Chipping Green Opens!

Last Saturday we opened our new Chipping Green and it was a roaring success. From start to finish it took 16 weeks, with the grow in only 12 weeks. It was a great project and much needed as we have been without a chipping green (good or bad) for a very long time. The green was built to a top specification but instead of using traditional seed or turf, we used 'poa cores' from our main greens to act as a seedbed. It was very successful and allowed us to push the green to the limits very soon whilst retaining the same characteristics as the main greens.

The first cut took place two weeks after the cores were laid with the height set at 6mm. We then feed, watered and top-dressed on a regular basis until we had gained full coverage. With 3 weeks to go we switched the maintenance plan from a 'grow in' programme to a normal maintenance one. This meant that the frequency of cut increased but water and fertiliser decreased. We opened with the height of cut on the green at 2mm and stimping at 10 feet. Not many grass species that can do this in such a short amount of time.

All the greenstaff played a part but special mention should go to Olly (our shaper), Keith Buckingham and Wes Lenihan, who was responsible for the grow part. As well as the green we widened the path, moved a gate and installed new nets besides it (thanks Sukhdev). All this from previously undeveloped waste ground.

It is now open and there for the enjoyment of our members and guests. Special thank you must go to our Captain Mike Shilling (who drove the project forward) and Ricky Willison, our club pro who designed it. Below is a slideshow of each stage taking place. Enjoy!

We are going Green!

Last month we commissioned an ecology report by James Hutchinson BSc (hons). His brief was to look at how we do things from an ecology side and what we can do in the future to improve this area. Over the years the 'green' side of the industry has taken a bit of a back seat but in todays market if used correctly can become a powerful tool. We have always tried to do everything correctly at Ealing but when budgets become tight everything has to be justified. We believe if you can get turf maintenance and ecology working together, then this gives you a great product to market.

Over the years we have done many things to try and improve our ecology. For instance our pesticide usage has been heavily reduced over the past decade. Another area that has been introduced are certain 'Hay' areas around the course which has given a nice backdrop to an urban environment. On top of this it has created definition and increased golfer challenge. What it has also done is reduce labour requirements and fuel. Before a lot of these hay areas were introduced the rough cut used to take three days to complete. Now our rough mower is only out there for one and a half days. The challenge then becomes to try and make these areas not to penal so that it slows up play with golfers looking for golf balls. Not an easy thing to do on a parkland, meadow land environment such as here at Ealing.

Hay left of the 14th fairway

 

What was also good to hear is that the new chipping green that has been implemented was thought by James to be very sustainable. The fact that we used 'poa cores' from our own greens is a much better way of implementing a new green than trying to import new seed or turf off site. Actually he was quite impressed with our greens, which in some peoples eyes are thought of as a weed. Good ball roll smoothness was one thing that he commented on.

James having a putt on our 18th

Poa Cores used as the seedbed

Controlling moisture during dry periods

Now that we are in to a nice dry period controlling moisture in our greens becomes a priority. During a hot, dry period it is very easy just to switch on the irrigation system and overwater the greens. If you did this not only would the agronomics be affected but from a playability view point, the ball tends to 'snake' along instead of rolling smoothly. At Ealing we have a number of tools such as a weather station that gives us the information to allow us to make informed decisions on watering. However there was a tool that came out several years ago which really changed the way we water. It's called a moisture meter!

Our Fieldscout TDR300

We use the Fieldscout  TDR100 and 300 to measure moisture content in the greens. Our Course Manager was out this morning measuring every green to see how each is performing. A Fieldscout uses Time Domain Reflectometry technology. It basically sends a signal between two probes which then converts to a percentage. The higher the percentage the more resistance which means more moisture.

At Ealing because our greens are clay based (fine particles) we will have a lot higher readings that say a sand based green (medium/coarse particles). The figure that we are trying to reach are between 30 and 35%. If they go below the greens tend to get crusty and hydrophobic. Above and they get soft with the ball plugging. From the figures below 12 greens were in the correct zone this morning with 7 under and none over. We will now tweak those 7 greens to try and bring up their percentages slightly. During periods such as this we will take a single green reading daily (2nd green) and all 18 three to four times per week. Another tool which allows us to maximise our greens performance!

Moisture Readings Saturday 21st June

Watering some dry areas

Construction to the Chipping Green begins!

Over the last 2 weeks we have been working on our new chipping green project. So far all the trees in the area (apart from the Yew tree) have been cleared, rootballs removed, green has been shaped and drainage,gravel carpet and rootzone added. It has been an intense period and the weather hasn't been to kind, but we are quite happy with progress so far. Constructing any new project takes careful planning and all stages has to go in sequence. As the area is tight manoeuvrability can be hard, so taking our time making sure everything is done right is our number one priority. It pays long term to do so.

Over the bank holiday weekend drainage was installed along with a 'gravel carpet' at a 100mm depth and rootzone at 250mm. It is the backbone behind the greens performance and allows water movement to be controlled. This weekend we will be adding the irrigation system and shaping the surrounds. Once this is completed we hope to apply the poa cores on Monday, with turfing of the surrounds following soon afterwards. We then enter the 'grow in' stage when the count down begins to our opening date of early September. It will be intense but well worth it!

Trees to be removed

Tree Surgeons felling trees

The Church appears!

Spoil added

Green is 'cored out'

Ricky and Olly 'shaper' discussing design

Drainage added

Gravel Carpet at 100mm depth

Rootzone at 250mm depth

TP Tour Comes to Ealing!

Last Monday the TP Tour came to Ealing to play the 2nd London Pairs Tournament. This was held for the first time last year and features up and coming pro's and amateurs, as well as established tour processionals. It was a fourball better ball tournament with 38 pairs playing 18 holes, with the top 6 scores going in to a 4-hole 'shoot out'! Defending Champions James Heath and Adam Gee successfully defended their title. It was good to see as they are both former winners of our Ealing Scratch Open and always good supporters of the golf club.

For the agronomy team it was a good chance for us to show off our golf course. Many long hours went in to this event and the feedback from the players was excellent. The course was well defined and greens were running at 13.25 feet. Our own Course Manager and Director of Golf played as a team. They even complained that the uphill putts seemed fast!

Greens running at 13.25feet

Attention to detail

Even the ducks liked it!

Greenkeeping team hard at it

It was a beautiful day

Chipping Green Project Commences 19th May

Last week it was confirmed that our new chipping green would proceed with construction set to start week commencing the 19th May. Over the last few years it is a project that has gathered pace and we are keen to implement this straight away now that funding has been agreed. The design has been jointly done by Weller Design and our own Pro, Ricky Willison. The area that has been agreed on is the new clearance on the way to the 9th tee. Space is tight with the whole area only totally just over 600m2, but we feel with careful thought and design we will get a top playing surface that we desire!

The project is being managed by our Course Manager Greg Evans and underwritten by our present Captain and immediate past Captain. Because the area is tight and light will be an issue we have decided to install it to full USGA specifications but with a twist! Instead of the industry norm of turf or seed being used we will be 'coring' a couple of our existing greens and using those cores as the seedbed. It is something that we did a couple of years ago with our turf nursery and worked a treat.

The aim is to construct and build mid-May with the cores going down early June. As we plan to open the area for the autumn meeting in September it will give us 3 months to grow in and open to a top standard.  The specification for the area is as follows:

• Green size 296m2
• Surround size 331m2
• Green to be built to full USGA specifications which consists of a 100mm gravel carpet with 300mm of predominately sand sitting on top
• Whole area to be fully irrigated and drained
• 50mm 'sand cap' will be used on the surrounding area, with rye turf
• Path to be widened from 1 to 2metres
• 9th gate to be moved from its existing position 5 metres further up the footpath making the walk from the 8th green to 9th tee straighter

At present we are thinking of adding a small bunker but there are some safety issues attached to this. We will decided once rough shaping has taken place.

It is a small but exciting project for us. As usual it has many challenges but is something that we enjoy. Our aim is to produce a chipping green which is of the same standard as the main greens if not better. We will do update blogs throughout the project. All that we hope for is that the weather is kind!

First Major of the Year - Spring Meeting!

As we approach our first major of the year the course has really taken shape over the last month. This is always a funny time of year for the greenstaff as we are finishing winter snagging jobs whilst getting the course ready for the playing season. In April our cutting regimes intensified with greens going from two to three cuts up to daily. Also other areas such as fairways have increased from once a week to three times. Heights of cuts have come down with greens now cut at our summer height of 2mm. We are getting lots of compliments at the moment which is always nice to hear.

For the weekend the main focus will be on the greens. Instead of just cutting they will be rolled as well. It will increase the speed from a daily stimp meter reading of 11 feet up to 12 or beyond. Smoothness will also increase and having just done a smoothness test we are happy that we have hit our first 10 out of 10 for the season. Pin positions will be a bit tougher and it will certainly feel like a major. It's always nice when the spring meeting comes along as for EGC it signals the start of the playing season!