It's a very mild winter we're having, which could provide many good hours on the golf courses for both players and greenkeepers, but all that rain is annoying. Fortunately, the course is open thanks to its good drainage, unlike a very large proportion of the country's golf courses.
For the greenkeepers, it is tempting to start pampering the greens and tees by mowing them, perhaps aerating or dressing them a little or starting an early reseeding because the soil temperature is unusually high and could provide an opportunity to start very difficult maintenance work early. But transport to and from the work areas and wear and tear at turns means that the greenkeeper team is kept on standby. But we can hardly wait. Instead, the focus is on repairs to and general preparation of bunkers, mole hunting, preparation of course equipment and machinery.
The mild winter and the rainfall have certainly not deterred you golfers from using the course and it is showing now. Wear on the tees, divots on the fairways, wear on the path systems coupled with an unfortunately very large number of unrepaired impact marks on the greens means that the course looks marked now. It is a shame that so many impact marks are left unrepaired because the result of them is that the course's greens will be unnecessarily worn when the season first starts where many expect a high standard from the start. Remember that the grass can only expect to actively grow and regenerate itself in mid-April, i.e. in 2 months. So grab your pitchfork, straighten your impact marks and support your fellow players in their efforts so that the greens come out as healthy and delicious through the winter. It does not require a lot of effort.
As we approach March, the annual top dressing of the fairways is just around the corner. The work is of course announced in time, but depends on the weather. The program for the fairways is that 5mm of sand is laid out, the top is lightly aerated and then grass seed is sown. The process is annoying for you players because it leaves the fairways very sandy, but in terms of player pressure it is the best time of year to carry it out. But with the heat we have in the ground, it is expected that the sand will disappear relatively quickly.