The West greens renovations went well and I am probably the only person happy with them at the moment given the length of the grass but then again there were two scores of 42 points in the Saturday competition so at least two other people are happy!  The aeration is really like a breath of fresh air for the greens and the fertiliser and soil amendments get them set up for the oncoming summer months.  As I have mentioned before the greens need to be dry for the first couple of mowings so the first will take place on Sunday afternoon which is only five days after the last of the sand was applied.

The greens were aerated with ⅝ inch hollow tynes then granular fertiliser and calcium based soil amendments were applied followed by sand.  The weather was probably the best I have had for a West renovation so I took the opportunity to also aerate the West course tees.  The cores on the tees are rubbed back in to the surface and then the stubble is blown off.  This has the effect of top dressing the surface and also brings some nutrient to the surface as well. 

The aeration commences on 2 west

Applying the fertiliser and soil amendments

After fertiliser

Applying sand with a threatening cloud in the background
that fortunately moved away

Tees areation cores rubbed back in

The information meeting for members regarding the proposed West greens replacement went well last Wednesday with no negative comments forthcoming.  Most comments were related to the type of grass, length of times the greens will be affected and course playability during the process as was the desire for there to be "no buried elephants under the surface"!!  One aspect that I explained was that the decision needs to be made in the short term as the turf supplier, machinery contractors and sand supplier all need to be booked twelve months in advance, particularly the turf supply.  The Board will be discussing the matter at their meeting this week and members will be informed in due course.

There are some busy times on the courses in the coming months with a number of works planned commencing with some treatment of tree roots this week.  A root pruning machine will be in operation on Tuesday which is the machine that was trialed last year on 4 River fairway.  Tree roots that are growing into the fairways and surfacing will also be removed where possible.  Any areas affected by the removal of the roots can be treated as GUR under the local rule concerning these works.