There is now only one month until April and what we all associate with the beginning of the golf season. The days are getting longer and the rounds of golf are getting more frequent. Our course must now be wrestled out of the grip of winter and released into the spring. This must be done gently, because the grass does not start to grow and heal until sometime in mid-April, perhaps not until May. Your greenkeeper team knows that task and we will make sure that we soon have the playing surfaces we enjoy playing on.
The following major tasks are planned for March:
Preparation of bunkers. Bunkers are cleaned of winter leaves, peat pieces and stones. Bunkers are checked for sand and raked.
Fairways topdressed. Expect a bit of a wait if the greenkeepers are busy bringing out the sand.
Green surroundings are being pricked, reseeded and topdressed. Expect slightly abnormal playing surfaces while the work is underway and in the days following.
In addition, smaller tasks are planned such as spotting and reseeding of 1.18 and putting greens and various fertilizer tasks.
NB: The weather in March can be quite unpredictable, so we cannot be sure of the order. The individual work tasks will be announced via golfbox.
The winter has been kind to the course so far. It has been dry and has not had too long periods of frost and snow. I expect the greens to be relatively easy to prepare and the fairways have not behaved as they have previously experienced. Our investment in the fairways is paying off.
The bunkers haven't been raked in almost 3 months and it shows. Deer are tough on them year-round, but winter is always extra tough. Preparing the bunkers is the first major effort the greenkeepers have on the bunkers. A little later in the month, the rake comes out into the bunkers and the greenkeeper team starts to rake the bunkers regularly. Not every day, but when it suits the weather and activity in the golf box. We have a number of bunkers that need a major renovation. Here I'm thinking that we need to put new grass on the edges and raise the bottom on some. All the bunkers, they need extra love when we don't get there in the spring. It's ongoing, slow work that finds room in the match calendar and between other maintenance tasks.
In late March/early April we expect to establish irrigation on the 2nd and 16th foregreens. If we are going to have really good foregreens that don't suffer when drought hits, have witching rings, or are just a little rough and uneven, then they need to have their own dedicated sprinklers. We now have that on the 7th, 8th, 12th and 18th and there we see a boost in quality. It is clear that on the 18th we have got the witching rings under control after dedicated water was added.
The start of the season will also see the introduction of our new irrigation software. We have said goodbye to a DOS-based program from the 90s and now have a new program that is smarter and faster. It will be a big boost for us greenkeepers to be able to remotely control the irrigation from home or away from the course and generally refine the irrigation that is so important.
As always:
Correct your impact mark and preferably others'
Keep a good distance from the greens and green surroundings. Follow the white lines around them.
Use your mat – It helps immensely.
Enjoy!
Martin Nilsson, Chief Greenkeeper