Overseeding / green speed

The results of the over-seeding work that was done on greens and approaches at the end of August have been excellent.  A high percentage of the seed has germinated and lines of new seedlings are visible, particularly in the early morning or late evening when the sun is low in the sky.  The downside has been that due to the light fertiliser applied before seeding, the top dressing applied after and the irrigation water applied to support the growth of new seedlings, the greens have been a little slower than normal for the last two weeks.  These effects are now much reduced and the greens are close to the speeds we would expect in the prevailing weather conditions.  The effect that surface moisture has on green speed was well illustrated today when the stimpmeter reading was around 8ft just after mowing when the grass was still damp from the heavy dew and 9ft around midday when the greens had dried out.

Lines of seedlings on a bare patch on the 6th approach

River course construction work

We're making good progress with the construction of the new 3rd green and approach and the 4th tee.  All of the subsoil levelling has been done and the topsoil (17 x 29 tonnes) has been spread on the fairway and green surround.  The irrigation pipes and valve boxes have been installed and the drainage pipes and non return valves are in place, to allow any future flood water to drain from the site.  This week we're spreading the root-zone soil on the green and tee, laying the erosion control matting on the river face of the bund and hydro-seeding the banks.  Hydro-seeding is the application of seed (salt resistant grass species in this case) in a mixture of water, mulch, fertiliser and binder.  It is sprayed on and helps the seed to stick to the slope rather than being washed away by the first rain shower.

Spreading topsoil on the fairway

Spreading rootzone mix on the green

Weather summary for August

It was a relatively wet month with 84.8mm of rain compared to the 47.6mm average for August.  The average temperature was 16.5° which is close to the long term average.  The maximum temperature was 24.2° on the 5th and the minimum was 7.6° on the 24th, this was the lowest August temperature recorded since our records started in 2000.