The last couple of weeks has seen an increase in our agronomic activity on the course as the weather has been kinder to us. We have been able to take our mowers out and start presenting the course, which has given it a fresh manicured appearance after so many wet months.

 

Work on green aeration has been intensified to relieve the compaction and prolonged water flow. We have slit tined to 150mm,solid tined with 12mm tines to 75mm,and then after a couple of weeks we deep tined them.

 

We have just scarified all the greens to 10mm to remove moss, dead grass, and thatch from the surfaces and then apply sand dressing with the heron and hawk to finish soon.

 scarifying and mowing

 blowing off the debris

 switching the green after

 the scarify lines

and the scarify unit

 

Now that the tee mats and winter tees are not in use we have seeded and dressed the winter tees  to restore the surfaces after very intense play. A slow release fertiliser has been applied to all the tees to encourage steady growth recovery.

Moss has been very invasive this winter due to the very wet conditions so we will be using our quadraplay  on the fairways soon to help remove this .

4th rough Hawk

 

The new Raymonds triangle has been planted up with perennials and ornamental grasses which are bee friendly 

 

The daffodils are now in full glory and we are pleased with the showing around the clubhouse environs giving a good spring like feel to these areas

 

As mentioned in the previous blogs we have not replace two permanent staff members but we have taken on two summer staff, Mike Bartlett and David Morgan who have worked on other golf courses who will be helping us to present and maintain South Essex for you.

As with all good things that happen on the course there are downsides, and poor golfer etiquette

 is very frustrating to other golfers and greenstaff as well see examples below.

 

5th Hawk even though the area was roped off!!!!!

 

reminder  of those foggy mornings, thanks for your patience waiting  to go out to play ,it keeps my staff safe until conditions for playimprove.

A few drier days toward the end of February allowed us to complete some much need work on the course. We applied a granular feed with low nitrogen and potassium to  encourage and harden up the plant without any excessive growth ,and the product also had a high iron sulphate content which has given the greens a darkened colour, was used to help control the moss invasion due to all the wetness and lack of aeration.
 The greens were in much need of aeration after the constant rain and wet surfaces, so  they were slit tined and then we followed this with solid tining with close spacing to a depth of 75mm.All the tees were given there first cut of the year and even some fairways were cut ,although some remained to wet to put a mower across. Just as we got excited about doing some real green keeping the rain came back .

applying fertiliser

Our New ecological triple greens mower has arrived and was being evaluated and tested out on the course on the vixen 8th green ,this new idea? of mowing is unlikely to catch on as its virtually impossible to mow a straight live or get strips in the green.

On the 6th hole of the Hawk we investigated what we thought was a drainage issue in the  right bunker but as we dug  holes and poked and prodded around  we found the problem to be fibrous roots from the willow tree. These had grown in the pipe and blocked it in the last few metres where the drainage pipe exited into the pond. After much hand work it was cleared and repaired.

The crocus bulbs planted on the clubhouse lawn in the autumn have been giving there first display and looking very effective, as is the display outside our maintenance building. I also saw my first queen buff tailed bumblebee looking for a nest sight in february on our crocus .

 

The Daffidils planted on the banks of the 1st tee vixen, putting green and car park are  nearly ready to flower so spring is coming I don't know if that means less rain though!

clubhouse on a rare day of early morning sunlight inbetween rain showers

 

We entered the environment competition  in 2013 and reached the final selection process again. After a visit by David Lawson the STRI assessor we were COMMENDED for our work  but missed out on the winning categories .
The stormy weather which has brought in more periods of rain and wind did cause some damage especially to our greenhouse with many of the panels being blown out and twisted.

We have continued working on the paths around the clubhouse  and 9th heron  and hawk greens by adding road planings and wacker plating them in to form an improved footpath surface.

While Sean and I discussed the new path area at the foot of the Verandah Craig Raymond one of our assistants suggested that we create a new flower bed in this area, agreeing this was a good idea we have put this in place and called it Raymond's triangle.

The prolonged wet weather has caused problems on a few greens with standing water which was unable to run off the greens, so we have installed gully pots on the edge of the5th and 9th heron greens  and drainage pipes to remove the surface water away 

  back of the 5th heron green

left side of the 9th green Heron

Installing pipe and stone

Finished work

                                            sometimes the sky is blue instead of grey
                            Finally some unusual fungi seen growing on dead wood around the course

Its no surprise that January 2014  was our wettest January since 1998 when our rainfall records began with a total of 130mm during the month.The Met office stated that its been the wettest January since there records began in the South East. This  wet weather has certainly caused some issues especially in the high traffic areas around tees and greens.

heavy rainfall in the car park with not many customers in sight

flooded bunkers

puddles

wash outs on paths

mud on traffic areas

 

hopefully the sun will shine ,the grass will grow and with our turf management programmes  in operation the course condition will change to how we remember  a golf course looking

 

We contacted Thornden Park G.C. who allowed us to dig up some of there Laurel shrubs from out of there woods so that we could plant them to create a screen over our compound area

 

December the 24th proved to be an interesting arrival at South Essex as the entrance area and road were flooded so deeply that staff were unable drive down to the club, in the end many of the staff were sent home  and the course was closed. It was a few hours before the first vehicles were able to drive down after the rain eased and the flooding lowered sufficiently.

 

January is proving to be another very wet but mild month with many areas in the country experiencing swollen rivers and flooded homes. On the course the rain continues to cause problems with playing areas, it is important that we help the excess water away from the course and the ditches play a big part in this, so where required we remove any blockages to aid the water flow.

 

 cleared ditch 8th heron

 

Many of the bunkers and greens are so saturated with water that they pond up quickly and we have been keeping our pump busy  but at the moment we are not winning the battle as the rains continue

 flooding 9th heron

 pumping out 9th heron

 

The very first areas of gorse that we planted about 7 years ago  near the 5th and 6th tees heron have been pruned back to stop them getting tall and leggy and encourage fresh new growth .

 

During the wet weather we have been cleaning and painting in the maintenance building to help keep the area organised clean and tidy

 sweeping up

 painting the demarcation lines

 floor painting

 painting tool storage wall

 painting toilet area

 

Golf balls are hard and can do serious damage when they hit an object as seen in the photo taken on the driving range, would you want to be hit by a ball at 100 yards or any other distance. Please remember that  greenstaff are people and can be damaged by your ball when working on the course.

 

Finally a view of the 7th vixen