Ealing Golf Course Agronomy Department: Greens Renovations

The greens have performed great this year. Before the season started we set ourselves a goal that on a daily basis throughout the playing season (spring to autumn meeting) the greens would not drop below 10.5 feet. This was achieved:) Undoubtedly the good summer helped us here but our long term agronomic plan allows us to achieve our targets.

Last week we did our annual maintenance to the greens. It was a very intense week and the greens were worked very hard. It consisted of deep aerating the greens with a 20mm tine down to 250mm. We then applied 30tonnes of sand and brush it in to the holes.

Next up was the deep aerator again, but instead of a 20mm tine we used a smaller 12mm. This was to 'drive' the sand down the tine holes and help to close them up. We then applied another 20tonnes of sand and finished off with an organic granular fertiliser to aid recovery. When doing this work we included the collars and approaches. It was a long week!

It did not go with out hiccups (namely the weather), but we feel that we acheived our goals. Over the years aeration and sand has been the backbone to our agronomic plan. As these greens are considered 'old clay push ups', they were designed to hold water. This was pre-irrigation systems and keeping hold of moisture was key to their success. However, this changed around 60 years ago and as we have play for 12months of the year, getting water moving through the profile is now the key to their success.

The work that we did last week may seem unsettling in the short term, but long term it allows us to get them performing to a great standard in all weathers!