Hello again!
What a great Autumn season of golf it has been so far! The weather has been relatively dry and mild with only 3 frosty mornings (less than last year). We will try to extend the playing season as long as possible before conditions deteriorate and begin to affect the course.
In terms of work on the course, we are pretty much finished with cutting as there is minimal grass growth. The fairways, tees and foregreen areas will not be cut again. The greens have received a cut this week ahead of the final competition on Sunday. We skipped cutting greens 6, 7 and 13 as historically, these greens are more susceptible to winter damage due to low sunlight and ice buildup. We also avoided cutting the low spots on all greens where ice is likely to form. Growing the grass a little longer can help avoid some of the winter injuries. In the coming weeks we will dress and deep spike greens as part of our winter preparations.
Now that we aren’t cutting so much, we have been focusing on other tasks around the course. We do however, begin everyday with removing due on greens by rolling or brushing and changing holes (if needed) – it is important to keep the grass as dry as possible to minimise disease pressure. Approximately half of the tees on the course have been hollow-cored (hålpipa – removal of material) to reduce compaction, followed by a brush and roll. Several dead trees have been removed and we have cut back some overhanging branches that impede the line of sight from some tees. We have discovered an irrigation leak from the mainline at hole 9, therefore the pumps are currently switched off. The system will be drained and winterised next week before we fix the problem at hole 9. The short course greens have been dressed, spiked, brushed and rolled in preparation for winter play; these greens suffered a great deal of damage from last winter and have looked poor all summer but are looking really good now! Next week we will add material to the old fairway bunker on hole 3 as this is a key area that needs addressed.
Hope this helps,
Elliot