Greeting from the ‘Greenies’!

We hope you are enjoying the warmer and more settled weather as much as we are lately? Its great to see so many people out enjoying golf and the outdoors, especially now that the course has dried out and there is some ‘run’ on the fairways.

We are now into our normal maintenance practices for summer and there has already been much hand watering done by the boys due to the drier weather. Hand watering is a vital part of our maintenance practices as it allows us to keep the course a little drier (which is great for playability and turf health) and then we hand water the few spots that are too dry. This promotes firmer, faster and healthier playing surfaces so we do ask for understanding should you see any of the team out there with a hose pipe. Please take the time to look at this brief video which will tell you all you need to know: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlTJxya5tVk

Speaking about firmer and faster playing surfaces, we recently benchmark tested our greens again as we do several times a year. These ‘batteries’ of test are carried out by an independent laboratory and agronomists and measure:

1. Smoothness (Vertical deviation) and Trueness (lateral deviation) of the greens using a scientific device called a Parry Meter.

2. Firmness is measured with a Clegg Hammer

3. Density and Uniformity is measured with Digital Imaging Analysis.

4. Colour is measured with an NDVI meter.

5. Soil nutrient analysis in tested and measured by Hill Laboratories.

We will share a brief summary of this set of results with you in upcoming newsletters.

With the warmer and drier weather upon us there is obviously far more play out on the golf course along with the increased us of golf carts. In order to help us maintain the course to a high standard we need your help please? Please could you help us with the following:

1. Repairing your pitch mark and at least 2 others on each green. Here is a handy link to a video which will demonstrate the correct method of fixing a pitch mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myOTf1wuZoA

2. Carrying sand buckets and repairing your divots diligently. Please view this helpful video: https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/videos/2018/06/28/usga_divots-final-cln-5803101806001.html

3. Raking bunkers properly after you have played out please. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBQwc8RjzFA

4. Please do not drive a golf cart within 10 meters of greens and tees and keep carts on the paths as much as possible? Please view this golf cart usage video: https://www.usga.org/videos/2013/03/05/usga-course-care-video--golf-cart-and-pull-cart-etiquette-220501.html

Thanks so much for all your help and we look forward to seeing you out there again soon!

Kind Regards

Spencer and your friendly ‘greenies’