June is full of matches and events, so there are very few major maintenance tasks planned. The greenkeepers are therefore focusing on general course maintenance and continued trimming of the irrigation system.
Planned maintenance work on the course that may affect the quality of play:
Week 22: Aerating the greens (Monday and Thursday). Aerating with small spears with minimal disturbance.
Week 24: Greens cut and dressed (Monday). Expect very little disruption to the playing surface.
Now it has become dry again and a lot of our care is about water and irrigation systems. As the years progress, the predicted climate pattern with longer periods of drought becomes more “everyday” and with an irrigation system from around 1990 we are left exposed when we experience these drought periods. We have just come through a 12-day period with a short circuit in the irrigation system and although our greenkeeping is based on keeping the course on the dry side, it puts pressure on resources and ultimately quality when we lack water.
Towards an expected investment in a new irrigation system, we are working to improve the quality of areas of the course that currently have poor water coverage by expanding the existing system and adding more sprinklers. The focus is on our foregreens and we have just completed the construction work on the 18th hole and will move on to the 16th hole foregreen. In the past month, we have also completed work on getting more sprinklers on our teeing ground on the range so that we can get the grass seeds to germinate more quickly and keep them alive afterwards. This spring, we have invested in a new software program for our irrigation system so that we have now finally abandoned our old DOS-based program. It was probably about time. In the fall, a new and stronger power cable will be buried from the clubhouse to the well so that our pump can increase its capacity. All in all, the club, course committee and greenkeeper team are working towards securing the course's water supply and using the water resource as sustainably and responsibly as possible.
A fresh supply of our popular divot bags will be arriving soon. This means that there will again be extra filled bags to be found in the starter's house and in a small box by the path at the 5th and 14th holes. Many of you are very diligent in taking the bag with you so that divots on fairways and other places can be refilled. This is seen on the course and it helps to maintain quality.
As always:
Straighten up your impact marks – and preferably those left behind by others…
It is advisable to use two hands on the rake handle when raking in bunkers.
Driving range pli: stick to practicing from your chosen booth
Driving range pli: Hit turf in lines and not scattered
Enjoy!
Martin Nilsson, Chief Greenkeeper