EMIRATES GOLF CLUB - AGRONOMY UPDATE

MATTHEW PERRY AGRONOMY UPDATE

Well, it’s been quite a few months for the Golf Course Maintenance department. The maturing of the new greens on the Majlis has been great to see and far exceeded our expectations after 6 months of growth. The morning maintenance course closures have been a welcome addition to both courses as it gives us time to do work that is vital for the health of them both. It also helps us present the courses better when it is re-opened later in the morning. This could be by watering in sand on the greens or fertilising the whole course during that closure.

November as usual was a busy month for the courses, this can be a difficult time for the grass due to wear and falling temperatures which causes growth to slow. We were happy with how both courses stood up to it and this was mainly down to the weather still being very good and warm at times. The moving of ropes helps us spread the wear and we made a conscious effort this year.

December saw us getting the overseeding done on the Majlis course. We did it in 2 stage’s this year, with the tees and approaches being done the first week and the rough done the second. The seed has come up well and we continue to water where needed to help seed germinate. Its very important that we keep trolleys out of roped off areas as these can affect growth and stop it maturing at the rate it should do.

We will continue to fertilise all areas on the Majlis through January, so the course matures and plays well. We will introduce a semi rough cut the first week of the month and add walkways to please use them. The Faldo course will not have the rough overseeded this year. We will be doing the tees as these have heavy wear through the winter. The main reason for not doing the is that we want to make a big effort to remove Tropical Signal Grass on the Faldo course. If we start spraying while it is dormant, we can eradicate a lot of areas and when the temperatures start to come up encourage grass growth in the areas where the weed has been removed. There maybe times if wear on certain areas is a little too much and as a result will rope off sections of holes and be cart paths only. We will monitor this though and communicate if implemented.

It is still vital we fill divots on the fairways and repair pitch marks. Its quite concerning going out onto the course through the day and see these not done. The temperatures are a lot lower which means growth is less, this causes recovery to take longer. You do not want to be putting over lots of pitch marks which could affect ball roll.

Happy New Year and enjoy your golfing in 2022.

Matthew Perry Golf Course Superintendent