The Golf Course Is Back

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1 The Golf Course Is Back st May st The start of the season is now upon us and the first competitions have already come and gone. The course has started to get some much needed definition due to them more regular mowing. We have also started our fertiliser and chemical programmes on the greens, tees and aprons which will speed up growth and recovery rates on these surfaces and in the long term improve their health and playability. Bunker renovations are also well underway also but I will explain these tasks in greater detail later on. I would like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding in the last few months regarding the numerous course closures and restrictions that were put in place on the golf course. These were unavoidable due to the never ending snow and rainfall we have experienced since January but none the less annoying when all you want is a game of golf. Hopefully this is in the past now and we can get back to producing a quality golf course for the members to play without the weather getting in the way. Qualified Staff Member Congratulations must go out to one of our greenkeepers, Robert King who has just graduated from college with SVQ Levels 2 and 3 in Amenity Sportsturf Maintenance to his name. Robert has been attending Elmwood College once a month for the last 4 years to achieve these qualifications and it has taken a lot of dedication and hard work in his own time, along with studying at college and out on the course to gain the outstanding pass marks and the positive feedback he has received from his tutors. He has also achieved his Pa1, Pa2 and Pa6 NPTC certificates in chemical spraying which will greatly benefit us in the future. Robert has developed massively from the junior member who would come along to give us a hand raking bunkers at weekends to becoming a crucial and accomplished member of our greenkeeping team. He will be an asset to Mortonhall GC for many years to come and we re lucky to have him.

2 Our newly qualified member of staff in action. I strongly believe in staff training and education at Mortonhall GC, as it not only gives our team the knowledge to carry out their work to a high professional standard, but also keeps us up to date on the latest greenkeeping methods and legislations and greatly develops staff members confidence, experience, knowledge and understanding of the ecology and science within our industry. My mates outside work regularly ask me why I need to be trained, educated and study outside working hours just to cut grass but my reply is always that the modern greenkeeper needs to be a scientist, environmentalist, agronomist, arborist, mechanic, irrigation technician, accountant, PR officer, architect and builder to name a few. This reply usually keeps them quiet for a bit but this statement is definitely true. We must continue to learn and push ourselves to develop our knowledge as the golf industry is changing yearly and we need to be prepared for any changes to benefit ourselves and our golf club. Playing Conditions The playing surfaces are in good condition for this time of year, particularly the greens which are still clear from disease outbreak and in most cases firm. The soil temperatures have been lower than average, which has resulted in very little plant activity after the coring renovations (which has made recovery slower), but as the air temperatures have begun to rise and the daylight hours stretch out, the soil temps have followed suit and growth has started to build. The recent better weather has resulted in improved growth on all surfaces as the recovery rate has started to speed up. At the moment we are very happy with how the course is developing and we are in a good position going into the rest of the season.

3 Chemical and Fertiliser Applications We have begun our fertiliser and chemical programmes to good effect on the greens, tees and aprons. It is crucial to apply the essential nutrients and soil stimulants that are required to help maintain a healthy plant which will be ready for the season ahead. We have applied the same granular fertiliser to the greens, tees and aprons, which is an ideal early season fertiliser to kick start turf in cooler conditions without excessive growth which would cause disease outbreak. We will continue to apply liquid feeds and hardeners throughout the season to keep turf strong and healthy. Following the fertiliser application on the greens and the initial burst of growth, it was the perfect opportunity to overseed the greens. We have applied 40kg of finer grass seed over all the greens which will hopefully start to germinate soon and began to improve the greens surfaces. We have also started a programme using a product called Rocastem. This product is a liquid aerator and root stimulator which is designed to de compact the greens rootzone and increase water percolation. For this to work best we need to apply 3 treatments and this will hopefully result in firmer, smoother, deeper rooting, drier and healthier greens. This is a new approach for us but we have just recently finished the third treatment and so far the results have been encouraging and we are hopeful this will continue. The greens are healthy and recovering really well from coring work.

4 Top Dressing Programme Regular top dressing is key to producing firm, true and consistent putting surfaces. We have a top dressing programme in place that will result in applying regular (twice monthly) but light dressings (2.5 tonnes) throughout the playing season. We will not be putting aside designated dates for this practise to take place as it did not work well last year but we plan to apply dressing when the conditions are ideal. The greenstaff will be coming in early on these days to carry out the top dressing to limit the chances of disruption to play (we will try to make golfers aware of these maintenance days via twitter on website in advance of this work being carried out). Tees Maintenance We have solid tined all teeing grounds to alleviate problems with compaction, drainage and air flow. We followed this with a fertiliser application to help boost re growth. All the winter mats have been brought in for the start of the season so the tees will be getting a hammering for a bit, but when the growth starts to kick in we should be fine. The divot boxes are all back on the par 3 s and divot bags can be picked up at the Pro Shop so can you all please help us out by taking them with you when having a round and using them when required. GDD s and Rainfall Since going back to college in January, my nights have become quite boring, reading and studying about the science of turfgrass or putting together rainfall charts etc., but the information I m gaining is not only interesting but useful. One of the things I have started to take notice of is something called Growth Degree Days (GDDs). I am not going to say that I m an expert on this but the data is a very good way to understand plant growth and hopefully explain to members the implications that the recent poor weather has had on our golf course. Growth Degree Days is a method of measuring plant growth potential year on year, and rose to prominence originally in agriculture, but was later adapted for measuring turfgrass growth. The data starts on January 1 st each year and is calculated in degrees. The main thing to remember when working out the GDD figure is that the base temperature is 6 degrees (6 degrees is the lowest temperature that grass will grow, anything under this figure and grass growth will remain dormant).

5 GDD Formula Average Air Temp Base Temp = Growth Degree Days If a day has a max air temp of 15 degrees and a min air temp of 5 degrees, the average will obviously be 10 degrees. E.g. Average Air Temp 10 Base Temp 6 = 4 Growth Degree Days This data can be documented and accumulated into a daily or monthly graph to show the cumulative degree days we have in a year. Below shows the figures in Edinburgh for 1 st January to 31 st March this year and how it relates to 2017 (it is quite alarming). GDD Jan-Mar 2018 GDD Jan-Mar 2017 Variance % To2017 Day Variance 2017 Edinburgh % 59 Days Behind The main thing the data shows is that the growth we have had this year is drastically down on previous years, which is the main reason why the greens didn t recover very well after coring, the walkways worn and the tees grass coverage pretty thin. Basically the growth potential of grass in this period was 80% down on last year. Add that to the rainfall for the same period being 50% greater than 2017 (shown below), this gives us pretty grim chances of grass growth in this period. Rain Jan-Mar 2018 Rain Jan-Mar 2017 Variance % To2017 MM Variance 2017 Edinburgh 190mm 127mm + 50 % 63 mm More This is a perfect example how growth and recovery rates have been much slower than normal this year. The grass has simply not had the proper conditions to promote germination and establishment. Other Projects At the moment most of our time is concentrated on mowing the various areas on the course but there are a few other tasks we need to complete when we have the time. We have an ever increasing list of jobs on our notice board in our bothy that we are working through at present, which are just as important as mowing the course in our opinion. We will continue to make time to undertake these tasks and odd jobs.

6 Bunker Renovations At the moment we are currently working through the holes and carrying out bunker renovations. The playability of our bunkers at the moment is poor so we are undertaking a few practices to help this problem. - Rotovating the bases to alleviate the compaction of the base. - Re Distributing the sand better around the bunkers. - Adding sand to problem areas when required. - Stone raking to try and get the stones out of the bunkers. - Weeding and removing debris. Carrying these out is quite time consuming but we have completed holes 6, 7 and 17 so far and will continue with the rest of the course and hopefully complete it in the next few weeks. While working on the 7 th bunkers we gave the drainage a much needed overhaul as the drainage installed in these bunkers was not working and filling with water every time it rained heavily. We took out existing drainage and added new pipe, grit and installed a better gradient on the drainage. Hopefully these measures will stop the problem of waterlogged bunkers. Fence at 1 st Tee As mentioned in a previous blog, we are trying to make the first tee a bit more visually appealing as it is the first impression of the course. The view up the hole is pleasant but the surrounding area is sadly not. We have already tidied up the banking to the left side of the tee by taking away gorse bushes, whins and problem trees, so we are now going to focus on other areas. First point is to limit the wear towards the tee by roping off banking to stop golfers walking on the grass and using the steps instead. We wanted to make the rope fence look professional and make it a focal point to the area, but unfortunately this proved to be a costly idea if we bought the finished article from a supplier. To save money we decided to do the job ourselves, so we bought the posts, rope and paint separately and after a bit of hard work and some sore knuckles we managed to make our own bespoke rope fence which we think looks pretty good and should prove effective.

7 Rope fence at the 1 st Tee. We have some leftover rope and posts so we will install a fence similar to this one at the 10 th tee in the future. We also cemented in the loose slabs on the steps and on the wall when we were in the area and these improvements should help us on our way to producing a classier looking teeing ground at the 1 st and a better first impression for members and visitors. So that s all I have to for this month. Shaun Cunningham May 2018