Course Managers Report

February 2014

The winter period certainly has been very different from last year presenting us with well documented record breaking rainfall totals on a national level. Our weather station recordings show 350mm for the winter period to date (November 2013 through to the end of February 2014), the national recordings show 450mm for the period in the worst effected areas of the country. Along with the effects of the rain we have also suffered a large amount of tree damage through the high winds experienced. In total we have last in the region of 45 trees over the entire site, but the bulk of these have been lost on holes 4-12 on the Lodge Course.

These trees in the main have been cleaned up along with most of the water damage and debris, there are still a number of trees which need to be cleaned up but these are mainly away from the playing line. In one sense this has helped us long term as in most cases a large percentage of the trees were due to be felled as part of our ongoing work with Natural England.

As I mentioned in my email dated the 14^th February, through out the winter period and particularly the period after Christmas we have been able to keep a selection of holes open if not all of them. This is down to the management work completed in the past and the ongoing aeration work we complete every year. I have planned that we will complete major drainage work to the 8^th and 11^th fairways on Highgate prior to next winter to improve the drainage capabilities on these fairways and surrounding areas.

Greens, collars and Aprons

The greens are currently being cut at 5.5mm with pedestrian mowers when possible. Our aim over the coming weeks will be to aerate the playing surfaces as much as possible to negate the negative effect the large volumes of rain has on the soil. The aeration will also help to dry out the surfaces. We have also been able to roll the greens for the first time since December; this will improve playing surfaces by rolling out any imperfections left by the saturated ground.

This time of year we are looking to get down our first feed on all playing surfaces, this is a lawn sand predominately made up of Sulphate of Ammonia which helps to slowly encourage the turf to grow and recover from the winter period. This product also has an acidifying effect helping to take out any moss and discourage the annual meadow grass.

Once this initial feed has gone down we will be looking to start refinement work on the surfaces to get them ready for the spring period. This will include operations such as brushing to stand lateral growth, top dressing to even out surfaces and improve firmness and rolling to maintain trueness without completing mowing.

Fairways

The protection of high wear areas will commence on the 7^th fairway Highhgate and 3^rd Lodge over the coming weeks and if successful I will aim to try this procedure on other areas. We are slowly coming into a time of year when we can expect recovery from the winter traffic, replacing divots and protecting these sensitive areas will go a long way in improving conditions coming into the spring.

Ongoing renovation and improvement work.

The new 6^th tee Lodge has been shaped and is ready for final preparations, once this is complete we can then get the tee turfed and completed.

The drainage improvement on the 11^th fairway Highgate is almost complete, this work was not in the planned winter work but during investigation whilst trying to unblock a main outfall we quickly realized we had a number of broken drains. We have dug the broken drains out and replaced with new.

The new path at the 13^th tee Highgate is complete and we hope to complete similar work on the 17^th Tee Highgate in the coming weeks.

General

The new workshop refit is progressing well: we have started to paint the floor and the new electrics and improved lighting will be completed shortly. The new workshop will give us a safe and clean environment to work on machines and more importantly set up machines ready for use which is so vitally important. Correctly cutting machines for an example leaves the turf looking at its best and in good health, also I have discussed in the past about the importance of height of cut and it is well documented in Agronomists reports that it is fundamentally important to the quality of the turf we are producing. These are only two examples of the need to have good workshop environment but the longevity of machines and the increased resale value are also other major factors.

Over this winter period I have mentioned on many occasions that we have some members who appear to have a total disregard for the protection and condition of the golf courses. Pitch marks not repaired, trolleys taken over white lines and greens and tees are a few examples. Course etiquette should be a high priority and I do believe the majority of members and guest do look after the courses. Can we, when we hold interviews with prospective new members spend a little time explaining what is expected of them from this point of view. I believe we need to address this problem as all the positives we get by keeping the courses open are being negated by a few members.

Jonathan Wood

Course Manager

07977448149

jw@j-wood.co.uk