I'm a greenkeeper at Ashton & Lea golf club.
My daily role is mainly involved with the progressive improvement of the greens.
I've got a foundation degree in sports turf science, so I have a good idea at what I'm doing!!! It's not just cutting grass
As i stated in my previous blog i’m going to do a small write up about the plan for the greens, briefly go through how they have changed in the past 3 seasons (soil wise, bits you don’t see), what we are currently doing with them in this renovation and why, and the plan going forward this season.
This will be the 4th season we have been following the http://www.terralift.eu programme. Personally I think 2018 very good, 2019 extremely good, 2020 good. These are my views I fully expect people to have differing opinions
This is an ideal soil sample
Soil sample taken from 3 greens winter 2017Soil sample taken from the same 3 greens winter 2020
As you can see from the pictures, to start with there was a massive chemical imbalance in the soil. This transformation is allowing the grass plant to work more efficiently, offer more protection to it’s self from disease and maintain a more stable environment for it to live.
An example of the is the pH of the soil. The pH being too low or too high can cause massive problems for the plant, the take up of nutrients being 1. The soil test 2017 showed the pH at 5.3, we are now 2020 up to 6.8. This will give the plant a stable base and should help stop any fluctuations in performance.
Two other indicators we are going in the correct direction is C:N ratio, this is an indicator of how the soil is breaking down thatch/ organic matter, we have gone from 14.6 down to 13.1 (ideal is 12). The amount of sulphate in the soil has also come down, this can block up the pore space so slow down the rate of which water can pass trough, this has come down from 108 mg/l to 55 mg/l ( ideal 50 mg/l).
We have to get the foundations correct to build something decent on top, I think these results show that we are on the right road. All 4 years results are available for anyone to see, if you’re interested email and i’ll send you a copy.
Back to what we are doing this spring awaiting your return on the 29th March. We have cored the wetter greens/ wetter parts of greens, this was done because these areas had slightly more thatch/ organic matter than other greens. We used 8mm hollow tines. The areas done where
1st
left 4th
left 5th
front 6th
9th
left 10th
12th
right 13th
front 14th
front 15th
16th
back 17th
These areas have been top dressed. We can now leaves these to recover until the 8th March. The plan is to then scarify all greens, dependant on results we may double scarify them followed by a top dress and feed. This will give them 3 weeks recovery until you return on the 29th.
Depending on the season, weather/ golfing calander we may look at a light scarification mid season. Large renovations will take place 1st full week of September.
Thanks for reading, please follow us on twitter @ashtonleagreens, this will give you daily reports on the state of the course and updates of what we are doing.
We also have a facebook page, search for Ashton and Lea greens. Please like the page and ask your golfing friends to like the page, make them aware of the good things we are doing and producing.
Any concerns or opinions on what we are doing please contact us directly on greens-ashtonlea@hotmail.com.
Thanks for reading, Mark Shuttleworth ( Deputy Head Greenkeeper)
It’s been the worst January i’ve known at the club in 26 years. It’s either been raining (heavy), frosty or snowing. It would have been a lot of temporary greens and course closures.
Very little has been done to the greens due to the weather, they have been cut twice. We have also fed them and put on Rocastem and other soil improvers.
Early renovations are due to take place 8th & 15th March. We are going to 8mm hollow tine the wetter areas of the greens. This means we will totally do 4 greens (1,9,12,16), we will also be targeting areas where water holds on other greens, i.e left 4th, front 6th, back 17th and others. We are also going to scarify all the greens, both practices followed by a top dressing.
The hope is we can bring these dates forward, as we want to keep disruption to the members to a minimum, all that depends on the weather. If we get a few dry weeks we will bring them forward.
We have got the greens program/ plan for the year. I’m going to do my next blog about the greens. It will be about the progress in the last 4 seasons.
The 15th and 17th tees have been turfed. The 2nd tee is currently being leveled, it’s been extremely difficult getting materials up there due to the ground conditions. Hopefully we can push on with the job in the next two weeks.
We have taken out 8 trees to the left of the 6th tee, the purpose of this is to be able to use the whole tee. From the tee bed now you can see all the green.
We have also been busy thinning out the trees between 7 & 12. The trees are at a size now where they need space to grow. We have taken out 10 with a further 5 need removing. This will also help speed up cutting in between the trees.
When conditions have been that bad it was impossible to get out on the course, most of the month!!! we have been extending the overflow car park. Even on the busiest days in summer i’m sure you’ll be able to find a parking space!!
Thanks for reading, please follow us on twitter @ashtonleagreens, this will give you daily reports on the state of the course and updates of what we are doing.
We also have a facebook page, search for Ashton and Lea greens. Please like the page and ask your golfing friends to like the page, make them aware of the good things we are doing and producing.
Any concerns or opinions on what we are doing please contact us directly on greens-ashtonlea@hotmail.com.
Thanks for reading, Mark Shuttleworth ( Deputy Head Greenkeeper)
I usually start moaning about the weather so as soon as Boris made his announcement about golf being closed for a month you knew we where going to have a dry warm November. Perfect for us considering last month but very very frustrating for you golfers!!!
The situation at the moment in the greens department is that two lads have been furloughed leaving three of us to do work on the course.
The day the course was closed (Thursday) we got on the greens with the air2g2 followed behind with the verti drain going down 9″. The air2g2 blows compressed air into the rootzone causing soil fractures that allow air/water movement whilst also relieving compaction. The verti drain creates deep aeration, doing very similar to the air2 but also allowing gaseous exchange. We are only cutting once a week, this is to keep stress to an absolute minimum but also keeping the holes open for as long as we can. The greens will be fed Thursday.
Due to the weather being good we’ve been able to crack on with work on the course. We are currently putting a new path to run beside the 6th ditch, raising the 7th path whilst jetting the drains in the area to aid drainage, creating a hard standing beside the 10th winter tee and raising the path coming off the 16th fairway.
We have taken the tops off the 15 and 17 comp tees, we always have a problem with them drying out during summer so we are going to add some soil to the rootzone to hold more moisture during summer. The spoil from the area was used to fill in the fairway bunker on the 16th.
We have also marked off numerous dead trees on the course that will be removed during winter.
Thanks for reading, please follow us on twitter @ashtonleagreens, this will give you daily reports on the state of the course and updates of what we are doing.
We also have a facebook page, search for Ashton and Lea greens. Please like the page and ask your golfing friends to like the page, make them aware of the good things we are doing and producing.
Any concerns or opinions on what we are doing please contact us directly on greens-ashtonlea@hotmail.com.
Thanks for reading, Mark Shuttleworth ( Deputy Head Greenkeeper)
Greens renovations have been completed now and recovery is well underway. Firstly the greens were scarified -8mm, this brought out around 1 trailer load of debris. On the Wednesday we hollow tined using 12mm tines, going down 2″(50mm). We took 12 trailer loads out of the greens.
Over 35 tonnes of sand has been brushed into the holes/ surface and 70kg of bents grass seed sown. You can see the new growth already. Because of the stress this causes to the grass plant we have raised the height of cut to 5mm, this will help combat some of that stress.
We have put a feed on but will also be putting further soil conditioners on next week, this will aid the recovery, help keep the greens firm going into winter and also help keep disease away.
We have had a couple of meetings regarding the winter programme, this is near to being finalised now. The aim is to level up 3 tees and sort out an area of the 6th tee that has sunk a little, we will also look at opening up the trees so we can use more of the left hand side of the 6th tee. Some more path work improvement will take place, mainly raising the 7th path to the fairway to stop it flooding. We are also enquiring about draining the left hand of the 12th fairway, this will depend on cost and ground conditions. There is also a lot of tree work that needs to be done, removing dead trees, low branches and a few trees that are not indigenous to the area.
We have had a couple of complaints about the course recently mainly regarding as to what the greens staff actually do and how we have done less this year than previous. This has upset and annoyed all the greens lads, as we have worked as hard this year like we did in any previous season.
Briefly, the greens get cut every day , usually 5;30am-8;30am. Tees/fways/surrounds all get cut minimum twice, like every year previous. The rough gets cut all week, because of how much of rough there is it takes all week, the only way around it is growing more long rough therefore making the area we have to cut smaller.
The weather plays a big part of how the rough plays, usually the complaints about he rough start mid may, this is usually when we have the first decent amount of rainfall during the warmer temps. This season we had 23mm during the whole of April/may, no moisture for the grass to kick off, now we have had 100mm+ for the last 3 months with decent temps the rough does not stop growing. Because it takes us all week to cut it some areas at the weekend have had 3-4 days growth.
We are looking into purchasing a new rough machine, keeping the old one, and maybe another machine to cut in between the trees, this should hopefully speed up the process. The greenstaff would also like to grow some areas longer, this would also speed up cutting.
Another massive problem the greens staff see with people looking for their balls is that you have no idea how far the ball has gone. We see people looking for balls 30 yards further than where the ball actually landed. Please pay attention when on the tee so you have a better idea as to where your balls have gone.
Unless you work outside you would not know how much an impact the weather/ rain has on your plans/work. The difference between a dry cut compared to a cut when it’s wet is like night and day.
The summer of 2018, (June/July/Aug) it was dry 49% of the time, with Thurs/Fri being dry 62%/42% of the time. Compare this to 2020. It has been dry 29% of the time, Thurs/Fri dry 15%/23%.
Why do these figures matter? Thurs/Fri are the main days we cut to present the course for the weekend. Not getting a dry cut makes a massive difference, absolutely out of our control. We have had 152mm more rainfall in the period than 2018, 58mm more than 2019.
Wednesday/ Thursday when cutting rough have both been wet 85% of the time, 2018 was 62%,38% wet. Massive differences.
Thanks for reading, please follow us on twitter @ashtonleagreens, this will give you daily reports on the state of the course and updates of what we are doing.
We also have a facebook page, search for Ashton and Lea greens. Please like the page and ask your golfing friends to like the page, make them aware of the good things we are doing and producing.
Any concerns or opinions on what we are doing please contact us directly on greens-ashtonlea@hotmail.com.
Thanks for reading, Mark Shuttleworth ( Deputy Head Greenkeeper)
The only right way to start this blog is with a couple of thank you’s from the greens team. Firstly to the board of directors and General Manager at the club that kept all the team together during lockdown, where nearly all courses in the area used the furlough scheme, our directors had the foresight to use the time to invest and push the course forward. All this was done with our safety paramount, making the team happy and relaxed.
Secondly, the backing we received from the members was incredible. It is a lot easier to do your job in these strange and troubled times when you know the membership is 100% behind you. Thank you, it made our lives during them 8 weeks stress free.
Anyway, it wouldn’t be a greens blog if I didn’t have a moan about the weather. Since lockdown started we have had around 30mm of rain (10 weeks). This is coming of 6 months were we averaged 4mm A DAY!!!!!!
The average rainfall for the previous 15 years in May is 61.5mm, this year we had 7.4mm. This has meant we have had to change our usual cultural practices on the greens. Usually we would be cutting daily by now, currently we are alternating between cutting and rolling. If this wetter weather continues this weekend we will go back to cutting daily.
We have been putting water on the greens nearly every day to keep them alive. Just a few facts about how we irrigate and the system,
Our tank hold 36,000 liters of water, this is used daily.
We are running the system for 5-6 minutes per green.
Our irrigation system is around 30 years old.
It takes the tank 16 hours to refill, so can only be used once per day.
We are on our 2nd applicaton, 3rd going out this month of wetting agent. This is applied primarily to prevent dry patch and ensure that every drop of water that goes on the greens is used and doesn’t run off the surface. It also maintains a uniform surface, so there isn’t soft and hard spots.
In my previous blog I had put that we was going to target wet areas on some greens. There has been no chance of that so far this season due to the weather. I’m uncertain how much of this will be done this season due to how busy the course will be. You can have the best plan in the world but the past 10 weeks has blown a hole in that!!!
Anyone who’s played recently will notice we have installed around 500m of new paths on the course, we’re really pleased with them, we will see the benefit next winter.
The height of cut on the tees will be reduced next week, if we had lowered them during last month there would be no grass left!!! The height on the fairways has another 2mm to come down also, but this will be only be done if the weather allows.
Working on the course over the past month it is good to see nearly everyone sticking to the rules. Please use the ball remove contraptions on the flags please, i’m seeing a lot of people using their hands to retrieve balls. Also DO NOT walk or drive over the new path edges that have been soil/seeded.
Thanks for reading, please follow us on twitter @ashtonleagreens, this will give you daily reports on the state of the course and updates of what we are doing.
We also have a facebook page, search for Ashton and Lea greens. Please like the page and ask your golfing friends to like the page, make them aware of the good things we are doing and producing.
Any concerns or opinions on what we are doing please contact us directly on greens-ashtonlea@hotmail.com.
Thanks for reading, Mark Shuttleworth ( Deputy Head Greenkeeper)
The view looking down the 18th today, we’ve had an unbelievable run of rain recently, the average rainfall for Feb is 60mm, this month we’re on 90mm already.
Anyway, we’re only a few weeks off the rain becoming warmer so there’s lots to look forward to!!!
This coming season we will be using a similar plan to what we have used for the previous two season. The one big change we will be doing this year is targeting small problem areas of the greens when we have a opportunity to do so.
One thing all this rainfall has highlighted is where the greens hold water, areas like
Front of the 1st
Left hand side 4th
Front left 5th
9th green
3 areas on the 10th green
Front left 13th
Front 14th
Front 15th
Back 17th
These areas, mainly small spots on the greens are softer than we would like. This is due to these areas historically holding more water, thatch build up has increased in those areas, therefore these areas hold more water.
The plan is to target these areas sporadically during the year, it may be doing a light scarification or micro hollow tine of the green extra to our usual maintenance. Disruption will be kept to an absolute minimum during the season. The results of this extra work should become visible towards the winter months.
The spring renovations will take place on the week commencing 9th March (weather permitting). The plan is to start with a double scarification -5mm (5mm below the surface), followed this by a 8mm hollow tine. Finished with a sand top dress. The idea of this plan is to remove any organic matter build up we have had during this wet spell ( the wet spell started in July!!!!!!).
If we can’t complete all the tasks we have planned then we will try the following Monday. Once we have top dressed we will follow with a roll and feed.
If you’ve not been down to the club recently or seen our social media you may not have seen that we have completed the build of a new bunker on the practice ground. We used a company called Eco bunker https://ecobunker.co.uk/ , It’s a system that uses old style astro turf. The base is generation1 astro, the walls are generation 2 astro. It’s ecological because all the old astro would have to got to landfill. Another plus on this system is maintenance will be reduced.
We had some of the astro turf left over so we are doing the bunker beside the 10th green. We will reconstruct the bunker closer to the green so the that we cut around the back of the bunker.
Obviously we are still on with the new paths, unfortunately we are struggling to get on with them at the minute. These will be completed as soon as the weather allows us.
It is the time of year where fences are out on the course, It frustrates the life out of greenkeepers seeing members,
Walking along side paths. Please use the pathways.
Taking trolleys under ropes. The ropes are there for a reason we DON’T want trolleys in that area.
White lines around greens. Also please keep out of these areas with trolleys, the line isn’t a tightrope that you must keep your trolley on!!
Roped off areas. If you have to take out a post to take a shot, please put it back.
There are some greens without white lines around, this is not an invitation to take your trolleys in-between bunker or on the surround. Please use your common sense. All the course protection measures are that we have a good course as early as we possibly can next season.
Thanks for reading, please follow us on twitter @ashtonleagreens, this will give you daily reports on the state of the course and updates of what we are doing.
We also have a facebook page, search for Ashton and Lea greens. Please like the page and ask your golfing friends to like the page, make them aware of the good things we are doing and producing.
Any concerns or opinions on what we are doing please contact us directly on greens-ashtonlea@hotmail.com.
Thanks for reading, Mark Shuttleworth ( Deputy Head Greenkeeper)
The view looking down the 18th today, we’ve had an unbelievable run of rain recently, the average rainfall for Feb is 60mm, this month we’re on 90mm already.
Anyway, we’re only a few weeks off the rain becoming warmer so there’s lots to look forward to!!!
This coming season we will be using a similar plan to what we have used for the previous two season. The one big change we will be doing this year is targeting small problem areas of the greens when we have a opportunity to do so.
One thing all this rainfall has highlighted is where the greens hold water, areas like
Front of the 1st
Left hand side 4th
Front left 5th
9th green
3 areas on the 10th green
Front left 13th
Front 14th
Front 15th
Back 17th
These areas, mainly small spots on the greens are softer than we would like. This is due to these areas historically holding more water, thatch build up has increased in those areas, therefore these areas hold more water.
The plan is to target these areas sporadically during the year, it may be doing a light scarification or micro hollow tine of the green extra to our usual maintenance. Disruption will be kept to an absolute minimum during the season. The results of this extra work should become visible towards the winter months.
The spring renovations will take place on the week commencing 9th March (weather permitting). The plan is to start with a double scarification -5mm (5mm below the surface), followed this by a 8mm hollow tine. Finished with a sand top dress. The idea of this plan is to remove any organic matter build up we have had during this wet spell ( the wet spell started in July!!!!!!).
If we can’t complete all the tasks we have planned then we will try the following Monday. Once we have top dressed we will follow with a roll and feed.
If you’ve not been down to the club recently or seen our social media you may not have seen that we have completed the build of a new bunker on the practice ground. We used a company called Eco bunker https://ecobunker.co.uk/ , It’s a system that uses old style astro turf. The base is generation1 astro, the walls are generation 2 astro. It’s ecological because all the old astro would have to got to landfill. Another plus on this system is maintenance will be reduced.
We had some of the astro turf left over so we are doing the bunker beside the 10th green. We will reconstruct the bunker closer to the green so the that we cut around the back of the bunker.
Obviously we are still on with the new paths, unfortunately we are struggling to get on with them at the minute. These will be completed as soon as the weather allows us.
It is the time of year where fences are out on the course, It frustrates the life out of greenkeepers seeing members,
Walking along side paths. Please use the pathways.
Taking trolleys under ropes. The ropes are there for a reason we DON’T want trolleys in that area.
White lines around greens. Also please keep out of these areas with trolleys, the line isn’t a tightrope that you must keep your trolley on!!
Roped off areas. If you have to take out a post to take a shot, please put it back.
There are some greens without white lines around, this is not an invitation to take your trolleys in-between bunker or on the surround. Please use your common sense. All the course protection measures are that we have a good course as early as we possibly can next season.
Thanks for reading, please follow us on twitter @ashtonleagreens, this will give you daily reports on the state of the course and updates of what we are doing.
We also have a facebook page, search for Ashton and Lea greens. Please like the page and ask your golfing friends to like the page, make them aware of the good things we are doing and producing.
Any concerns or opinions on what we are doing please contact us directly on greens-ashtonlea@hotmail.com.
Thanks for reading, Mark Shuttleworth ( Deputy Head Greenkeeper)
Happy new year to all our members for 2020, this blog will just put you up to date with what we are doing on the course in the next few days/weeks/months.
Just a quick refresh on last year, we were very happy with how the greens performed from January to mid August, personally I thought they were the best they had every been for a prolonged period.
This photo was taken in the week between Captain round 1 and 2, a picture of a plan coming together. Unfortunately since this picture was taken it has hardly stopped raining!!! Although to be fair I believe the greens are in a decent condition considering the rainfall and in a healthy place going forward.
We will be using the same products that we have trusted for the past 2 seasons from https://www.terralift.eu . We only sprayed 1 fungicide in 2019, that has never been done before here, 2 were used in 2018. Before that we have had as many as 5 sprayed, and at £700 a time that is a significant saving. I put that down to the quality products we are using.
This forthcoming season we are going 1 step further into the Terralift program and getting a product https://www.terralift.eu/the-quadrop-system that will improve the irrigation water we put on the greens. It may sound strange to a layman but water isn’t just water!!! The water we currently use is abstracted from the 18th pit, after testing results confirmed that it is not ideal to be putting onto the greens. The 2 main issues were the pH of the water and the levels of bicarbonates. Bicarbonates stop water movement through the soil profile by blocking up pore spaces. By moving to quadrop we are hoping that the greens will become firmer, better colour for longer and the products we apply to the greens lasting longer.
Other areas on the course we are currently working on are the pathways between 1,2 &3.
We are putting a path on the right hand side of the 1st green that will link up with the 2nd tee complex. To the left of the 2nd green and out to the 3rd tee is the next phase. Then the path from the 3rd tee towards the fairway past the ladies tee will be extended. Work was started on these last week, unfortunately the weather has hindered us slightly so a track dumper will be onsite from Monday so that we can continue work. We have a 5 year plan to sort out and extend paths on the course were needed.
It is the time of year where fences are out on the course, It frustrates the life out of greenkeepers seeing members,
Walking along side paths. Please use the pathways.
Taking trolleys under ropes. The ropes are there for a reason we DON’T want trolleys in that area.
White lines around greens. Also please keep out of these areas with trolleys, the line isn’t a tightrope that you must keep your trolley on!!
Roped off areas. If you have to take out a post to take a shot, please put it back.
There are some greens without white lines around, this is not an invitation to take your trolleys in-between bunker or on the surround. Please use your common sense. All the course protection measures are that we have a good course as early as we possibly can next season.
Thanks for reading, please follow us on twitter @ashtonleagreens, this will give you daily reports on the state of the course and updates of what we are doing.
We also have a facebook page, search for Ashton and Lea greens. Please like the page and ask your golfing friends to like the page, make them aware of the good things we are doing and producing.
Any concerns or opinions on what we are doing please contact us directly on greens-ashtonlea@hotmail.com.
Thanks for reading, Mark Shuttleworth ( Deputy Head Greenkeeper)
Just going to do a quick blog about what we have planned for maintenance week starting the 2nd September.
But firstly i’d just like to moan about the weather (again). Anyone who has played recently will have seen that the some of the wetter greens are looking a little tired, the reason for this is down to the fact that we went 19 days solid without a dry day!!!!!!! from the 4th-19th it rained everyday. On top of that we was coming out of a wet end to July which had seen rain in 10 out of 11 days. Thankfully it has become a bit more normal this past week.
To help the greens that are struggling slightly we have put a little granular feed on prior to the work taking place to give them a perk up.
Work will start on Monday. The air2g2 machine will be used to provide some deep aeration. Temps will be in use when the operator is on that specific greens. It’s a non disruptive procedure so greens will be back in play straight away.
Tuesday we are scarifying the greens down about 10mm. This will be followed by a light topdressing then power brushed in. This will be time consuming, temps will be in play a lot during the day.
Wednesday is hollow tining, this will target the top 25mm of the green. This will be followed by a heavier dressing and power brush in. There will be a lot of disruption during the day with temps in play most of the day.
Thursday will be overseeding. 60kg of seed will be put into the greens, a light top dressing will be applied if needed.
During the week give way to greens staff at all times, it is a stressful time for us when we need everything to work and go right for the plan we have. We won’t be waiting for anyone to be taking a shot, we need to get on with what we are doing.
To finish off, the amount of pitch marks we are seeing recently is an absolute disgrace. We know the greens are softer than usual for the reason stated above. Every shot that comes into the green from 40 yards plus will make a indentation. REPAIR THESE MARKS, THESE ARE YOUR GREENS.
Thanks for reading, please follow us on twitter @ashtonleagreens, this will give you daily reports on the state of the course and updates of what we are doing.
We now also have a page for the driving range, follow @DrivingLea
We also have a facebook page, search for Ashton and Lea greens. Please like the page and ask your golfing friends to like the page, make them aware of the good things we are doing and producing.
Any concerns or opinions on what we are doing please contact us directly on greens-ashtonlea@hotmail.com.
Thanks, Mark Shuttleworth ,(Deputy Head Greenkeeper)
Just to give you an early warning of the work we annually carry out during the 1st week of september.
The planned work will commence on Monday 2nd and hopefully be completed by the 5th, we have kept Friday the 6th just in case we need it. Although we will be feeding this day if the weather allows.
The plan is, Monday 2nd. The air2g2 machine will be used on the greens
We have used this machine before, it is the best way for some deep aeration with little disruption to the surface.
Tuesday 3rd, this day will be a scarify down approximately 10mm to remove organic matter in that area. This will be followed up by a top dress and then power brush.
Wednesday 4th, will be the day we hollow core the greens. We will only be going down 25mm. This will be again followed by top dressing and the power brush.
Thursday 5th, 50kg of bent seed will be put into the greens, this will be followed by a light dressing and then drag matted in.
After the work on tues/ weds/ thurs the water will be put on at night to get some of the dressing into the surface. Friday will be left as a reserve day just incase we need it. It will also be feeding day.
It would be extremely helpful for the greens staff if the course was quieter this week. Although temporary greens will be inplay when needed during the week for those wanting to play.
Give way to greens staff at all times during the week please, it’s a very stressful week of the year for us.
Back to the current. We are extremely happy with the way the greens and the rest of the course is playing. I feel that every product we have put on the greens this year we have had real value for money out of, this has not always been the case in previous seasons.
We had a question as to why the greens can’t be like they were for President’s day all the time. The simple answer is staff levels and staff hours. As a staff we all usually put in an extra 5/6 hours per man during the week before a major, with the course also being shut on a Friday/ Sat afternoon from 5pm. All this time allow us to roll extra, cut areas again etc. For example we roll on a Thursday, Friday, Friday night then again Saturday morning before Presidents.
We have made a portable divot tree that we are going to move around the course. There are the usual fairways on the course that suffer with divots, 8th 9th, but usually when people are around that area people have used all the divot mix in the bags. If we sited a divot tree permanently it would no doubt get vandalised, so we think a portable tree is the best option. Please use it and RETURN the divot bags!!!!
Please continue to repair pitch marks, keep trolleys away from greens and in between bunkers. Also when raking bunkers push the sand back towards the middle of the bunker, don’t drag it to the edge. Please don’t practice on the course, the club policy is one ball in play at anytime.
greensashtonlea 