Royal Mid-Surrey - JHTaylor Course

Royal Mid-Surrey Clubhouse and the JHT 1st tee

JHT 1st Green.  If you like it then we'll stick a pin on it

JHT 2nd carry

JHT 2nd fairway

JHT 2nd green and surround

view of the JHT 3rd and 4th fairways

JHT 6th fairway

JHT 8th approach run-up area to the green

JHT 9th green and surround

The JHTaylor Course opening

After all of the drama and anticipation the JHTaylor Course is now only days away from a fan-fare grand opening.

The putting surfaces remain fragile and members are encouraged to be vigilant and guard against

• unrepaired pitch-marks
• creating unnecessary scuffs and scars 
• concentrating wear in one area.

A course inspection by the great and the good! - as Mike Harris fires up the sprinklers with the remote control. 

The greens were seeded mid-August 2013.  

Once there was adequate seedling germination and establishment the greenstaff were able apply grow-in activities for about twelve-weeks until the surfaces became largely unresponsive during the winter-time.



Fairway mowers on the JHT-3rd

The greenstaff got hold of the putting surfaces again with meaningful activities from about early April. 

Altogether the greenstaff have had surfaces to work with for about 140-days.

  

Sand topdressings were always going to be the number-one tool to promote some resilience in the surfaces.

Since the first machine-driven topdressing operation in the first week of April this activity was delivered every three-weeks up to the second week of June.



JHT-5th green and surrounds

Allied with high-levels of chemicals, fertilisers and plant-protection products we have applied a wide range of turf management practises to produce surfaces,

• with full turf-cover
• free of weeds, pests and disease
• refined, conditioned and 99% pure bent/fescue
• receptive to a wide-variety of inputs
• well-positioned for parity and to blend with the four-year-old JHT back-nine greens within the next twelve-eighteen months.

Eco-rough areas provide a framework to each hole - and for discipline off the tee

There are course-wide changes across the JHTaylor front-nine.  In addition to the reconstruction of the putting-surfaces and greens-surrounds,  

• All the bunkers have been rebuilt
• there are three new tee complexes at the 1st, 2nd and 8th
• the new wetland areas at the 8th and 9th will ensure that golfers must approach these holes with a plan!



JHT-7th green approach

When they recently returned to site for completion and snagging, MJAbbott also assisted the greenstaff with additional works over the scope of the greens reconstruction.

RMS border with Kew Gardens

 

These were special projects off the 2013 course-works schedule and the 2013 winter-works schedule which required the application of heavy plant  and machinery.

They were either projects that were incomplete from winter or projects where the application of contractors could provide economies and efficiencies such as,

• notable woodland and tree-care work to open-up views, vistas and safety splay-angles off tees.



JHT-7th green with one-week until the opening!



changes at the JHT-7th include new bunkering down the right and in the approach

Acid grassland areas are responding to flail 'cut and collect' routines - and early season scarifiying activities.



Run-up area to the JHT-9th green

Good luck to all the members who were successful in the draw for the 10.30am shotgun-start on the JHTaylor course on Sunday 29th June to announce the course OPEN.

To everyone else, I can assure you the new JHTaylor course has been built to last and it will still be there on Monday morning! - if the members playing on Sunday have looked after it! 



Spring-time at Royal Mid-Surrey

The playing of the, 'Phoenix Trophy,' and the, 'Mothers and Daughters,' benchmarks the start of the golfing season at Royal Mid-Surrey.  

Marquee-events come quickly after these early season events and, 'The Portuguese Ambassador's Trophy,' at the end of the month is soon followed by three weeks of Spring Meetings.

view off the Pam Barton 2nd-tee

The Pam Barton course is now recovered from the early-March greens renovations.  

There will be no further activities with heavy machinery before the end of the summer - but occasional, light, dusting topdressing operations will maintain smooth, true and medium-paced surfaces. 

view of the Pam Barton 8th 

The priority for the greenkeepers this year is to maintain consistently conditioned greens with no peaks and troughs in the pace we deliver.  

To achieve this we must maintain robust and true surfaces.  Routine monthly topdressing activities will smooth out surfaces pitted from scuffs and scars from golf-traffic and unrepaired pitchmarks. 

   

Pam Barton 11th-fairway

The recent Mothers and Daughters competition of April 12th has set the tone for the rest of the year.  There was plenty of evidence across the course that course-conditions are on the cusp of flourishing.

view from behind the Pam Barton 1st-green

Essential greenkeeping activities are now becoming more routine as the weather and ground conditions improve moving into May.  

There is evidence of sustained growth across most surfaces but without any supporting April-showers there is not quite the vigour yet to cut striking definition between the semi-rough, the primary rough and the eco-rough.

Pam Barton 4th hole

Deputy Head Greenkeeper, Harry Cannon micro-manages daily activities on the Pam Barton course.  

He is supported by the Course Manager's office with strategy, engagement and communication.  

Harry regularly consults with RMS Professional Matthew Paget in golf and rules matters to ensure that the minutiae of turf-management operations and course set-up activities keep the Pam Barton course usable and relevant for all standards of golf.

   

Pam Barton 11th-green and surrounds

The heights of cut across all golf-play areas are now set-up for the season.  

The putting surfaces are cut at 2.5mm.  It is anticipated that this height-of-cut allied with our,

• chemical armoury
• TruTurf-roller
• turf-groomers
• turf-brushes
• sand 
• steel-dragmatt
• and irrigation system . . 

. . . will conspire to produce robust and smooth surfaces ordinarily at just under 10-feet quick.

view from behind the Pam Barton 9th green

The Pam Barton course will be set-up this year to best define it as a course which demands a golfing strategy.

Golfers will not be encouraged to stand on every tee, loosen their shoe-laces, open the shoulders and swing like they're trying to kill a snake in a phonebox.  

The management of the rough will promote discipline and accuracy off the tee.  

Pam Barton 12th

The Pam Barton course is maintained with four full-time staff.  Consequently this team are extremely grateful for any help and support they can get with the care of the course.

In the Pam Barton 18th fairway

Essential course etiquette demands that golfers will not pull trolleys up onto teeing platforms or in-between greens and greenside bunkers; divots are repaired on the tee, divots are replaced in the fairway, bunkers are raked, pitchmarks are repaired and all litter is placed in the litter bins provided.

The members attempts at The Captain's, 'Drive to Improve,' initiative are greatly appreciated by the greenstaff.

Mid-winter update!

In the last few months the greenstaff's attempts to maintain momentum with planned course winter-works has often been frustrated!  

In the week of the New-Year our machinery washdown pad and workshop building took a direct-hit from a falling oak-tree.  This caused considerable structural damage to the buildings and also crushed a tractor-unit and a petrol-storage vault.

Damage to the machinery washdown pad and workshop buildings from a fallen tree

More recently, out on the course we have lost a notable standalone oak-tree down the right-side of the JHtaylor 13th fairway.  

This tree came out of the ground as a complete unit.  It has since been dated by independent tree-officers at over 500-years old!  It is suggested that this tree was likely one of less than 100 in England of similar age, size, structure and value.

A fallen 500-year old oak-tree is cleared off the JHTaylor 13th fairway

 A combination of the recent persistent heavy rainfall and the recurrent flooding of the Thames has frustrated the greenstaff's efforts at a wide-ranging list of winter projects.

The weather quickly turned against us over Christmas and then we had over 110mm of rain fall in January.  As we hurtle through the middle of February we've already had another 30mm to date!  

The outstanding consequence of this prolonged wet-weather is that there have been restrictions on the use of golf buggys, electric trolleys and manual pull-trolleys since the start of the year.    

Flooding from the Thames isolates the JHTaylor 10th tee

We started the year on a, 'Composite-Course.'  

Apart from a couple of weeks at the end of January when both courses were in play, the recurrent flooding of the Thames and the heavy rainfall has dictated that only the, 'Composite-Course,' has been available for extended periods of the last several weeks.  

Even this has had to be shortened at times as access to teeing grounds on several holes is restricted and tee-markers are placed at the top of the fairways.

Any decision to close the course largely considers the health, safety and welfare of the golfers.  If the greenstaff are dodging falling trees and are slipping about in muddy, scuffed areas in their safety workboots - then we determinedly assess the risk of the weather and ground conditions to the golfers.  

View across the JHTaylor 10th carry to the PBarton 17th green and surrounds

Our efforts at winter grass-collection, flail-mowing eco-rough areas and scarifying fairways came to an abrupt halt in the middle of December.  These operations remain work-in-progress and and are still not resumed.    

Flooding from the Thames covers the PBarton 14th green and 7th tees

Access to the courses with any heavy machinery is still restricted to areas with nearby hard-standing.  

Consequently the greenstaff are now focused on small-teams activities around tee-banks and cart-paths.

.

The new wetlands at the JHTaylor 8th are completely submerged!

All the main golf playing areas are now being cut by hand and all essential greenkeeping operations are completed manually. 

The greenstaff have been walking the courses carrying hand-tools for the daily course set-up and routine spraying and topdressing activities are all done with walk-behind spray-booms and manual spreaders.   

The JHTaylor 8th hole is entirely flooded!

Now, as the end of February approaches, the forecast is improving!  Hopefully the worst of the wet-weather is past.  

Daylight and light-quality is improving, the course is drying out, restrictions on the, 'Composite-Course,' could be lifted shortly and we are inside of two-weeks to Pam Barton greens renovations!