Banan Uppdatering #4

Good afternoon once again,

It’s been great to see so many members and guests out playing the course following a month of play. The sunny, dry and windy weather continues, which is a good thing however limits the recovery of our winter damaged areas, mainly on the fairways. The irrigation system is required on a daily basis at the moment so performing regular maintenance checks is essential for us to ensure every sprinkler is functioning as it should to ensure areas are not drying out. Irrigation coverage on the fairways is far from perfect so we are starting to see some areas becoming quite dry however there isn’t much we can do about that other than pray for some rain.

Greens

The greens are holding up well to the conditions, it has been great to hear some positive feedback from members playing them. We are generally cutting 5 times per week and rolling when we have sufficient staff numbers. The cutting height is currently at 3,4 mm. Ideally the greens require a verticut to help remove the lateral growth we traditionally see in our bentgrass greens however I am holding off due to the weather as I don’t want to put much stress on them at this time.

Tees & Foregreens

We are now cutting tees and foregreens 3 times per week (12 mm) due to increased growth following recent granular fertiliser applications. Grass coverage is improving every week which is great. It is important for us to keep moving the position of the tee markers across the tee in order to spread the wear and protect the weaker, thinner areas (especially on the par 3’s).

Fairways

The fairways need more time which is typical here at Surahammar. It is evident that young grass shootlings are beginning to fill in the winter damaged areas, however the process is slow due to lack of rainfall. We have a granular application that we will use when we receive rain. We are currently only cutting fairways 1 or 2 times per week at 15 mm.

Projects

We have now completed the bunker filling and final cultivation’s on the 3rd hole. The area received a total of 5 lorry loads of fill material including fine soil. We will seed the area when we expect to receive rainfall. We are now awaiting Peter Chamberlain’s report before we proceed with any further projects.

Thanks

Elliot Wilson (Banchef)