I will start with a topic that has been in the news fairly regular lately, "THE WEATHER".
I will post some data for you in short course, my weather station is not cooperating at the moment. I just heard on the news we are already in the top 10 wettest winters with still a month to go. Some areas have experienced over double the winter average rainfall. The South east has taken the brunt of the rain to date. Here at Burnham we have had 127mm to date in January with another 20mm-30mm forecast for tomorrow (friday) and off the back of 88mm in december its a wonder we have not floated away.
Regular top dressing of the greens has proved to be a huge success for us with the greens being playable almost all the time, the proof being we have not had any temporary greens this winter at all. Our approaches seem to be suffering a great deal at the moment this is due to the makeup of the subsoil, compaction and our increasing thatch levels in the approaches. Thatch (thatch is a buildup of dead and decaying matter i.e. grass clippings) accrues naturally through the winter due to the lack of oxygen to the grass plant caused by constant water logging. We need microbial activity to naturally eat away at the thatch keeping our levels manageable. The plan going forward is to deep tine the approaches taking the water away from the surface, hollow core to remove some of the thatch , deep scarification to also remove thatch then to top dress to firm the surfaces up and to make them more free draining. Water logging is as detrimental to the turf as drought conditions. We must remember roots grow in air not in the soil. If the surface is water logged it is restricting the oxygen from entering the root zone and stimulating the roots to grow. The above work will be carried out as soon as the weather allows us.
I will post some data for you in short course, my weather station is not cooperating at the moment. I just heard on the news we are already in the top 10 wettest winters with still a month to go. Some areas have experienced over double the winter average rainfall. The South east has taken the brunt of the rain to date. Here at Burnham we have had 127mm to date in January with another 20mm-30mm forecast for tomorrow (friday) and off the back of 88mm in december its a wonder we have not floated away.
Regular top dressing of the greens has proved to be a huge success for us with the greens being playable almost all the time, the proof being we have not had any temporary greens this winter at all. Our approaches seem to be suffering a great deal at the moment this is due to the makeup of the subsoil, compaction and our increasing thatch levels in the approaches. Thatch (thatch is a buildup of dead and decaying matter i.e. grass clippings) accrues naturally through the winter due to the lack of oxygen to the grass plant caused by constant water logging. We need microbial activity to naturally eat away at the thatch keeping our levels manageable. The plan going forward is to deep tine the approaches taking the water away from the surface, hollow core to remove some of the thatch , deep scarification to also remove thatch then to top dress to firm the surfaces up and to make them more free draining. Water logging is as detrimental to the turf as drought conditions. We must remember roots grow in air not in the soil. If the surface is water logged it is restricting the oxygen from entering the root zone and stimulating the roots to grow. The above work will be carried out as soon as the weather allows us.
COURSE WORKS
At the moment we are trying to keep off of the course with vehicles to reduce damage. We have completed the leveling of the right hand side of the practice tee down on the bottom range and turfed it. This will give us a extra 200m2 of teeing area.
At the moment we are trying to keep off of the course with vehicles to reduce damage. We have completed the leveling of the right hand side of the practice tee down on the bottom range and turfed it. This will give us a extra 200m2 of teeing area.
We have started to raise and lower some of the sprinklers. Not only are the low/high sprinklers dangerous to you the golfer but they can be detrimental to our machinery and of course to the sprinkler its self. We have cleared along side the right hand side of the 15th green this will allow us to move the traffic from our vehicles away from the green reducing the wear. Two new paths have been created from our sheds onto the course hopefully reducing the wear going onto the golf course. One across infront of the 17th and the other around the back of the sheds coming out behind the 15th green. Minor tree work behind the 9th green removing a couple of low branches and tidying up around the new nets.
Machinery
As you may be aware our new fleet of machinery arrived this week. Some of the new machines are hybrid machines using electric technology as well as deisel powered engines. This will reduce our carbon footprint a little and the cost of running the machinery.
All the new machinery is John Deere and with the new technology should provide us with all the tools we need to provide first class surfaces, although im not entirly sure when we will get to test them out on the course with the recent weather.
We have spent the last two weeks cleaning, greasing and reapiring the old fleet for its return.
As you may be aware our new fleet of machinery arrived this week. Some of the new machines are hybrid machines using electric technology as well as deisel powered engines. This will reduce our carbon footprint a little and the cost of running the machinery.
All the new machinery is John Deere and with the new technology should provide us with all the tools we need to provide first class surfaces, although im not entirly sure when we will get to test them out on the course with the recent weather.
We have spent the last two weeks cleaning, greasing and reapiring the old fleet for its return.
Lastly just a couple of things for you to bare in mind when you are playing. Please repair your pitch marks and use the divot boxes where provided please. Not using the divot boxes can cause substancial damage and slow the recovery going into the spring. As shown in the picture below (thank you julian irvine for the picture)
Our best wishes go to Chris Dodds (Seve as he is know to us) in his new adventure at Yas Links, Good luck Chris.
Thank you for reading and keep praying for some dry weather.
Burnham Greenkeepers
Burnham Greenkeepers