MOVING INTO WINTER

MJ Abbott have left the building and the greens-team have our compound back.  Almost everything ordered by the 2013 GRWP is complete and handed-over to the RMS greenstaff apart from the bunkers which will be finished in the spring.   

 

The grow-in of the new JHTaylor front-9 continues to progress.  Favourable conditions through November still support our efforts to achieve full turf cover across all the seeded areas by December 1st.  

 

All the putting surfaces are now stable at 6mm.  

 

Routine applications of fertilisers, bio-stimulants, seaweed and turf-paint continue to promote turf health, vigour and density.  

 

Responsible use of fungicides are controlling the heightened threat of turf-diseases in these prolonged cool and damp conditions.       

turf cover and density continues to improve moving into winter

In the last couple of weeks our efforts are focused on reinstating the approach run-up areas to the putting surfaces and reconnecting the fairways to the greens through the turfed surrounds.  

the approach to the 1st green improving with routine mowing operations

The complex at the back of the JHTaylor 1st green includes a new Medal-tee.  This new platform and the seeded surrounds are a big improvement on the original tee which was too narrow and had limited space to place tee-markers with any adventure.  

 

the new Medal-tee at the 2nd

Every activity is completed by hand.  This is a huge draw on our labour resources as tees, approaches, surrounds and greens are all blown, cut, rolled, sprayed, fertilised and topdressed by hand with no mechanical assistance.

Ordinarily one greenkeeper will spray nine greens in 45-minutes driving our spray vehicle over the greens.  As the new greens are not yet robust enough to be driven over, our spray operations are now completed with a walk-behind boom connected to the spray vehicle.  Consequently this is now a three-hour operation for three operators! 

approach run-up area to the 2nd green

All the new approach run-up areas to greens - reconnecting the fairways to the putting surfaces are maintained with hand machines set at 18mm.  

 

These entrances and openings to the greens had a bit of a shock in recent weeks at the swift and dramatic reduction in height but at least the connection is now made and their recovery and condition is progressing.    

 

They will remain at this height until the earliest opportunity arrives in the springtime to reduce the height-of-cut to 10mm for opening the course.

approach - entrance to the 3rd green

new tee at the 8th

At the 8th where almost the entire hole was redesigned all areas continue to stabilise and improve.  

 

The two new tees which have been raised, extended and reorientated are now settled under routine maintenance activities moving in to winter.  They are clean and free of weeds, pests and disease and receptive to all our operations.    

the new Medal-tee, the Ladies-tee and a very wet wetland at the 8th

business-end of the 8th and the new approach carved out of the turfed surrounds

The new tees, wetlands, approach-area, Taylor-mounds, green-surrounds and putting surface at the 8th are all well-established.

 

The 8th green was the first to be seeded in perfect conditions at the start of August.  Accordingly it is now gorgeous.  It is responsive to routine activities and the benchmark surface for where every green should be by the end of the year.   

 

The 7th, 8th and 9th are all at a similar stage of grow-in and development.

 

The turf-cover of the 1st, 3rd and 6th is about two-weeks behind the first three greens although they display encouraging signs of the surfaces stabilising and the turf tillering.  

 

Now, moving into December there is nothing to separate the progress and condition of the last greens that were seeded at the start of September.  The chipping green, the 2nd, 4th and 5th were considered a bit wobbly about a month ago but a number of timely-delivered, late-season remedial operations have greatly accelerated the condition of these four greens.           

  

8th green - putting surface

the 9th green and surrounds looking towards the King's Observatory

Up to Christmas the focus remains on recovering the appearance of the front-9 and redefining the outline shapes of tees, tee-surrounds, fairways, approaches, collars and greens.

 

The course management are determined to maintain their energy and performance to produce first-class winter golf conditions on the 27-holes that remain in-play, notwithstanding we will not compromise our application and intensity to work to safely over-winter the new front-9 greens and surrounds.   

 



PLANNING FOR GROW-IN OPERATIONS

8th tees-surrounds turfed and the teeing platforms seeded

8th green and surrounds seven-days after turfing and seeding

8th green putting surface ready for fertilising and rolling

view across 7-day old, germinating seedling turf

4th green stone-carpet and irrigation installation

3rd green putting surface rootzone installation 

2nd green rootzone and topsoiled ready for turfing and seeding 

THE GREENSTAFF TAKE OWNERSHIP . . . .

The wetland-areas at the 8th and 9th are completed with a light, dusting layer of topsoil.  Minimal organic-matter has been returned to these areas to guard against weeds and coarse grasses potentially out-competing desirable aquatic and marsh-wetland vegetation. 



The wetlands are top-soiled and connected to the Thames

A channel has been cut into the existing pond behind the 9th tee at a level which will not compromise the integrity of the pond.  This pond is connected to the Thames via the Ha-Ha and it is proposed that as the tides rise and fall then the new wetlands will capture flood-water.

A couple of hours later and on the cusp of a high-tide, the wetlands get wet!

 

Constant wet, dry and re-wetting cycles will promote an aquatic environment around the margins of the high-tidemark dominated by water-meadow vegetation. 

Flood-water flows the full-length of, 'Charles Canyon.' 

In other news, RMS Greenstaff now have ownership of the 7th and 8th holes.  The key ingredient for their success or failure in the next several days is the provision of adequate water to ensure neither the turf nor the seedbed drys out.

 

Turfing the surrounds was completed last Wednesday 14th and seeding the putting surfaces was completed Thursday morning.  



MJAbbott finishing crew seed the 8th green

It is anticipated that RMS greenkeepers will commence rolling the putting surfaces this weekend if the surface provides adequate stability.  Soon after this will come a variety of granular fertiliser applications and spray operations. 

 

After five-days a green tinge appears on the putting surface

The catalyst for timing the first mowing operation will be a risk assessment of the turf-cover at 70%.  If turf-rooting is accelerating below 30mm then the first cut could be within the next 10-days at 8mm height-of-cut. 

7th putting surface and green surround all completed, signed-off and handed-over

At the end of this week, the 9th and 1st-greens, the 8th tees and possibly the chipping green will be turfed and seeded.

*FIRST FOUR GREENS READY TO TURF AND SEED*

Premier Turf have started turfing the greens and tees-surrounds this week.  

The turf-line runs right up to the edge of the putting surface construction and includes all bunker surrounds and bunker faces.

The putting surfaces and the tee-platforms will all be seeded.  

All Taylor-mounds added-back in the fairways and greens working-areas will be seeded.  

Turfing starts at the JHTaylor 8th green area

Premier Turf board themselves in and out of the working area

8th tee platform and surround ready for turfing

Elsewhere the proposed wetland areas are complete and MJAbbott shapers are now returning 3-inches of low organic matter, sandy topsoil to line the banks and base.  It is anticipated that this minimal layer will provide for;

*  moisture retention in any event these, 'compensation-areas,' capture water

*  austere nutrient retention to encourage desirable vegetation to thrive around the margins

Medal & Ladies tees at the 8th - and final shaping within the limits of the borrow-pits

4th green shaped in the sub-base and signed-off by the course-architect

The 4th, 5th and 6th greens are ready to have the drainage installed.  Quickly after this the stone-carpet and rootzone will be installed in advance of the topsoil being returned to the green and bunker surrounds.  

2nd green with rootzone installed & surrounds ready for topsoil re-spread

1st green and surrounds ready for pre-turfing fertiliser, turfing and seeding

The hand-over to RMS greenstaff is triggered when the seed hits the putting surface.  At this point all grow-in activities are owned by RMS.  Our primary ambition will be to stabilise the turfed surrounds to guard against animal damage and erosion at the same time as managing seedling germination to protect the putting surfaces against weed invasion and wind-erosion.

JHTaylor front-nine *PROGRESS*

With a tailwind of warm and dry weather MJAbbott continue to make good progress.  

The project is mostly on schedule although a number of interfaces and project logistics have dictated that the imminent seeding and turfing activities are now split into two phases.  The value-added in this decision provides for increased opportunities to achieve first ambition of full-turf cover and resilient turf density by December 1st.

The previously outstanding issues on the 4th, 5th, 6th and 9th with badgers and the National Grid high-pressure gas pipeline are all now discharged. Subsequently MJAbbott now have ownership of all the working areas.

1st green with the gravel-carpet spread overlaying a pipe-drainage system  

In all areas the outline shape of the putting surface is well-defined within the working areas.  Apart from the 4th, and 6th all the greens and surrounds are presented at an advanced stage of construction.  

Martin Ebert, the Club's architect, is making routine visits to sign-off the construction works at key stages to manage the integrity of the works and guarantee that his levels, topography and designs are replicated in the ground exactly.

3rd left-greenside bunker drained & with sand-lines painted in by Martin Ebert

3rd green surface ready for rootzone installation

During a recent visit, Martin Ebert painted out the sand-lines in the bunkers in advance of MJAbbott returning the topsoil to the green surrounds.

MJAbbott strip the 4th green and surrounds

The evacuation under license of the last two badger setts which impacted the working areas at the 4th and 6th are now signed off by the STRI Ecologist on behalf of English Nature.  

MJAbbott have had ownership of these two greens for one-week now and are busy in these areas with initial topsoil stripping and surveying.

5th green shaped out and marked for final-shaping in the sub-base

8th green complete; ready for inspection and sign-off by Martin Ebert

The 7th and 8th greens offer the best indication of a finished construction.  

The construction of the putting surface and green surrounds are complete and ready for a final inspection this week. 

Returning the topsoil to the surrounds and re-spreading it only requires a little more work with a steel dragmatt.  This key-skill smooths out imperfections and restores topsoil-levels to the correct depths over the shapes designed in the sub-base.

Turfing and seeding is due to start here in the week commencing 12th August.       

8th green-surface almost ready for seeding

Elsewhere, the 9th green is almost a stand-alone project.  It is now risen out of the flood-plain, shaped in the sub-base and ready for all onward activities.  

9th green area - final shaping at sub-base level

The greenstaff are now increasing their manoeuvres on the JHTaylor front-nine and working in areas around the margins of the reconstruction.  

All the tees are being hollow-cored ready for late-season topdressing, overseeding and fertilising.

A planned and organised scarification and linear-aeration operation to the fairways and semi-rough is due to commence within the next ten-days.

JHT front-nine reconstruction *PROGRESS*

JHT 1st green area with drainage pipes installed and backfilled

With the longest period of warm and dry weather for several years, MJAbbott are making good progress. Whilst badger habitats frustrate their efforts on four-greens elsewhere greens, bunkers and greens-surrounds are shaped in the subsoil; piped drains are installed to carry water away to soakaways and the greens are ready for the gravel carpet to be spread.  

mini-excavators finishing-off drainage trenches

At the JHT 3rd the outline shape of the left greenside bunker is clear to see, the limits of the green are cut into the subsoil and the shaping to proposed and surveyed levels is ready for inspection by Martin Ebert, the course architect. 

JHT 3rd looking from the front left of the working area

The greens are built from the sub-base up.  As different layers are installed from the base, the stone-carpet and the rootzone all replicate the topography and elevation-changes shaped in the sub-base and signed-off as designed by the course architect.

JHT 7th with the stone-carpet installed

At the JHT 8th the new teeing ground, the wetlands, the green and green-surrounds are all progressing well.  The tee is level and drained, capturing the final design of the wetlands is still a bit of a moving target and the green-area is signed-off at a similar stage to the 7th green area.    

view from the new, elevated JHT 8th teeing ground

The creation of the wetlands - and the provision of a habitat for aquatic plants around the margins - is proving a little testing.  The irregular shapes through the base of, 'Ray's Ravine,' - or, 'Peter's Fjord,' - or perhaps, 'Ebert's Abyss,'  should encourage water;

• to be held and meander through the depths of the gulch
• seasonally moisten the margins as levels rise and fall with high-tides
• tap into the naturally occurring water-table at about 1.8-metres
• drain and capture the surface run off during autumn and winter from the top part of the course up the hill beyond the JHT 7th and PBarton 5th   

JHTaylor front-nine reconstruction

And so it begins!  Already the 7th green and surrounds are excavated and reduced to a working-area.  

MJAbbott move on-site and the existing front-nine greens, greenside bunkers and greens surrounds quickly start to disappear.

Upon arrival an immediate start is made creating the new wetlands in the carry at the 8th.  This new hazard, allied with new Taylor-mounds up at the greenside, will compensate for the redesign of a bunkerless hole.

Golf Course Architect, Martin Ebert - not to be confused with the RMS Head Greenkeeper Doug Tate in the shorts - watches over MJAbbott shapers as the 8th green and surrounds take shape.  Work continues in the sub-base to the architects plans in advance of installing drainage and gravel-carpet.

MJAbbott shapers make final adjustments to the movement towards the back of the green.  An off-plan adjustment is made to ensure available pin-positions on a defined shelf at the back-right of the green.  

Final grading in the green bases in readiness for authorisation by the architect and installation of drainage.

Operation, 'Manual Clear-up!'

The clear-up of the cores ejected from the greens is completed by hand.  

We were blessed with dry-weather for the duration of our work with heavy equipment so this manual-handling operation was straightforward, clean and tidy.  

RMS greenkeepers clearing-off cores and debris from the putting surfaces

This photo offers an indication of the cleanliness of the hollow-coring activity.  By getting the gearing, engine-revs and forward-speed of the tractor-unit set-up appropriately we guaranteed the smooth operation of the hollow-tines.  

Alongside a £1-coin there is evidence of an adequate spacing and clean holes with no plucking, tears, or otherwise disturbed putting surface.

With cores and debris cleared away the smooth machinery operation is revealed

The next stage of the operation is to start slinging sand everywhere and compliment this with applications of seaweed soil-builders, seed and an organic early-season granular fertiliser . . . . . .