Irrigation Stage 1 Completed

New sprinklers operating on the 4th fairway

Sorry for the lack of updates over the past couple of weeks, the reason for this is because I had to take some time off and fly to the UK for family reasons. In the time that I have been away stage one of the irrigation upgrade has been completed, with only a practical completion walk-through to be carried out on Thursday next week. As you can see the centre row of sprinklers on the 4th fairway have good pressure and provide excellent coverage. The new pump station and improved sprinkler layout will give us much greater flexibility with our watering of the holes completed, as well as providing less stress on the old system and more even pressure across the rest of the course.

Course staff have been very busy in my absence with the Vardon and numerous trade days to prepare for, as well as working with the irrigation contractors to complete stage one. Today has brought us some much needed rain which has enabled us to spray the majority of fairways with an application of wetting agent to aid with water infiltration over the coming weeks. The remainder of fairways will be sprayed early next week to complete the process.

One of the strange things you get to see on a golf course!

The start of summer?

Looking back towards the Clubhouse from the 1st green - circa 1966

A warm end to the week and higher temperatures forecast for the weekend have given the course some much needed warmth. The couch is now starting to show more signs of active growth, giving us good definition to fairway edges and the rough is growing faster than we can cut it! . Fairways will be fertilised in the coming weeks with a balanced granular fertiliser to further improve their health and vigour.

The Irrigation works are continuing with the 5th fairway being completed as I type. Next week will see work progress around to the 4th hole, with the 5th tee and 4th green scheduled to be completed early in the week, before work continues down the 4th fairway. The picture below is a typical repair to the old system with the t-piece at the bottom of the photo springing a leak and having to be replaced which is not as simple as it sounds. The new pumps and the way they operate will mean that these type of repairs will become more infrequent over time.

Irrigation repair - 18th green

To finish I'll share with you some of the weekly tasks staff carry out as part of our routine maintenance over the summer months -

• Greens cut every day (including Saturdays and Sundays)
• Greens rolled 2-3 times a week
• Holes changed a minimum of three times a week
• Bunkers raked 2-3 times a week
• Tees and surrounds cut 2-3 times a week
• Fairways cut twice a week
• Rough cut as growth dictates - every day at the moment