Birchwood Park Golf Member News - October

General Manager Report

Stephen Norton

I hope you are all keeping well.

Last month I began to mention the winter projects upcoming and all of this was kicked off with the greens maintenance carried out in September. Thankfully we have kept the temperatures and sunlight which is helping the greens to recover well.

The whole course has been over seeded and we can see these seeds already starting to pop. This is all targeting improved grass coverage and better drought tolerance and recovery moving forwards.

When the conditions allow, we will be spraying the greens with Acelepryn which aims to protect them from the pesky leatherjacket damage we suffered last year. This will cost over £8,000 and its application needs to be timed very well to ensure it is as effective as possible. Whilst not guaranteed to work, it still is our only form of defence and it is only allowed under licence. This licence stipulates that we can only apply one dose to 10% of the total golf course area, so application has to be focussed on the key areas

One of the nuisances of Winter Golf is the worm casts and these are becoming an ever more common site following the removal of pesticides to control this. Neil is following a cultural practice to condition the soil to help tackle these. Sadly, they are common around greens, approaches and the fairways and sometimes will just look like a muddy smear as the worm cast is displaced by wheels, trolleys and shoes.

I was kindly invited to a supplier event recently at Princes Golf Club in Kent. Having not played since July, I am pleased to report that my golf did not embarrass me too much and I even managed the odd moment of magic. I am pleased to be joining Captain Duncan Anderson and his team on Saturday 29th October for the Waltz in aid of the Evelina children hospital charity. I hope this will be a well supported event, as a club we have reduced the green fee for any 5-day members wishing to play, so I hope to see many of you then.

Winter Wheels - From 1st November

From 1st November all trolleys will need to have Winter Wheels in order to be used on the 18 Hole Course.

This policy will be in operation every day until at least 28th February 2023.

This policy is in place is to ensure the course plays to its highest possible standard through the winter months and ensures better recovery heading into next spring. Thank you in advance for your understanding & co operation

NEW YEAR’S EVE

Course Manager Report

Neil Crittenden,

September has arrived and so has the much needed rain, we are continuing to work on the course to get back as much grass cover before winter sets in. The course has recovered well with the rain and a lot of that was down to the overseeding every year that we do, to have better cultivars of grass on the course to withstand the harsh summers that we sometimes have.

We have at last received our two new pieces of equipment this year, these were ordered back in December last year but because of delivery problems that everyone is facing now we have only just received them. The first was a Tee’s and Approaches mower (Left), and the second was an all electric Greens mower (right), this is the first one in the group and there are not many clubs in the country have them. Its part of the ongoing plan to reduce our carbon footprint in line with our GEO certification championing Sustainability in golf. You will no doubt see this machine on the course but obviously won’t hear it!

Maintenance week went well, and we achieved everything that we needed to get done. When we Top dress the greens after the hollow tinning a few members and visitors have asked me about the sand that we use and why we use the specific Sands. I thought id share why and how we use them.

Topdressings have many functions, such as, restoring surface levels, increasing green speeds, protecting the crown of the grass plant, providing a source of nutrition, correcting soil problems and Soil Exchange. When we hollow tine, we are de thatching, relieving compaction, creating better water and nutrient movement, root development and soil exchange to fill the holes with fresh sand.

Soil exchange top dressing is when take some of the natural soil out, usually with an aerator of some sort and replace it, usually with sand that conforms to the characteristics of the sand component of the final Particle Size Distribution you want to achieve in your green. Particle Size Distribution dictates drainage performance, moisture retention, nutrient availability, and overall green playing performance. Particle Size Distribution (PSD) or Soil Texture influences and even determines a lot of what makes a green good or bad, including levels, drainage, nutrition, and moisture availability to name but 4. The point that must not be missed with soil exchange is that we are trying to create, over time, a high performance rootzone that is of the same or very similar make up throughout the soil profile.

Our main top dressing takes place at the end of season on average 2 to 2.5 tonnes per green is applied after hollow coring has taken place. It is important that the top dressing is consistent with what has been used in the past and as close as possible matches our existing USGA root zone. Using a different Top Dressing sand that doesn’t have the same particle size and shape can lead to what is known as Layering.

Even the smallest layer can create turf health and playability issues. While there are several negative impacts of soil layering, the common cause of these problems is slower movement of water through the profile of the Green due to the differing soil textures. Layering results in excess soil moisture at the surface that causes shallow rooting, increased disease severity and soft playing conditions.

You can see the different sands at the surface that have not mixed due to the different particle size and shape.

So, the ideal topdressing sand used on our course should be lime free, washed and with silt and clay only representing only eight per %. And the sand to be round and not angular and fit into the recommended band sizes.0.25 -0.125. Also, the sand used in our greenside bunkers should be compatible with the top dressing we use on the green because problems with the root zone can arise over time with constant bunker sand being splashed onto the green every time a ball is played out of them. Our Greens were originally constructed to a USGA specification which is an attempt to make it possible to build greens economically, that closely replicate the performance of those natural wonders found on the Links at St Andrews and elsewhere around the coast of the UK and Ireland. The Particle sizes and shapes are listed in the picture.

So, we must match our Top Dressing sand accordingly. The Two sands that we use are a RH37 and a Leighton Buzzard Iron Sand. As you can see, they are consistent with the USGA specifications.

It has never been a case that we can just chuck any old sand down it goes far beyond that.

As we get into October, we will be starting our bunker projects but ill tell you all about that next month. Thanks for your understanding when we carry out Greens renovations, we try to complete these with as little disruption as possible.