Stormy weather

The high winds on Monday brought down many trees on the course and in the woodland. (Up to 67.8 mph was recorded at Slaughden)  The clearing up will take a few weeks.

Here is a selection of photos

Several poplars down on golf lane

Behind the 2nd green on the river course

Jerry Jones making a start on the clearance work

The pump house right of the 9th, several other trees were brought down in this copse

October rainfall

We're half way through the month and it's already the wettest of the year with 36.2mm so far!

Verti-draining greens

We've just started Verti-draining the greens on the river course.  This work will be completed in a couple of days and later this week we'll start on the main course.

Aeration is a vitally important aspect of our management regime enabling us to maintain firm dry surfaces all year round.  It counteracts the compacting effects of foot traffic and machinery.

Although aeration has a short term detrimental effect on the playing surfaces - particularly greens, there are many benefits.

• It improves the air content of the soil creating healthy growing conditions
• Root mass and depth is increased
• Drainage is improved and surface penetration of rainfall and irrigation is faster
• Drought resistance is increased
• Thatch accumulation is reduced

We aim to Verti-drain the greens every four to six weeks throughout the winter and spring.

Weather summary for August and September

The average temperature for August was 18 degrees, the second warmest on our records.  The highest temperature recorded was 25.8 and the lowest 10.3.  The total rainfall was 22.6mm which is less than half the average for August.
September was close to average temperature wise at 14.5 degrees with a high of 26.2 and a low of 6.5.  There was 34mm of rainfall, which kept the trend going of every month this year having below average rainfall.
The total rainfall so far this year is 235mm so unless the remainder of the year is incredibly wet it looks like we're going to have another sub 400mm year.
The four driest years on record (2006, 2009, 2010, 2011 were all under 400mm) have fallen in the last seven years.  2011 was the driest with only 298mm. 
Our average annual rainfall is 546mm and the wettest year on record is 2001 with 750mm.

Grass snake on the 7th fairway

Views of grass snakes are usually brief but today one decided to cross the 7th fairway around midday.  Most of the ones that we see are fairly small but this one was about 80cm long.

Cobwebs

It was misty and damp this morning and large areas of the gorse and long grass were covered in amazing cobwebs.

Overseeding

We're over seeding the greens this week to get more of the fine fescue grasses established.  The greens will be hollow cored first, followed by over seeding and top dressing.  The work will take a few days as the hollow coring and clearing up afterwards is a slow process.  Our aim is to keep all of the greens in play and minimise the impact on members. 

Danny top dressing the 16th green

White-letter Hairstreak

A White-letter Hairstreak was seen on the 7th tee on Tuesday.  This butterfly is uncommon nowadays because the caterpillars feed exclusively on elm trees which were decimated in the 1970s. 




White-letter Hairstreak

Will Law

Will Law is leaving us at the end of this month to start a new job as Deputy Head Groundsman at Ipswich Town Football Club.  Will has made a great contribution to the greenkeeping team over the last two and a half years and we'll miss him.  The move to a supervisory role is an excellent career development and we wish him all the best in his new job and for the rest of his career.

Overseeding

We've made an early start on the over-seeding in the hope that with good growth we'll be able to over-seed again before the end of the season.  The slit seeder used in the spring was too aggressive for our greens, with the lines still visible in some places, so we're trying a different method this time.  After hollow coring, top dressing and seed is spread on the greens and the sand and seed is brushed into the holes.  The hollow tine holes act as little pots for the seed to germinate in.

Jerry hollow coreing and Will blowing the cores into heaps for collection

Danny top dressing