April is often sunny, dry and very cold. But not this year. We have had one frosty morning, but otherwise warm days with some rainfall. This is great for the grass, greenkeepers and golfers. Warm weather with moisture means that we will start the growing season faster and we will be able to repair winter damage faster and that we will achieve the surfaces we strive for earlier in the season.
Major maintenance work on the track in April:
Week 16: Establishment of foregreen irrigators on the 18th hole. A few days during working hours will be spent playing on a provisional green.
Week 18: Dotting and reseeding greens. Small inconveniences during the day.
Winter is officially over, so how have we gotten through it and what can we expect from the season? We have come through this exceptionally wet and long winter well. There is little winter damage to the greens and the fairways are surprisingly less damaged than I would expect considering the combination of lots of rainfall and 2000 deer. That combo has historically always set us back a lot. With a good starting point for the greens and fairways, we are in a good place at the beginning of the season. The bunkers have been smoothed out and so has our par 3 course. Bunkers are always popular with the deer, but the par 3 course is particularly vulnerable in winter as it is very soft and there is a lot of traffic to and from the winter feeding grounds. The par 3 course has now been opened and maybe a week or two early, but we need to get our juniors and new golfers going. For now, mats will be used on the par 3 course.
This winter we have played on a "winter course" characterized by two rated courses. The purpose has been to spare the tees that get very worn during the season and to shorten the course a little now that the ball does not fly or roll as far. I have not received any complaints about the winter course and coupled with your diligent and obedient use of the mats, there is only praise for you members from the greenkeepers.
Our driving range suffers from water. Like the par 3 course, it is plagued by water pressure, meaning that the water in the ground not only moves downwards, but also horizontally. The water has to go down to Mølleåen, but for us this means that it is very soft in the off-season. We have buried fascines in several places to take the worst of it, but the problem has not been solved sufficiently. We would really like to establish a drainage system for the driving range, but the challenge is that the area is protected. At the time of writing, there are still a few weeks left before the general opening.
During the spring we will install a set of foregreens sprinklers on a few holes and we will also improve the irrigation on our tees on the driving range. We will start with the foregreen on the 18th hole and then move on to the 16th hole. The aim is to improve the quality of these foregreens. Our existing irrigation system is only designed to care for the greens, so with large foregreens it is very limited how we can protect the grass. More sprinklers will therefore support our care to improve the quality and presentation.
As always:
Align the impact marks, preferably two or three
Apply divot mix to fairways
Play “ready golf” and close balls through faster.
Enjoy!
Martin Nilsson
Head greenkeeper