We have applied a slow release fertiliser to the greens which will provide the main nutrients slowly as a trickle feed through the winter months into the early spring without releasing  too much nutrient all at once..This is achieved by modern technology applying a polymer coating to the fertiliser which only allows the nutrient to be absorbed into the soil over a period of time .This time frame can be altered by varying the polymer coatings,and the fertiliser can be a 3,4,or 6 month product.

The grenstaff have spent some time out on the range on there hands and knees literally,collecting "lost" golf balls.The right hand side mound of the range has grown over with weeds and brambles which we first had to cut down so we had access to the many balls that had not been hit straight.

 

These balls were then hand picked up as the range was to wet to use our ball collector and tractor

 

The worst areas of hydraulic damage on the 5th and 6th greens was not going to quickly recover in the wet cold weather so we decided to returf them using material from the putting green and patching in those areas.

removing turf from the putting green

 

removing damaged turf 6th green hawk

replacing turf into damaged area

 

On Wednesday the 20th November 2013 cold rain kept many golfers and seniors from playing in the morning,The cold front that had passed across the country brought snow to the north of England and rain further south but by the afternoon as it moved away  it was followed by sun and blue sky. As we work outside most of the time weather plays a BIG part in what we do so weather information is vital in our decision process

The cold weather front seen moving south across the course followed by blue skies approximately 14-00hrs

 

Finally it was good to meet and talk with one of our golfers who reads this blog thanks for your comments,I hope all who read it gain an understanding of the varied work that we do on the course for your benefit as golfers.

The wet weather through October and into November has meant that we have started implementing our winter controls to protect the course from wear and tear. This has meant we have been putting out post and rope control to direct golf traffic  away from damaged areas, limiting the use of golf carts for safety reasons, and put out the winter tee mats on the par 3 holes again to protect these turf surfaces. Our aim is to nurse the course through the winter to limit any damage to the playing surfaces and come into the early spring months with the course in good condition for the new golf season.
6th heron tee path cart damage

7th hawk fairway cart skid marks

We hope to start our worm control programme on the green , tees and other selected areas when we are able to use the sprayer in more suitable ground conditions.
When the weather is so wet the greens are hand mowed as we can use our gators and trailors to move them around the course,

Sean Eady mows the 1st green Hawk

 

We have surffered some hydraulic oil damage on the greens 4,5,and 6th Hawk when a pipe on the mower developed a leak,most of the damage will grow out but there may be some turf repairs required.

6th green Hawk

 

Terry Sapsford has moved on to Orsett Golf Club after being on the greenkeeping team for nearly 6 years so our team is some what depleted at the moment after also losing Luke Heron recently to Hobbs Cross G.C.

 

Pond 7th heron

 

The recent wet weather has highlighted a problem with the drainage system on the 9th fairway Hawk.The turf swelled up and water poured out running down across the fairway.On investigation by digging numerous inspection holes we found the pipe broken in one section,blocked by mud and sand across much of the fairway and the exit into the ditch collapsed and blocked.we cleared the exit into the ditch, flushed out the blocked pipe using our irrigation system ,and repaired the damaged pipe.

Water flowing across the fairway

Digging out ditch exit

We have recently completed deep tining on all the green,this will encourage deeper rooting  and help with drainage. If the weather allows we will complete this again before Christmas . 

 

We have completed the repair on the irrigation pipe at the front of the 1st tee heron and  just need to restore the ground back to normal

 

October is the time to plant bulbs for the spring and we have planted a few hundred daffodils and narcissi on the bank of the 1st tee vixen and bank near the car park. This follows on from those we planted last year and this will increase the amount and provide a better show next spring .

Craig planting  bulbs

 

We also planted alliums in the bed near the pond behind the clubhouse

One of the issues we have is those golfers who show no respect to the golf course and playing surface we work hard to provide.This is especially so on the greens when people miss-use there clubs taking divots off the green,damaging the surface for those who follow them.Please think of others and take more care it will be appreciated

It doesn't always rain in October ,I did see this sunlit sky across the putting green

The recent warm weather has encouraged plenty of growth to keep our mowers very busy.The tees have recovered very well  in no small part to the slow release fertilise which was applied in March.The cold spring and hot summer periods delayed the release of the feed  but this has now changed with the recent weather  and the tees have a good grass coverage going into the autumn.The Fairways have recovered quickly from the recent scarifing and the soluble feed has helped give them a boost and aided the recovery after the summer's hot weather.We are now into the routine of slitting all the fairways to aid root growth and relieve the compaction from all the golfer and machinery traffic.

Sam Cooke spraying the feed onto the 5th Vixen fairway

Two of our staff recently qualified as spray operators and are now gaining experience in using and applying various products,but inexperience can lead to mistakes which we hope are not to damaging as seen at the front of the 8th green Hawk where to much product applied in one area has scorched the turf.This will grow out.

 

Its easy to see Fairy Rings on the course,with there distinct green ring caused by the release of nitogen from the fungi which greens up the grass.The fruiting bodies of the fungus are also seen on the ring but as yet no Fairies have been spotted.

!st Vixen Fairy Rings

 

 After spraying the environmental rough with selective weed control its always good to see that the treatment has been effective.

Dying weeds 3rd vixen

At this time of year we bring in a contractor to cut and trim selected hedges around the course,this is to control there growth and also to allow golf to be played with out unfair restriction eg 3rd hole Hawk and 9th hole heron

Cutting hedge 7th Hawk

 

One of our staff members  Luke Herron has now moved on to join Hobbs Cross Golf Club ,we wish him well in his new Club

We have planted crocus bulbs into the front lawn of the clubhouse,as well as Alliums in some of the f;ower beds behind the clubhouse.These should give added interest in the spring.This was one of Lukes last jobs before leaving us

On the 7th ditch across the Vixen we have planted some cowslips which we grew from seed in keeping with  our natural native planting plan.Roger Horne our Senior Captain has given us some Lilys and Dahlia plants which again is within our remit of plants which attract pollinating insects.Our Operation Pollinator area has now shown signs of life with the seed from the spring sowing germinating after the recent wet warm weather .These will continue to grow and develop.Next summer  we should see some results.

On the greens we have sprayed a fungicide to control and prevent disease which is active at this time of year under these damp warm days, if not treated the scares will persist through the winter months so making control essential work. A follow under spray will take place in October to continue our preventative programme. After cutting the enviro-rough coarse weed s like thistles were becoming invasive  which although a good food source for some small birds  if allowed to dominant would inhibit golf ball retrieval, so a selective weed control has been applied.

We have scarified the fairways to open the surface and remove the thatch and then a soluble fertiliser will be applied to feed and harden up the sward for the winter months, a slit tining programme will take place at regular intervals as the weather allows. This has already taken place on the greens.

 Craig scarifying the fairways

slit-tining greens

 

We had burst hydraulic pipe on the 5th vixen fairway while it was being mown, this left some oil burn lines, which will grow out, the pipe was quickly removed and replace with little down time

We are working  on finding and repairing the leak on our irrigation system near the 1st tee heron. and restoring the area back to normal

There are two public footpaths which cross the golf course allowing the general public to walk  through. I recently saw a group of ramblers using one of these paths on the 3rd hawk.

September is a good month to forage and this year has been particularly good for apples of which there are many trees and varieties on the course as well as blackberries. The greenstaff have already had jam and pies from them.

6th vixen

3rd hawk

I recently attended a seminar along with with other staff from across the country at Thorpness golf club in Suffolk who were the 2012 overall winners in the STRI Environmental awards to see and discuss the work they have been doing in this area while maintaining there course

Thorpness discussing the heather management with Bob Taylor STRI ecologist

 

I recently took the photo below on the 6th hawk of a common female Darter dragonfly, we have a variety of species if you look around

As I have been on my summer holidays the blog has not been updated for a few weeks  but course maintenance has continued.The greens were scarified in two directions to remove thatch and then topdressed to restore surface levels but due to hydraulic pipe failure on the machine the vixen greens were completed a week later.The height of cut has been reduced to 4mm to help achieve smoothness.We will be aerating the greens regularly with solidtining  at various depths as well as slit tining  as we start our autumn programme.
We will be digging out and repairing a leak on the irrigation system pipework  as the need to irrigate the greens diminishes.
We were subjected to a 2nd theft on our diesel fuel tank in only a few months,so we had to get a container, kindly given to us by Stapleford Abbotts (thanks Paul) replace the locks and fuel  and hope this deters the person or persons unknown from further interest.
Today Wednesday 11 September we had our Environment Awards assessment for 2013 as again we reached the final stages of the competition, part of our work has been the development of our wildflower areas,these do require management by annually cutting and collecting the growth to remove the nutrients and organic matter

 

 

 Craig and Luke work on the 8th Hawk

Damage on the 8th Green Heron when a stone was caught in the greens mower scrapping the  green on the first line of cut,topdressed with sand to heal the damage.

We will be working to extend the width of the 3rd tee on the heron course  and keep it in play all year so that we will not have to use the very small winter tee

The early morning light showed up the  flowering display of one of our recent autumn  plant beds in front of the clubhouse.Providing late season nectar for bees

 

finally on this blog we would appreciate it if you could locate the Pot of Gold somewhere on the Vixen and return it to us

 

This week we have continued our routine treatments on the greens by spraying a second application of wetting agent and then a growth regulator mixed in with seaweed,soluble fertilisers and potassium.This will help combat any heat stress.There are signs on a few greens of summer disease issues which often apper about this time of year,anthacnose and superficial fairy ring,we will try to control them by cultural means rather than use fungicides.We have treated the greens which had silver moss on them using a knapsack and targeting the moss rather than spray the whole green,below the 2nd green vixen which was the worst infected is shown,the blue dye highlights the area sprayed and avoids any repeat application to that area

 

Honey from the course bee hives is available for sale at £5 a jar.There is a limited amount as it has been a difficult year for the honey bee,The cold spring slowed there activity down,and then one hive had a huge population death rate suffering from chronic bee paralysis caused by a virus,another had a drone laying queen as it had not been able to mate,So I will drop from 3 hive to 2 going into the winter.

 

The annual cutting and collecting of the Environmental rough is taking place around the course,this is to control the the ingress of scrub growth into these areas and keep the grassland habitat,remove the nutrient in the grass to reduce the grass vigor and encourage finer grass species which will enable better ball location and playability  and appearance.This is a slow process taking a number of years,we are now seeing less weed invasion,and some areas are not as vigerous as they used to be so we are on the right track.

                                      behind 1st green Heron

                                          8th Vixen

                                           4th Heron

                                            4th Heron after cutting

 

Some of the wildlife in the rough

 

Young pheasant just avoiding the mower

Grasshopper 7th Hawk

                                   Cabbage White on the wildflower area 8th vixen