Signs of Spring

There are a few signs that spring is on its way around the course.  The first chiffchaffs have just started singing, some of the early wild flowers are in bloom and adders and grass snakes are beginning to be seen.

Common Whitlow Grass (The flowers are tiny - only 2.5mm across)

Adder basking in the sunshine

Female Stonechat

Kestrel

Golf Environment Awards Trip to Portugal

I've just returned from an amazing Golf Environment Awards trip to Portugal.  We spent three days visiting five golf clubs looking at their course and environmental management.  We were shown round by the course managers and got a real insight into golf course management in a challenging environment.  Many thanks to all at Palmares, Espiche, San Lorenzo, Ombria Resort and Monte Rei Resort for making us so welcome and giving us this learning opportunity.  Thanks also to Rowan Rumball and Bob Taylor from the STRI and Alexandra Almeida for organising the trip.

Palmares Golf Club

The award winning clubhouse at Espiche Golf Club

San Lorenzo

Ombria Resort (under construction)

Monte Rei Resort

Golf Environment Awards

Aldeburgh Golf Club are delighted to have won the Environmental Golf Course of the Year category in the 2019 Golf Environment Awards.  This is "awarded to clubs that brilliantly demonstrate efficient management across each of the following areas:
Nature Conservation Management
Turfgrass Management
Waste Management
Water Management"

The STRI ecologist Rowan Rumball wrote of Aldeburgh Golf Club;
"Creating what many thought to be impossible, an almost perfect blend of course and ecology to the point where it is hard to tell where one begins and another stops.  All without sacrificing the playability of the course."

The other finalists in this category were, St Andrews Links, Minchinhampton Golf Club, Warrington Golf Club and Ipswich Golf Club.

Golf Environment Awards Website

The Aldeburgh Golf Club party at the Golf Environment Awards presentation in Harrogate

Left to right, Martin Turna, Ben Taylor-Grout, Nick Staff, Melissa Baker, Mark Broughton and David Wybar

Tidal Surge

On the 8th of January a tidal surge overtopped the river wall and the 3rd and 4th holes on the river course were flooded.  At its highest the tide covered most of the 3rd green, part of the new 4th green and the fourth tee which was under construction.  By the next morning the water had cleared, leaving quite a lot of debris to clear up and the new 4th tee needed re-levelling.

The 3rd green was an island for a while

Another view of the 3rd green and fairway

The tide overtopping the river wall

Kestrel

This bedraggled Kestrel sat for half an hour on the nest box behind the practice shed seeking some shelter from the pouring rain.

Wasp Spider

A wasp spider took up residence near the clubhouse entrance for a few days in September.
They mimic a wasp for protection from predators but they are not dangerous.

Some wildlife action on the course (and in the clubhouse!)

Just a few photos of wildlife seen on the course.  There have been more sightings of Adders this summer, probably due to the very hot and dry spell of weather we had.

Adder (female)

Adder (male) 

This one had entered the pro shop and had to be moved to a more suitable habitat

Barn owl at one of the nest boxes

Common Blue

Common Blue Damselfly

Ruddy Darter

Muntjac

Small Copper

Yellowhammer feeding on the seed in divot mix on a tee.

As usual we have sheep grazing on the stewardship fields

Summer wild flowers

A selection of wild flowers that could be seen on the course this summer.  As well as providing a splash of colour these native flowers provide an excellent nectar source for insects.  The wispy rough grassland that provides the best golfing rough is also best for wildlife diversity.

Weather summary for February

February was wet and very cold with the last three days remaining below freezing all day.  The lowest temperature was  -4.4° on the 28th when the average temperature for the day was  -3.3°.  We've had a weather station since the year 2000 and this was the coldest February we've recorded.  The average temperature was only 2.8°; the February average for the last 17 years is  5.1° and last year the average was  6.7°.  The highest temperature was  10.1° on the 15th.  We had 50mm of rain which is well above the 36mm average for the month. 

Gorse and heather management

During the recent spell of frosty weather we've made good progress on gorse management by coppicing.  We've also been cutting back gorse where it is invading an the area of recently established heather right of the 11th hole.  Although areas of coppiced gorse look unsightly at first, they soon recover and the resultant fresh growth provides an excellent habitat for wildlife.  The photo below illustrates how old stands of gorse get very leggy and open, this offers limited opportunities for nesting birds and other wildlife compared with dense young growth.

Gorse coppicing

Removing gorse from a recently established area of heather

Golf Environment Awards and GEO certification

Aldeburgh GC were one of four finalists in the Environmental Golf Course of the Year category in the  2018 Golf Environment Awards, the winners were Carnoustie golf club.  The awards showcase sustainable golf course management and the work that golf clubs do to develop and improve wildlife habitats.   Golf Environment Awards web site 
We have also recently achieved GEO certification which recognises our commitment to sustainable golf course management.  The GEO foundation works worldwide and is "Dedicated to inspire support and credibly share golf's commitment to nature, resources and community".  GEO website

The Aldeburgh team at the Golf Environment Awards presentation dinner

Storm damage

The recent high winds destroyed the shelter by the 1st tee; there were also quite a number of branches broken off trees and lots of debris scattered around the course.

Weather summary for January

January was a wet month with close to average temperatures but more frosty mornings than we've experienced in recent years.  The total rainfall was 62.2mm (the January average is 45.7mm) with the rain spread fairly evenly over the month, there were only 9 days with no rain at all.  The average temperature was 5.5°, with a maximum of 13.6° on the 28th and a minimum of -1.5° on the 27th.

12th bunker construction

The bunker left of the 12th green has been moved and enlarged and the surrounding slopes have been re-shaped. 

Stripping the old turf

Starting to shape the bunker

After turfing

Tee marker posts

The old tee marker posts were getting a bit worn out so they've been replaced with some smart new ones from Pinseeker.

10th tee construction

The construction work on the new championship/medal tee on the 10th hole was finished off today.

Stripping the old tee

Levelling the topsoil

Laying the turf

Barn owls, kingfishers and orchids

After several years of owls using our barn owl boxes for roosting, two of the boxes were occupied this year, with two chicks in each box.  These were ringed for monitoring purposes through the Suffolk barn owl project.  http://www.sogonline.org.uk/scbop/.  Another first has been a kingfisher nest on the course, the adults are currently feeding young.  2017 has been a good year for bee orchids on the river course.

There were several bee orchids on the river course this year.

July course news

Record breaking temperatures and well above average rainfall during June saw strong grass growth and a maintenance programme dominated by mowing grass.  The warmer than average and very wet weather continued into July and we broke the previous rainfall record for July with 118.6mm in total.  The greens were top dressed during the last week in June and we’ve taken advantage of the strong growth to do some greens surface refinement through brushing, verti-cutting and occasional double cutting.  These operations help to improve smoothness, trueness and green speed.  The roller has been used regularly to counteract the slowing effect that the weather has had on the greens.  Selective weed-killer was applied to the tees and some fairways.  The annual ragwort pull is in progress, we’re just over half way round the course and will finish the job before the ragwort goes to seed.  The approaches and green surrounds have been verticut several times over the last few weeks to help fine down the coarser grasses.  We’re also boxing off the cuttings from these areas to help refine the sward.  Fertiliser was applied to the greens on the 17^th of July.

Here is a summary of a typical week of routine course maintenance.

Mowing

Greens 7x (1 or 2x by hand), tees 3x, Aprons 3x, Approaches 2 or 3x, Fairways 2x, Semi rough 1x, bunker surrounds 1x.

The bunkers are raked daily, the holes are changed twice per week or more often if there are major events and tee divoting is done weekly.

July/August maintenance work

We’re planning a light top dressing of the greens early next week if the weather is suitable or failing that the week after golf week.  We’ll also top dress green surrounds and approaches.  We’ve started cutting some of the areas of coarser rough around the course and this work will continue over the coming weeks wherever the rough gets too thick to be playable.  The greens renovation and over-seeding work is due to start on the 31^st of August.

Twitter

For members who would like to be kept up to date with course activity and anything of interest on the course we have a twitter account.  Follow the link below.

https://twitter.com/Greens_AGC

Weather summary for June and July

After matching our previous record average temperature in May we had a new record for June with an average temperature of 16.8°, about two degrees warmer than the average for June (The previous high was 16° in 2003).  The highest temperature in June was 27.2° on the 19th and the lowest 9° on the 30th.  Rainfall was a little below average with 44.2mm in total, with over half of it falling during the first week of the month followed by three dry weeks and then 20.6mm in one day on the 28th.

The record breaking trend continued in July, with 118.6mm of rain beating the previous high of 106mm (2012) by a decent margin.  (July average rainfall is 45.8mm)  82mm of the July total fell on the 10th, 11th and 12th with 51mm on the 10th alone, this made quite a mess of the bunkers!  It was also the second warmest July we've recorded with an average of 18.5°, a high of 25.8° on the 19th and a low of 10.8° on the 21st.  The record breaking rainfall and temperatures have resulted in unprecedented grass growth and a golf course looking much greener than we would normally expect during the summer months.

This is what all of our 100 bunkers look like after 51mm of rain in a couple of hours.