Bunker renovations begin

As we get nearer to the playing season our efforts turn to bunker renovations. Along with the clubhouse showers, bunkers are a much debated subject within a golf club's community. You can never get them right. They either have too much sand or not enough. The sand is either too fluffy or overly compacted. On a parkland site such as ours, it is very hard to please everyone. Drainage is the number one issue on a clay based golf course, with the last twelve months testing the best of bunkers. Over that period we have had numerous washouts and contamination has become a big problem. With this in mind we have commenced work to all 67 of our bunkers on the golf course.

The work will consist of 'skimming' out the top 25mm contaminated area. It is usually the worst bit as the soil from around the area can run in to the bunker. Stage two is to move any sand about to make sure the whole bunker has adequate depth. The last stage is to add up to 25mm of fresh sand, giving it a nice cleaner look. By the end of this week 17 bunkers will have been completed and the plan is to finish all 67 by easter. The programme is being run by Stan Harrison (pictured below) who's job it is to plan and implemented these works with the rest of the greenstaff. Hopefully as we head in to the season, the golfers big discussion will once again turn back inside to the pressure of the clubhouse showers!

Before

'Skimming' top layer off led by Stan on the left hand side

After

1st Tee Improvements

After the removal of 11 conifers from the 1st tee area last week, our efforts have now turned to completing this area off. Now that they are down the view from the car park and pro shop is much improved. The area also seems much bigger. This week the greenstaff's efforts have been based around widening the walkway besides the tee by half a metre and planting a new garden where the conifers once stood. Shrubs such as Camellia and Euonymus have been supported by flowering ones such as Lavendar and Skimmia. The feedback so far has been very positive. Looking at the pictures below, this area will only improve once it matures.

1st tee confiers

All cut up!

Even young Thomas is chipping in!

Planted!

1st Tee Conifer Removal

This week the attention has turned to the 1st tee area. Around 25 years ago a line of conifers were planted alongside the 1st tee. The reasons for this are unclear but one thing they did do was create a barrier between the drive in and the golf course itself. Our frontage at EGC is very 'hard' on the eye.  Because of the conifers (plus the clubhouse itself), the first sight of the golf course is when you stand on the first tee. This leaves our 'first impression' as a club very weak. The decision was taken a couple of months ago to remove these conifers to open up the view and create a 'softer' visual image as you drive in. If you look at the pictures below, the first one was taken before they were removed, and the one below it yesterday morning. Even though they are only half felled, the visual impression has already improved!

Since our new Captain, Sukhdev Sagoo took office he has been busy raising funds for golf course projects. One of these projects is to improve our first impression as a club as a whole. Removing the conifers is the first part of this process. Once these conifers are down, their stumps will be ground out and a landscaped garden will take its place. The next stage will be to improve the walk through the visitors car park, past the practise nets and on to the 9th tee. Once finished hopefully by spring, we are sure you will enjoy the improvements.

View from the car park Tuesday

View from the car park 1 day later!

Scrub Clearing

At this time of year when moving heavy material and machinery becomes a problem due to saturated ground, the greenstaff keep busy by concentrating on scrub work around the course. Over the years, as areas of the course have been left, scrub tends to take over. If you look at the sideshow below (web version only) you will see sections that were overtaken with brambles, invasive weeds and the like. These areas have now come to life with all the scrub being removed, but established trees such as Oaks left to thrive.

The big fear when we commenced this work several years ago was that we would open up the course too much and it could lose its 'parkland' feel. However, looking at these areas now we believe the general consensus is positive. The indigenous tree species are now thriving, cut grass has replaced brambles and the general aesthetics of the course has improved greatly. This works forms part of our woodland management programme, which has the added benefit of improving turf conditions due to increased sunlight and air flow!

Well it arrived!

As you can see from the picture below the snow certainly came and unfortunately is still hanging around! The good news is however that it is melting fast and the course should be playable by the weekend. So we hope to see many of you out there enjoying your golf at EGC once again!

18th Green this morning!

During these conditions our attention turns to tree work and the 7th hole has been worked on this week. Trees left to their own devices soon become overcrowded and unsightly, so maintenance of them is cruical to protect their lifespan. When playing this weekend (fingers crossed) you will see down the left of the 7th fairway that certain canopies have been lifted and unsighly ones cleared. It will allow the good trees to continue to flourish. We are also in the process of replacing unsuitable species such as conifers and poplars, with more indigenous trees such as oaks and beech. It is a process that has been on going for many a year with members donating a tree. The only negative to this is that certain areas will look sparse for a few years until the decent trees mature. However we must remember that us golfers/greenkeepers are only here for a short period of time, therefore it is our duty to look after the land and allow it to flourish for generations to come.

The snow is a-coming!

Looking out across the golf course this morning, it's quite a bleak picture. Snow is expected to land on the golf course by noon and temperatures are sub-zero at present. It's been a very cold week but this hasn't stopped the Greenstaff carrying out vital drain works and path renovations!

As the ground has been solid all week it has been perfect for moving heavy material around the golf course. A job planned for some time now has been to install a storm drain taking water from the 15th fairway, under the 11th tee and in to the river. This is vital to drain that fairway when the river bursts its banks. To coincide with this the path from the 11th tee to the bridge has been in urgent need of repair for some years. The issue with these two jobs has always been how to get material to these areas, as they are located in the far side of the course and the route is very wet. This week provided the perfect opportunity and we took it!

Boards across 15th approach

Warren digging the trench

225mm pipe used

Pipe backfilled

Outlet to the river

                        

The work has been lead superbly by our deputy Warren Clements (pictured in the digger) and consisted of trenching about 75cm deep, laying a 225mm twin walled land drain with a 1:100 fall, backfilling with stone/sand, and finally installing a headwall complete with tidal flap in the river bank. Whilst Warren and Mitchel were working on the drainage, Stan and Miro renovated the path. Soil was dug up at 100mm deep, plainnings (big stone) was laid as the base and the whole area will be topped off with a finer stone. A busy but very productive week and once the weather improves you will be able to enjoy your golf in these areas again!

Path cut out at 100mm deep

Road plainnings laid as the base

Poa Turf Nursery - 1 year old

Last year we implemented a greens turf nursery at EGC. It has been urgently needed over the years as repairs has had to be taken from the putting green in the past, which doesn't look good visually. However, the way we constructed it was unconventional (which is par for the course here:) The traditional method of constructing a green in the UK has been to turf with a fescue/bent sod. The problem here is two fold. Firstly this type of sod can reject the soil and the grasses that you put down don't always match up with what's out on the golf course. Which for the vast majority of courses in the UK is Poa Annua Reptans. However, here lies the problem. Currently you cannot buy Poa Anuua Reptans in seed form or turf here in England. So what do we do? Do we just go with the conventional method and turf or seed with fescue or bent and hope for the best? Or do we think outside the box and try something different? You know us. The latter won!

So last year we made the decision to hollow core the greens in the autumn, but instead of throwing the cores away, we would use them as a seedbed for our new green. Perfect for us as our main greens are Poa Annua Reptans and it is a method that has been used in the states for years, but not so common over here. Below is a slideshow of the process which we followed. Basically we cored the greens and collected, spread these cores over our new area, rolled them out level and waited for germination. At first nothing happened, but very quickly after some feed and sand, new seeds came to life. We then put this green in with the collar programme as the height of cut here is 6mm for last years playing season. It came along very well and coverage was good from April onwards. During this autumn we then started cutting it in with the greens programme and now looks great!

From next season onwards all repairs needed to be made to the main greens will be taken from this nursery. An investment definitely worth doing.

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