A bunker run consists of trimming the turf around the edges of the bunkers with a strimmer and cutting the turf on the top of the edges with a flymo.
The clippings are then cleaned off the sand in the bunkers with a back-pack blower.
Then the bunkers are weeded and flat-raked. This means that the sand in them is raked with the flat side of the rake in order to recreate the bowl-shape which directs any trapped ball to the centre of it.
Today we finished planting a new section of Heather.
You will be able to see in the pictures that there are alternate rows of two sizes of plant. The larger was bought in whilst the smaller plants were propagated from cuttings on site.
On Friday afternoon we had a short but bountiful downpour and the greens went from needing syringing to saturated in less than ten minutes.
One of the two irrigation pumps has been acting up and on Friday a specialist came to test the system.
Sclerotinia homoeocarpa seen on the course this morning.
Pictured here one can see the mycelium growth.
Treatment according to Bayer: 3Sixty5™, Dedicate®, Bayfidan®Turf, or Chipco® Rovral GT®.
Yesterday morning our head greenkeeper repaired the petrol burn on the green before the grass died off completely. He mentioned that he noticed that some grass was growing through the dead strip, however he believed it best to be proactive and repair it rather than wait to see if it recovers fully.
The repair was made using a hand-held turf cutter and grass was taken from the outer edge of the green to replace the damaged strip. The damaged strip was then placed in the gap where the replacement strip was taken.
The repair strip was intentionally taken from an area at the back of the green and in a position close to a sprinkler head to ensure it gets enough water to assist recovery. It was also spiked, seeded and top dressed.
Although not confirmed, our head greenkeeper believes take-all patch is responsible for this damage on one of the greens.
Gaueumanomyces graminis
Treatment according to Bayer: Bayfidan® Turf.
When arriving at this green last week Thursday to cut it, the mower I was using did not want to start. This is strange because the mowers we use usually start after the first or second pull of the starter cord. I persisted and the mower eventually started after about the 7th pull.
More than halfway through cutting the green, the mower left a strip of clippings that were soaked in petrol. I realised this because the clippings were darker in colour than usual and they had an unusual sheen to them and confirmed my suspicion by smelling them.
Having noticed the soaked clippings I took the mower to our mechanic for checking and he took the bottom of the carburettor off to ensure that the float wasn't stuck. His inspection revealed no fault.
The areas where the soaked clippings lay have now become dead patches on the greens and unfortunately we do not know what caused this. I was told by the head Greenkeeper that these areas will need to be patched with plugs or sods to repair them.
I believe that the mower became flooded with my many attempts at starting it where after petrol leaked onto the mower and gathered on the clippings that sometimes stick to the corners just above the reel. The clippings must have built up in this area during cutting while simultaneously soaking up the fuel and eventually giving way to gravity once enough clippings had accumulated.
One thing I have learnt from this is that if a machine is acting up compared to how it usually performs, it is advisable to immediately inform the mechanic of the problem and get the machine checked.
These few heather plants were planted yesterday afternoon, just in time for the downpour we had last night.
Last night we had a bit of a downpour making for some tough bunker work this morning.
It is important to maintain a weed-free bunker face for a tidy look.
Another point worth bringing up here is the importance of teamwork. The bunkers on our course get raked everyday and the instruction to the assistant greenkeepers is to pull out any weeds on the bunker faces. From the picture shown here one can easily see that this instruction has been ignored. This behaviour is unfair on the assistant greenkeeper who does follow the instruction as he is left with a compounded workload.
It could also cause other greenkeepers to do the same as they will see that the task was not done before and also not do it.
Today we started planting some of the purchased heather plants in and amongst the existing heathland areas on the course.
It is important to ensure that all stations in an irrigation system work properly to avoid wasting water and flooding the course.
On several occasions when arriving at work the sprinkler in the picture has been on. The sprinklers are set to irrigate overnight do this sprinkler could have been on for a few hours by 0530 in the morning.
The fault lies in the sprinkler itself as it has its own solenoid valve which seems to be faulty. This diagnosis stems from the fact that the second sprinkler on this station always shuts off just fine so this eliminates the decoder or the control programme.
After verti - cutting yesterday I was tasked to brush the excess top dressing into the greens.
This results in a greener finish presumably because it removes the dust left after matting the top dressing in.
Although dew is a big help when cutting greens, it makes cutting fairways a bit more difficult.
This is because we always cut the greens in a different direction whereas the fairways are only cut in two directions and always following the same lines.
Prior to verti-cutting yesterday I was tasked to brush the dew off all the greens.
I am told by the head Greenkeeper that this also stands the leaf blades up which results in a better verti-cut
