With the weather for the whole of November being dry the course is in very good condition.  We have completed aeration across much of the course including tining on tees and aprons and slitting across all fairways.  Rope is going out with more still to come and we have started sanding high wear areas. 
The steps on the 15th Old have had matting across, to improve purchase in winter and the 1st London has had a new drain installed across the low point of this green.

15th Tee Old

Finished

Back filling

Path continued from 12 around behind the 13th tee and on to the fairway.  This is the last of the major path improvements this year with some extensions and topping up needed across the courses.  In due course we will also redrain and reiinstate the 9th green London to stop water lying on the surface.

Still more cutting on fairways after slitting on all holes.  We have now moved onto winter tee mats, 7th Upper has been moved and mat on the 3rd London will be moved closed to the ladies this week.

Slitting

The job has some compensations this time of year with the falling leaves.

14th London

 

 Cracking on with the jobs at the moment.  Re-turfing around putting green and 18th greens.  A job we started months ago which shows how busy we have been.  We have still to fit a drain to divert water and increase planting to the scrub bed in the next month.

PG surrounds

Perennial problems on both the 17th and 18th old course have seen mounding behind green trap water causing damage to the green over the wet winters.  We have smoothed out these banks and re-turfed which should make small improvements to these areas.

18th Old

Back of 18th Old

17th Old

Project of the week has been to the 12th London.  Access has been very difficult every winter with heavy muddy conditions.  We have installed a path extension in front of the green and dressed with around 8 ton of sand to smooth out and improve this area along with seed.  The path by the green has had a sleeper edge to divert water away from the green and we have cut all the scrub behind the green ready for part 2. 

Sleeper edge London

Path extension

We are continuing the path behind the 12th green and up past the back of the 13th Tee.  A number of the trees behind the 12th will be removed this winter.  The path behind the 13th green will have a sleeper edge keeping buggies of the tee and this will allow us to pay more attention to the back Tee area on this hole.

View from behind the 12th London

 Very busy on the course at the moment.  Seeding has gone on, on Tees, Approaches and Greens.  As can be seen below greens in 2 directions with 3 grams of seed per m2.  The take has been excellent and we have slightly overfed to encourage this growth allowing seed to tiller quickly.

  Tees and Aprons are starting to fill in and have all been given extra feeds to encourage growth whilst the weather is good.  

New seed

As well as seeding Tees and Aprons, they have received  a slow release fertilizer and have been double verticut to clean out any straggly lateral growth.   We can also see all those broken tee pegs collected in the blades.

Old broken tee pegs

Verticut approaches

The seeding improvements can be seen in the below picture with the central, poor sward made up of undesirable grass and the more desirable species around the perimeter of the picture.

Species conversion

Widening rough underway from the back Tee on the 13th Old.  We will be widening this Tee this winter so that daily play will move further back.  Very difficult at the moment so rough is being widened and we will remove some trees to allow an easier first shot.

13th Tee Old

We have improved and extended a number of paths on the course and will be continuing this during the next month.  The 6th 7th and 8th path has had a new sleeper edge and we have moved some irrigation as well.  The winter mat has been moved which will give a much better shot to the green.  Through the next few months we are also intending to fill in the left bunker on the 7th and maybe the right in order to create an island raised green with any missed shot short punished.

7th Tee Old

6th path Old

The below photo was taken 3 weeks ago from a plane and shows some great features on the course but also how green it is for the time of year. 

Aerial photo

 

 Course Investments

Over the coming weeks the course is receiving investments of nearly  £500,000  pounds.  The new fleet of machinery is finally arriving and will trigger a period of substantial investment in the next 6 months.  Listed below is machinery being delivered in the next 2 weeks.

Greens x2

Tees x2

Fairways x 2

Semi rough

Rough

Run-arounds

Turf Iron

We will also be adding an excavator to our fleet.  This will enable us to expand the window where we can carry out projects through all seasons.

Alongside this we are moving forward with continued course improvements.  Bunker on the 16th Old has now been finished awaiting sand.  From there we are moving to the 13th greenside bunker on the Old, removing the fairway bunker, moving the greenside and tucking it into the green with a revetted face.

A new waste disposal system has just been installed in the car park which will improve water and electricity efficiency and has a much smaller footprint across the site.

Irrigation is the main focus on the course at the moment.  The weather has certainly helped with a cooler month in June/July so far.  New valves, as can be seen below are being systematically replaced as they break,  each time system flow and efficiency around the course improves.

We now have good pressure across most greens which will mean better and more consistent greens through peak season.  This in turn will allow us to be more aggresive in pushing quality in the coming years and also pay more attention to neglected Tees and Approaches.

With the obvious delays earlier in the year everything is well behind so the new 14th Tee is still not even turfed.  We are now at that point but it's not going to be in play until late summer now.

Whilst grass growth is slower we are cracking on with pathways.  They are being extended, moved and topped up.  This will enable us to join up holes and float over known wet areas.

Greens are slowly moving in a positive direction.  The greens are being verti-cut deeply next week and this will make a big difference with smoothness.  We then need to start sand dressings to further refine surfaces.

Lots of Bent grass in the greens

Verti-cut ready for action

 Not all things improving on the course after having a massive oil leak on the back of 10 Lower.  There is know way this will grow back so once the grass has died, we will cut, lift and returf this area.

Not all good