The repairs at the pump station got a couple of tests this week with the system needing to be shutdown due to pipe breaks in the field. When this happens we have to ''re-prime'' the irrigation lines and remove the air so starting the system up from scratch was a good test for the pumps and they passed easily.
With the amount of back tee play coming up over the next two months and the poor state the shaded tees find themselves in due to lack of sun and wear from our excessive play, we gave those tees a light renovation this week. This included a hollow tyne followed by a heavy application of fertiliser. This was followed by covering the teeing areas with the same growth blanket that was used during the West greens establishment. This will do two things. Firstly it will keep any unauthorised play off the areas which is becoming commonplace and save some significant wear and tear. And secondly, and most importantly, hopefully promote some growth by warming both the canopy of the surface and also the soil. The photo below shows 18R tee at midday on Wednesday this week and as you can see there is virtually no sunlight hitting the surface but at least the covers will warm it up. They are planned to be on for at least three weeks.
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| 18R tee covered. |
Hi Peter I am concerned at the number of players who take a chunk out of the par 3 tees and never fill in their divots. Lazy or ignorant or both but a sand bin on the tees might assist in repairing them?
ReplyDeleteHello David, The tees are quite beaten up at the moment which is due to the volume (and type) of play we are getting and the fact that there is little divot recovery at the moment. The problem with sand bins on tees is that most players don't know how to properly fill a divot with way too much sand being used. You only need to look at both practice areas for evidence of this. 3R and 6W tees have sand boxes adjacent to them and we often get someone who has sanded the divots while waiting to play and leave a series of sandcastles behind on the tees. We then need to rake them in or blow them off before mowing to prevent mower damage which is too time consuming which is what we have to do on the practice facilities. We have trialled a "maintenance hole" a couple of times over the years where players are encouraged to fill every divot in sight and have had the same sandcastle result.
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