MEMBERS PRESENTATION

THURSDAY 13TH NOVEMBER 2014

Review of 2013/2014 • The last 12 months have been very busy and at

times very difficult on the course.

• Calum Arthur our Deputy Course Manager really struggled with illness over the winter leading to him having to retire at the start of the year on health grounds.

• This left us short staffed over the winter months but we were lucky enough to find an experienced temporary replacement who filled in for him over the summer months

Review of 2013/2014

Winter Work – 2013/2014

Drainage to 9th; 15th; 16th and 17th greens

Picture of work being carried out on our 17th green.

Again work on 17th green

A familiar sight a few years ago but drainage work and top dressing the greens has cut this to a minimum with greens being back in play quickly after heavy rain.

Bunkers

• Over last winter a large amount of work was carried out to bunkers around the course – see following 2 slides.

• The budget for bunker sand has has been increased for 2015.

Bunkers Here we have a picture of work we have completed on our Fairway bunkers at 1st; 6th and 8th recontouring them to prevent washout.

Both greenside bunkers at 17th were rebuilt along with drainage inserted into the base.

The bunker to left of 2nd fairway and grass bunker short right of 17th Green were also filled in to make the 2nd look wider on approach and for tidiness of the 17th approach.

• Swales were also created to the left of 4th green, right of 5th green and rear of 17th green

17th green before swale creation

17th green after swale creation

Drainage • There can be not doubt that the work carried out over the

last few years is now showing great benefit to the members and visitors.

• Not so long ago the course would close after only small amounts of rainfall and it is also back in play quickly after the heaviest of rain.

• On Calums fund raising day, when it rained all day, everyone got round ok and the course remained open

• There has also been a significant improvement to the firmness of fairways and greens where drainage work has been carried out and a programme of drainage work will continue to enhance the playability of the course (ongoing work at the approach to the 6th )

We ran 2 very successful events during the year in support of Calum and raised a substantial amount of money which was passed onto him. Can I say a big thank you to all our members for their support of the Dawn to Dusk Challenge.

We also received a very nice letter from Calum thanking all the members friends and staff from the club for his support

and our Testimonial Texas Scramble

Drain which had run under 11th green redirected to run behind the green and between 12th Medal tee to help dry out the green and get rid of problematic old stone cundy

Greens • Due to the work carried out on the greens during

the 2013 season, the full greens remained in play for longer over the winter, however very wet and frosty conditions in February meant that we had to resort to temporary greens. On very few occasions again due to top dressing and drainage works.

• They were in reasonable condition by the start of the 2014 season, but due to low soil temperatures and the type of soil that our greens are built on, they took longer to get to their best (mid June).

Greens • When the greens did come good, the comments

from members and visitors alike were very complimentary and the greens did remain in very good condition for most of the summer.

• There are many letters and e mails of compliments from visitors and members through the season.

• There was a down period at the start of September where, after very heavy rainfall at the end of August, renovation work had to be carried out at very short notice.

Greens • The greens had to be tined and top dressed. Prior to

this, they had not been aerated since 10th April. This had to be done to ensure the health of the greens, to control a disease outbreak and to have them strong going into the winter.

• Maintenance of greens is imperative to ensure their health and quality in the future

• The work did cause a bit of disruption to golf and created a number of complaints but I am sure the membership in general appreciate that these things need to be done in the best interests of the course.

Anaerobic cores Reduced aeration work leads to problems with turf as you can see below. Turf needs air to breath or it can become anaerobic, rotten and very wet.

Tining & Top Dressing – Why?

• To ensure surface firmness/trueness

• Soft greens are caused by excessive moisture retention in the upper soil profile – high organic content (Thatch).

• Thatch is a layer or layers of organic material that has accumulated in the sward between the grass and the root zone.

• Thatch consists of the build up of old clippings, decaying leaves & roots.

This slide shows how wet our surfaces have become due to lack of tining. Created holes allows water to penetrate the surface and work its way down into the drainage system.

Top Dressing

• Contrary to some thinking Thatch is NOT good.

• Removed by means of Hollowcoring & Scarification.

• Dilution by means of regular aeration and top dressing

• Ideally between 120 – 150 tonnes of sand should be applied to the greens over the growing season (STRI recommended levels). See article on Club Web Site.

Applying sand (top dressing) to 1st green.

Brushing sand in on 1st green.

Rough

• The rough and the lack of a 1st cut of rough has been the biggest talking point this year. A few years ago at a members meeting it was agreed to remove the 2nd cut of rough and only have one length of rough which was agreed to be 1 ½”.

• The complaints during 2014 have centred mainly on the areas of rough next to fairways being too heavy and too long. The height of cut has remained at 1 ½” but the growth during the summer has definitely been lusher and heavier which has made these areas seem longer.

• The rough will not be the same length in the morning after a cut as it will be in the afternoon or over the weekend while it is not being cut but is still in active growth.

Rough

Rough • It has been agreed that the 1st cut of rough will

be re-introduced for 2015 and this will be maintained at a height of cut yet to be determined but lower than 1 ½”.

• This change to the rough should see a big difference for the coming season, providing a first cut that will allow members to play from it a lot more easily than in the 2014 season.

• We are currently trialing out some machinery to give us the best results for our first cut

Fairway Shaping

• Some comment has also been made regarding the shaping of some fairways.

• Following some recent work done by Ian Kenny, I can confirm that the width of fairways, at the designated landing zones for both Ladies and Gents, are in fact the same or wider than previous years.

• As per graph on next slide

GENTS BOGEY 180-200 YARDS

18

17

1513

121098

65

4

2

1

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

HOLE

YA

RD

S 2008

2014

Rec

• This has been another area of concern to some of the membership, and it has been agreed that where necessary these will be widened for the 2015 season – e.g. 8th/17th

Entrances to Greens

• Pin placements have caused complaint on a few occasions during 2014 but these placements were only used after adverse weather and were used to allow golf to continue with holes in places that wouldn’t flood.

• The Greens Committee are currently discussing this topic with the Greens Staff in order to avoid complaints in the future and it is planned to trial a pin position guide over the winter.

Pin Placements

Winter Work 2014/2015

Another busy programme of work is planned for the winter –

•We require to redirect the current drain which runs in front of the 14th green and this will now run through the wood between the 14th green and 15th tee from the drain to the left of the 6th Green. This work is now complete.

Winter Work 2014/2015

• The 7th tee will be reconstructed to provide a level playing surface as will the 17th yellow tee.

• The 13th tee will be levelled.

• Some bunkers will be reconstructed where required and will continue to be topped up with sand.

• We will also begin a programme of path upgrades, starting with the path between 14th and 15th.

Summary • It is imperative that we keep the investment to the

course with drainage and top dressing, machinery (Fairway & Tees mowers renewed this year) as well as levelling tees, tree planting ,course enhancements, introduction and/or removal of bunkers, path upgrades, course toilets etc.

• The Course Maintenance Budget for 2015 has been increased by approx 15%

• Thanks must go to our greens staff who work in all weathers doing a great job for our course and their pride in what they do.

Thank you

QUESTIONS