate through the soil profile easily and most importantly it enables the soil to breath and therefore the turf remains healthy through the winter period. The turf can also send down deeper roots when conditions allow. Over the past month and a half we have managed to slit aerate the greens and collars five times and we will aim to complete this process another two times before the new year.

As i have mentioned in previous post at this time if year it is very important to keep playing surfaces tidy and pedestrian mowing helps in this regard along with gently rolling the surface and producing a better quality of cut. The greens are pedestrian cut as and when needed but we aim for twice during the week at 5.5mm. The tees are cut once every two weeks at 10mm.  

We are now on top of leaf clearing which has taken many hours but thankfully we have seen the back of that process. other jobs completed on the courses have been topping up bunkers with sand and making sure levels are where they should be.

One area we are focusing over this winter is to strip out unwanted coarse grass from around bunker banks and surrounding contouring. We are replacing this coarse grass with finer fescur turf which we grow on our own turf nursery. The finer fescue grass which dominates the heathland site naturally is far easier to retrieve golf balls from and give the authentic natural look to our bunkers. the picture below is the work completed around the 11th Highgate fairway bunker.

Finally another great view this month across the 2nd on the Lodge Course.