01/06/2026
On the course 19th-31st May
Very contrasting weather in this period. First week was cold and wet with 38mm of rain, the second week was extremely hot and sunny with only a thunderstorm on the night of the 27th/28th giving 5mm. As May draws to a close it gave us 109mm(4.3") and it also brought an end to the meteorological Spring of March, April and May which was again, another relatively dry Spring with only 243mm(9.5")
This next week is the start of the meteorological Summer but looks like someone forgot to tell the weather as it is looking much cooler and much more unsettled.
Jobs on the course:-
▪︎ Ditches strimmed at 4th and 7th
▪︎ Border tidied at the 1st tee
▪︎ During the wet spells we needed to empty the bunkers of water.
▪︎ As the warmer weather came the growth really kicked in and the definition on the course really started to show
▪︎ Unfortunately the warm weather suddenly woke up the meadow grass on the greens and the feed kicked in so we had excessive growth on the greens, slowing the speed down,especially as the day went on. So, we run the verti-cutters through the greens at -1mm to thin them out and lift the seed heads up so they could be cut off.
▪︎ The seed heads are a natural cycle of the annual meadow grass flowering, but can be exaggerated during times of stress for the plant.
▪︎ Following the verti-cut and application of Plantmax and Soilmax.
▪︎ A new irrigation water meter was finally fitted at the request of the Environment Agency.
▪︎ Irrigation was required on the greens and tees due to the excessive heat. Our usual of some night time automatic watering topped up with hand watering of the usual dry spots, trying to keep that moisture around the 20% mark
▪︎ The Himalayan balsam has started to show again, so the endless but important task of killing it off has started. We need to get as much as possible before it flowers and seeds formed.
Planned jobs:-
▪︎ Continue controlling the Himalayan balsam.
▪︎ Use the incoming wet spell to get a wetting agent on the greens, tees and approaches.
▪︎ Keep on top of the cutting, which in the current growth spurt, is pretty difficult, especially if it goes wet on us.
▪︎ Prepare for the next working on greens which is on the 8th June where we hope to do another scarify and top dressing weather permitting.