AROUND THE GREENS
Maintenance Week 8th September 2008
Timescale. 1 Week (Weather Permitting)
TASK DESCRIPTION
We will commence scarifying the greens on Monday and collect the spoil which will take approx: 2 days.
Weather permitting we will also Verti-drain the sand based greens (11,12,13,14,15,16,17 & 4) and the 5th green which has compaction problems.
We will follow uo with a topdressing of sand which will be brushed into the scarification slits followed by overseeding with Agrostis seed. The greens will then be fed which shall help faster recovery with full recovery taking 2/3 weeks.
BENEFITS
Maintenace on the greens is an important measure to maintain the improvements we are having.
the basic improvement factors are:
* Aeration
* Thatch removal.
* Soil Exchange
* Improve the balance of desirable grasses
* Level putting surface.
HEALTHY GREENS HAVE NUMEROUS BENEFITS, BOTH FINANCIALLY AND ENVIROMENTALLY.
We are going through a continous programme of changing grass types to encourage bent (Agrostis) as this is much more hard wearing than the indigenous poa annua, weed grass, taht came to dominate the greens in the past. We have moved from almost total Poa coverage to around 50/50 poa/bent with the aim to have a bent grass dominant sward.
The benefits of Agrostis are that they need less fertilliser, less water and are more tolerant of disease therefore need less fungicide. All of which have great cost implications, even more so in todays economic climate.
They also produce a better quality putting surface for longer periods of the year. We are always striving to produce and improve quality for longer periods of the year and these practices along with all other winter practices are aimed at achieveing this,
PLEAE ALLOW US PRIORITY ON THE COURSE DURING THE MAINTENANCE WEEK SO WE CAN COMPLETE THIS AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE.
Iaian Grant - Course Manager
