A windy end to the week and still no real rainfall in sight and we unfortunately just missed some big falls on Thursday night.  The calmer overnight conditions this week helped the effectiveness of the irrigation system which was important as 4 tonne of fertiliser was spread on the River fairways early in the week.  It is a custom blend fertiliser that is used with an NPK ratio of 19:10:16 with 50% of the Nitrogen as slow release which means that we should have release for up to 10 weeks which will take us in to winter in good shape.  The actual release curve of the fertiliser is somewhat affected by motorised buggies driving on the fertiliser and breaking down some of the coating on the individual granules so the release can be altered by this.  The blend is quite high in Phosphorous which is due to previous outstanding results of applications to the courses.  The River fairways were all mown on Monday prior to the fertiliser going out and haven't been mown again this week to allow the fertiliser the best chance to reach the profile intact. The West fairways will be done next week weather permitting.

Also next week we will be re-modelling the front bunker at 17R green.  Many years ago a grass face was tried and then abandoned and the bunker has self formed in to what it is today.  The works will include confirming the drainage is operational and then the bunker will be re-cut out of the existing area.  It will not be any larger or deeper than it is currently.  The work will be conducted primarily on Monday and the hole will be closed to play all day to ensure safety of contractors and staff.  And no the bunker won't finish up looking like this one that was in play in the 1934 Open at Royal St George's GC which utilised 3 types of revetment - railway sleepers, grass and sod stack.  It didn't hold old Alfred back too much though as he shot rounds of 71, 70, 75 and 74 to finish 3rd to the great Henry Cotton.