Greenkeepers update December 2024
We get lots of questions about what is going on the course and it’s been a while since we updated people via the website so keep reading if you’d like to find out what work we are doing and plan to do for the the next few months.
Paths
We’ve been working hard over the past couple of weeks installing new paths on the wet parts of the course, this is in a bid to keep the course open for longer in the wetter months but also to keep the areas from getting muddy as much as possible which keeps the rest of course tidier for longer. So far we have installed around 200m of astroturf paths and hope to continue installing these paths throughout the Winter.
Deep Slitting of Fairways and Rough
In October we hired a Verti-Quake deep slitting machine for a week to relieve compaction around the course. We managed to get a lot of acres covered in the week we had the machine and so far with the rain we have had it seems to have had a very positive impact on the natural drainage of the course, especially in low areas.
Winter Tees
We have installed a couple of permanent astroturf tees for Winter use so that we can protect the main tees for the playing season, these have been buried into the ground with a frame around them and a sand sub-base. These mats allow tees to be inserted into them anywhere so you can continue to use your' preferred tee height and location. We have put these on holes 5 (because that tee gets the most divots out of it being a short par 3) and hole 7 (because this tee gets very little natural light in winter so suffers from wear damage particularly bad). We hope over the coming winters to install more of these, but the idea would be to keep as many main tees on as possible in Winter, just install mats on ones that particularly struggle.
Bunker Research
We know that the bunkers are the weakest part of the golf course, and if we could get them to be more consistent, reshape a few then it would drastically improve the experience at Burstwick. We have been actively researching some methods for long term renovation of our bunkers. The main two methods we have looked at so far are EcoBunker and DuraBunker, As part of this research we have been to view some courses that have these installed and they are very impressive due to their “sealed bunker” system, allowing for minimal wash out and sand contamination. Both systems use artificial turf up the faces of the bunker for a revetted look but without the maintenance, as well as a full matting across the bottom of the bunker to allow for consistent drainage but without the clay base mixing with the sand.
Both of these systems are extremely expensive but have fantastic long term benefits so we are looking to see if we can create a plan going forward where we can budget for this type of work.
Worm Casts
As most courses in the UK are finding out right now, worm casts are becoming a huge problem for golf nowadays. Previously we could purchase a fungicide called Carbendazim which surpressed worms and drove them away from the surface, unfortunately this was banned due to a regulation change in 2017 and that has meant that worms have become an issue that is worsening every year. There are some other products that have come to the market that are not anywhere near as effective, but we are trailing a few as we speak. We have also had a demonstration of two tractor-mounted brushes (The Greentek Flicker Brush and the Sisis Flexibrush) to see if purchasing one of these would help disperse the casts before mowing, so watch this space to see where this leads us.
Greens
After a prolonged mild and moist Autumn we had an outbreak of Fusarium which has damaged the greens after a very good summer of putting surfaces. This came out of the blue but was due to the warm soil temperatures through the night and the heavy dew mornings which lasted around a month. We have spoken to quite a few other courses up and down the country that also suffered this attack of disease in the exact same week.
From this point we have done everything in our power to resist this disease from spreading further and in the last month we have done the following to the greens:
Deep slitted twice
Applied a slow-release autumn fertiliser
Sorrel spiked
Applied autumn fertiliser
Applied soil conditioner
Applied Rocastem (a liquid aerator to stimulate oxygen within the root profile)
Applied Bru-Plus (a surface acidifier)
As you can see we have not taken the fact this disease attack has happened lightly at all. We have also had a meeting about some more intense aeration in the Spring to help the greens recover as well as hiring in an overseeding machine to put some new growth back into the surfaces.
New Tee Markers
You may have noticed we’re rolling out some new granite tee markers on the course in place of our old ones which are very warn and weathered. WP Everingham & Son LTD have kindly been slowly refurbishing them and creating a new, fresh look with a sloped top and new font. They are producing 6 holes’ worth at a time so it’s a little bit disjointed at the moment, 6 holes have the new tee markers, 6 have temporary wood markers (thank you L:ee Sargeson for these!) and 6 have the old markers. It won’t be long before they’re all completed and look great on every tee.
Conclusion
Let’s hope for a continued spell of dry weather through the winter so that we can keep the course open as much as possible, especially compared to last year. We appreciate all of our members’ patience and hope that you know we are working hard on the course to continue improving. Thanks everyone!
