December

Assistant Green Keeper Francis Lesser who has never played golf before had his first golfing experience when we were invited to play in the Seniors Turkey Trot. He scored 2points for his team .

No doubt modelling himself on the golfer Ricky Fowler,you possible can see the connection 

Work continues on ditch clearing , below working on the 3rd cross ditch Hawk

Golfers are often seen using buggies on the course, but the picture below shows that the name golfers in this case is inappropriate, other names quickly come to mind I'm sure

9th apron Vixen 

2nd green Heron

Flag pin broken,green damaged 9th Vixen 

Still some variety of  fungi and lichens to be seen around the course

Fungal issues on Greens Tees and Fairways have been a real problem for golf course managers in the south east. Even though preventative  spraying was applied additional applications were required to try to keep on top of the disease .We have used 4 applications this autumn period on the greens and some courses have applied 6 in trying to control it. The photo below taken in late December was on the 9th tee Hawk. We only spray greens as its to costly to apply to other areas. We continue to use cultural control as well ,in keeping the greens as clean as practically possible.

The shrubbery around the starters hut has been trimmed and cleaned and then we applied our free woodchip around the plants.

 

The green keeping team had an event at a nearby scout camp where we did archery, with Geoff and Steve having the best team score.

When  the weather conditions and light  are right there are some good photo opportunities.

Oak tree on the 1st and 6th Heron

Below 7th hawk and 3rd Heron in the mist

I would like to wish all our members and visitors to South Essex an enjoyable Christmas and New Year and hope to see you all on the course in 2017

NEW PATH Extensions

Our autumn /winter work programme continues with the greens having been sprayed with a fungicide,and a wormicide. Aeration work with regular slit tining and rolling continues as well.The tees have been solid tined and sprayed with the wormicide. The dry autumn had restricted the amount of slit tining accomplished on the Fairways but recently we have been able to carry this out as well.

We have completed 2 new path extensions on the Heron course on holes 6 and 9 from the tees to the greens A video of the work done is on youtube to watch.




During the frosty weather we have been clearing some overgrown areas, below is a photo of ditch clearing behind the 8th green Vixen

 Here we have opened the view into the Pond behind the 4th green Vixen

As last winter was so wet we identified certain areas that would benefit from using the free Astroturf that we had and a number of areas around the course were completed. That left 3 walkout areas to do  and this also has been  completed  on 2nd green Heron,4th Green Vixen and 6th Green Hawk 

Working on Ditch clearing 9th Vixen left of the green

 Some of the green staff have attended a one day first aid course as well as attending for the first time the  BIGGA South East Regional Seminar which covered topics such as Soil Biology,Use of seaweed product on turf,Golf course ecology as well as other topics held at Surrey Downs Golf Club.

Below is the Bigga Learning Programme booklet for Harrogate 2017 with a photo of the South Essex Course Manager (fortunately) looking interested at a workshop in 2016

 I took this photo just as I was leaving work  late afternoon by the 4th Vixen

September and October have remained very dry with the course still needing rain to encourage growth .We have  started our autumn programme of aeration on the greens with deep solid-tining ,slitting and sarel rolling and applied fungicide and feed followed by sand topdressing. The height of the greens has been raised to 5mm .

                    Solid tining Greens

 

We had some sand left after topdressing and this was used to top up some greenside bunkers.

We have acquired 3 hand mowers from within our group that were unused and will now be able to hand mow the tees through the winter months when conditions allow.

 

Video  of work on the greens

Summer arrived

 In recent weeks regular players on the course will have seen various areas of what we call the Environmental rough being cut .It has been decided  to mow these areas to help speed up play and give a better customer experience which we hope will encourage players to return and therefore increase revenue.

The areas so far cut are on the 1st, 3rd,5th and 6th 8th Heron,1,2,7 and 9 Hawk and 1,2 5 6 8 and 9 Vixen

             below the 1st Vixen  on the left before mowing
       
                                                 1st Vixen after its 1st cut

                 2nd Hawk

           
               1st and 9th  Hawk

Summer has arrived and its evidence can be seen on the course with the firm dry fairways and tees

It is essential that our irrigation system  is in operation during these summer days and of course it only fails when you are using it,so repairs have to be carried out to rectify the issues.recently we had to work on a repair on the 4th green Hawk which was done in house.

 Like many clubs in the area we have used the ideal weather to carry out our summer renovation on the greens with hollow coring,applying nearly 40 tonnes of sand in two applications to  topdressing them and then bushed in and rolled.A liquid feed was sprayed after the operation to help restore the surfaces of the greens.Before we commenced the work we tested the equipment on the putting green to setup the machinery so that we do not damaged the surfaces on the course with wrongly setup equipment,mistakes  are rectified there first.

 

Steve Rowley repairing some early damage on the putting green

 Hollow coring and blowing the cores

Green after topdressing and brushing,we then rolled the greens to help smooth up the surface.

What we want to achieve is deep root growth and the photo below was taken on the first green Heron after our work and proves that previous aeration is doing its job.

After applying the second topdressing we had a few tonnes left so these were added to the bunkers on the 4th green Heron

Wasps  take up residence in a green side bunker 6th Hawk

Following on from our BIGGA Ecology workshop we were mentioned in the BIGGA magazine as well.

Now that Matt Dunne has left us we have given Paul Challis the full time position , he has been working as a summer casual with previous experience at Orsett Golf Club .This keeps our full time team at 4 staff, here he is rolling the greens on the Turf iron.

When someone drives a buggy many times in and out of a steep edge bunker they not only leave tyre markers and turf damage but put the buggy out of action requiring a call out to Yamaha to repair  with a bill the club has to pay 

We recently hosted the Essex section of BIGGA's educational seminar on Golf Course Ecology with various course managers  from local clubs in attendance.The talk was given by James Hutchinson who was very knowledgable and  passionate about his subject.South Essex being chosen due to our involvement in and success in the environmental awards in past years.

 

    Planting around the clubhouse beneficial to pollinating insects

 

      The value of dead standing trees as habitat for many species

The way forward in mowing ?

The recent heavy downpours and temperature changes  caused some rather large fungi to suddenly appear  on areas were we have fairy rings

     The mats that we put in place in selected areas of the course are now established and grown into there surroundings and will prove valuable in terms of traffic management through the winter months

While in London recently I came across this exhibit of which there are many  with Roald Dahl BFG and the new film soon to be in cinemas with various celebrates giving examples of there dreams. In this one Justin Rose dreams of winning the Open but didn't say when ,we all have many dreams,some dream of a hole in one,a score below 100,or getting to single figure handicap,my personal dream has been to make South Essex the best club in Essex but probably I'll never get my hands on that or the claret jug but no harm in dreaming.

 We have hosted the VIP Golf tour with a ProAm with our resident pro shop staff and members involved

On the course we have commenced spraying  the fairways and roughs to control the weeds  and also  out with the total weed control on paths and ditches etc .

Matt Dunne one of my Assistants will be leaving South Essex soon to take up a position  out side of Green Keeping.He has been with us a year and has learnt many tasks and been a valuable member of the team especially as he was a not a golfer and it was his first time in green keeping.We wish him success in his new role

 

Below are 11species of wild flowers that can be seen in the wildflower area by the 8th hawk left of the green .This doesn't include the spring flowers and grasses that also make up the species lists to over 20 species.