Greenkeepers update 6th March 2020
Hello all,
Coming out of this very mild and wet Winter with less than a handful of heavy frosts the year ahead is shaping up well. All machinery servicing will have been completed by the end of next week and ready to go as soon as conditions allow. The chainsaw courses that John, Mike, Jamie, Andy and Greg have been doing have all gone well, and Billy, our new apprentice, continues to learn new skills and is shaping up to be a promising asset to the team and have a great future in sports turf.
Onto the Courses:
Cottingham has been a challenge to keep open at times with weekend after weekend of storms hampering our efforts. Skidby is certainly the drier of our 2 courses and has remained open all be it on the front 9 holes throughout much of the bad weather.
The bunkers will come back into play as they dry out next week. This will be weather dependent, but we do want to have them back to the condition we had them in a few weeks ago.
We have done our best to keep surfaces under control in terms of height of cut so that we don’t lose any definition, and hopefully if the rain this weekend isn’t too bad we will be able to cut Fairways again at the end of next week. Tees and Aprons have been cut this week ahead of receiving their first Spring fertiliser next week which will provide good all-round plant health and growth through the coming season.
The Greens have had a hard time the last while, as I mentioned in my previous update, but have weathered well, fending off disease during some pretty harsh conditions. Over the previous 2 days myself and Andy fertilised all 38 Greens and this will give them good growth, health and colour ahead of Greens renovations next month which can be very harsh on the plant.
Thank you all for your continued thanks, support and understanding through this difficult winter, it has been greatly appreciated. As I wrote earlier, this year looks like its set up to be a good one.
Many thanks,
Greg Milton
Course Manager
