Another high-tide!!

This is the third high-tide in three months!

In response to two very close floods at the end of October and the middle of November we have recently undertaken wide ranging activities to reinstate the courses.

In the immediate short-term after a flood all our labour resources are directed towards the swift recovery of two neat and tidy courses.

The residual effects of the original rush of the flood-water and the consequential standing water lingering for over 20 days is mostly seen in the condition and playability of the bunkers.  Continuing, intense repair and resanding work to nearly 40 bunkers has only just been completed - and now we have been unexpectedly flooded again to the highest levels in almost 3-years!  

Ordinarily we consider a flood if the tide-tables highlight a high-tide over 7.45 metres - but this morning we have seen extensive flooding of the courses with data from the Oceanographic Laboratory indicating a high-tide at 4.14am of only 7.03 metres.


view from the back of the 17th Pam Barton green looking down the Pam Barton 16th and across to JHTaylor 14th green

 

view across the Pam Barton 15th tee towards the JHTaylor 9th green



closer view of the JHTaylor 9th green



view across the Pam Barton 15th hole towards the King's Observatory

view from the King's Observatory across the Pam Barton 15th green towards the JHTaylor 9th green

view back up the Pam Barton 17th as the high-tide recedes from the Pam Barton 16th green

Composite Course

Due to the recent high-tides, we have lost most of the bottom-end of the Old Deer Park to the Thames flooding..

The tide came over in to low-lying areas and swales on Wednesday morning and it has steadily risen since.

Now as we approach the weekend the continuing threat is receding.

After this morning's flood almost upto the 8th-tee on the JHTaylor to the west, the 16th-green on the Pam Barton in the middle of the courses and which covered the 16th-green on the JHTaylor to the eastside - it is anticipated that any determined attempts at reinstating the courses will not be possible now until at least Tuesday 23rd.

The greenstaff will be left to clear-up the usual debris which the Thames deposits.

We will need to repair and reinstate probably 30-bunkers. 

This requires that everything the greenstaff had planned on the courses for the next two-weeks being compromised to swiftly recover the courses.

JHTaylor course-maintenance

The JHTaylor greens-maintenance operation was successfully completed this week.  All the JHTaylor course greens and surrounds were scarified, verti-cut, hollow-cored and topdressed.

We suffered a delayed start last Wednesday afternoon and also lost a couple of hours to the weather on Friday evening - consequently our activities slightly overran this Tuesday and we were topdressing the last 3-greens on Wednesday morning.

Our topdressing of choice matches the construction material of the new JHTaylor back-9 greens. 

For ease of maintenance and to maintain the swift momentum of greens-renovation activities it is delivered dry.

We applied 80-tonnes of sand over 18-holes.

This is worked into the surface with a steel dragmatt.

The action of this moving over the surface quickly restores smooth surfaces by pulling sand off high areas and moving it around to fill depressions, core-holes, pitchmarks and any scuffs from machinery and foot-traffic.

Allied with sand-topdressing we also apply a granular seaweed soil-improver.

When the surface restoration work with the steel dragmatt is exhausted the greens are lightly rolled to sweeten-off the surfaces. 

The greens were cut on Friday afternoon with a machine set-up with units for mowing immediately after greens renovations. 

This machine will likely remain on the course until Tuesday when it will be retired onto the cylinder grinder. 

This morning, and for this weekend, the greens will remain a little woolly and the wrong side of sandy.  Granular seaweed and granular fertiliser remains evident on the surface. 

Elsewhere, the threat of the arrival of summer should ease the damp and heavy ground conditions of recent months.

The eco-rough areas remain work in progress but improving light intensity. light-quality and warmer drier weather allied to routine weedkilling spray operations will see these area continue to flourish.

Our intention is to provide a border and framework to each hole.  The trade-off to not mowing 3-inch rough into all four-corners of the courses has been to extend the semi-rough/trim areas through in-play areas. 

All operations timely delivered

Following on from the heavy plant and machinery operations that led-out this maintenance week, the immediate surface recovery and restoration activities were finished late this afternoon.

We made full-use of the whole week, the weather was mostly with us and we have timely delivered valuable operations that will be the catalyst for high-performance putting surfaces in-time for the start of the golfing season.

All internal drainage and surface aeration operations were followed with a very light verti-cut to clean the surfaces of any lingering debris.

The final day and a half of the week were set aside for topdressing.  After a slow start on Friday because of the heavy morning dew we completed this operation with the support of favourable weather and ground conditions.

These mild, dry, firm conditions allied with the light golf traffic on the course on Friday afternoon presented the greenstaff with the opportunity to deliver the topdressing operation to full-effect.

Over 18 greens that total just under 6000sqm we hauled out almost 60-tonnes of a sand designed for our needs with no compromise on  quality.

Finally the sand is worked in to the surface with a steel dragmatt.  This is pulled around the green moving sand off high spots and overlaps and filling in scuff, scars and depressions as it passes over them.  This is the very best tool to use to both swiftly restore surface levels and promote smooth putting surfaces in the longer term.

After everyone has completed their individual tasks that combined to refuel the greens and surrounds in-time for spring, The Pam Barton Course Head Greenkeeper, Tim Lewis, carries out his final essential checks and repairs, cuts a fresh hole and reopens his course in its entirety in time for the weekend. 

ENJOY!!

Pam Barton Course maintenance-week

This week beginning Monday 27th February is set aside for Pam Barton Course greens renovations. 

The weather is mostly on our side although we would have preferred the sun to come through the lingering overcast conditions. 

We are about 2-4 degrees centigrade off the pace to encourage a swift recovery of the surfaces so we have taken a little of the temper out of our intended operations this week. 

Nevertheless, we have rocked on to the greens, collars, approaches and surrounds with our Charterhouse verti-drain, John Deere Aercore, sand-injection GRADEN scarifier, verti-cut units, dry DA30 sand and steel dragmatt. 

The verti-drain was configured with 1-inch diameter, 16-inch long solid tines.  The machine was set to penetrate to 14-inches and heave at 6-degrees.   

This operation will aid the drainage capabilities of the green by improving surface infiltration and internal percolation of moisture.  The gentle heave applied will promote fissures and cracks through the depth of the rootzone, relieve compaction and refuel the rootzone in-time for spring after the constant flow of winter golf traffic.

 


The John Deere Aercore 1500 is configured with 5/8-inch hollow-tines and sits behind the verti-drain operation.  This machines works in the top 4-inches of the surface managing the accumulation of any excess thatch.  

 



Routine hollow-coring will maintain the amount of thatch accumulation at appropriate levels.  This operation puts guarantees in the ground that our putting surfaces will continue to display the playing charcteristics so desired of the discerning members at Royal Mid-Surrey.

The sand-injection GRADEN scarifier runs over the green to sweeten-off the surface.  This linear aertion operation works in the top 2-inches of the greens surface and compliments the hollow-coring. 

The GRADEN is configured with 2mm wide blades.  We had intended to run our usual early spring routine with the GSO4 model using two 2mm blades butted together but this early week on offer in the Club diary for maintenance and the operations that went before conspired to destabilise the surfaces enough that we had to run our more measured late-summer GRADEN configuration. 




So now we are finished with the heavy plant operations and at the mid-point of the week.  From this afternoon we start brushing, maybe verti-cutting, topdressing and dragmatting. 

More to follow at the end of the week . . . . . . . . . .

Back in play!

After a slow start to the week when some snow and ice-cover lingered in places, the playability and presentation of the courses has steadily improved every day.

After starting the week playing off the front of the tees to target-pins set-up at the top of the fairway, the bouncebackability of the courses was evidenced by two courses fully in play by mid-morning on Tuesday.

Machinery ventured out onto the courses from Thursday and now all the main golf playing surfaces are prepared and presented in good order in-time for the weekend.

Whilst there are a few turf-disorders on show to the trained eye, all the surfaces have come out of the snow and ice-cover in very good condition and there is no evidence of any turf diseases flaring up notwithstanding that we remained damp from the melting ice and quickly moved to much milder temperatures.

The courses are OPEN!

Both courses have opened this morning after a 9.0am review.

Ground conditions remain hazardous in places and some snow and ice-cover lingers across many playing surfaces.

All the Pam Barton course is set-up off forward tees to target pins in safe areas short of the main greens.  The front-nine of the JHTaylor course is set-up in a similar fashion and the back-nine are playing to the frost greens.

The ground conditions dictate that manual pull-trolleys only will be allowed until further notice.

At this sensitive time of year, the greenkeepers' care of the course needs to be closely supported with the golfers care of the course and robust self-policing of members by members to guard against turf conditions deteriorating. 

To ensure that the playing surfaces are receptive to both course renovations at the end of this month and Spring Meeting preparations later in the year, it is vitally important that all traffic is scattered responsibly around the courses as the ground starts to thaw.

The ground is currently frozen down to 4-6 inches.  As the top 1-inch starts to thaw it will float and tear away from the underlying frozen ground if golf-traffic movements are inconsiderate.  This will damage the roots and can potentially leave sensitive areas of turf scuffed and scarred moving into the mid-spring.     

http://www.usga.org/course_care/articles/other/winter_play/Playing-Par-with-Jack-Frost/

the courses remain closed



The greenstaff remain busy at this sensitive time of the year,

• deep-cleaning the green-staff maintenance facility
• tidying the maintenance compound - clearing out sand-bays for early season deliveries
• reorganising the machinery hall and organising essential repairs to our facility buildings
• hauling logs off the course from the recent authorised woodland management operation
• continuing the extensive underbrushing operation to the right of the JHTaylor 17th green
• painting the green-staff canteen, locker-room, wash-room, toilets and office centre
• maintaining, repairing and preparing all the course machinery for winter overhauls and servicing
• machinery set-up for Pam Barton course renovations in the w/c 27th February
• reviewing and updating all health and safety and risk assessment folders and files
• reviewing departmental expenditure and finance
• collating the 2011 diesel records by month and by machine
• continuing staff education, training and development - Doug Tate and Harry Cannon are away next week on an NPTC Irrigation Systems training course
• input data and upgrade procedures in TRIMS grounds management software
• running maintenance reports off TRIMS grounds management software

 The courses remain closed today but it is anticipated that we will open tomorrow at 8.0am, albeit with forward tees and temporary greens.  It is likely that the courses will remain icy and ground conditions will be hazardous in places.



view across the Pam Barton 11th and 18th greens



view down the Pam Barton 9th



view down the JHTaylor 10th



view down the JHTaylor 2nd



 

Course closed



Royal Mid Surrey Clubhouse



view over the putting green and down the JHTaylor 12th



view down the Pam Barton 1st



view down the JHTaylor 1st



view over the chipping green and down the Pam Barton 1st

winter work

Now at the start of February, with the top six inches of the greens frozen and the golfing surfaces exhibiting firmer playing characteristics than the M25, the green-staff are mostly confined to barracks.

The residual effect of all our woodland management and tree work of the last month is that we now have enough logs to heat the Clubhouse in the winter months for AT LEAST the next couple of years.

In the workshop Terry Redwood, our Director of Machinery (Maintenance, Servicing and Engineering) and his senior assistant Mike Williams (pictured) are today ably assisted by Kev Glazier to cover the extensive workload of winter overhauls at this time of year.