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Course Manager's FAQs

Q:   In recent days, members have been asking questions about Fusarium patch in turf, it seems to be quite prevalent at the moment.
A:   This is partly because the weather has been wet recently after a period of frost. This particular disease runs riot in damp conditions. It can survive temperatures as low as -20C

This disease seems to be coming more persistent in fine turf situations.

Fusarium Patch

Microdochium nivale
Commonly known as Pink Snow Mold fusarium-pic.jpg 

 
Fusarium patch disease is becoming very widespread on amenity sports turf facilities particularly during the winter months. Its symptoms are more easily seen on fine turf situations of bowling and golf greens. The disease appears as small orange / brown colour circular dead patches / spots up to 25-50mm in diameter.

The disease is always present in the soil and will attack the sward overnight if the condidtions are right. Its spores are spread by wind, water and traffic. Whilst the grass is in its dormant state in the winter months the only control is to remove the dew and spray with a contact fungicide (very expensive). As it is a contact fungicide it only kills disease that it touches and any further desease forming will not be controlled. (05/01/2008)

Q.    Why is it that the course is sometimes closed in frosty conditions and not others?
A.    Playing on a frosty surface does not have any long term effects on the surface all the time it is frozen. The one time when there is a problem of severe damage is when there has been a prolonged frost which has penetrated below the surface. As the frost starts to thaw from the top the underneath remains frozen. Feet walking over the surface under these conditions will cause the roots to be sheared off causing severe damage. What also has to be remembered is the fact that not all of the course will thaw out at the same rate. Shaded places will take a lot longer so if for instance the 18th green has thawed out the 6th may well not have. (23/12/2007)
 
Q.    Not having any bunkers on the course must save a lot of labour.
A.    Yes there is a saving in labour with having no bunkers. However, over the two courses there are in fact over 4 miles of drainage ditches and streams to maintain. That is equivalent to a ditch from the Clubhouse to the centre of East Grinstead! These ditches are very labour intensive because all cutting and trimming has to be undertaken by hand and on a regular basis. During the autumn they have to regularily be cleared of leaves to prevent blockages and allow the golfer to find their wayward ball. (05/12/2007)
 
Q.    How often do you spike the greens and why is it necessary?
A.    More often than you might think as some types of spiking will be virtually invisible after the greens have been cut. Through autumn and spring once fortnightly weather permitting with slit tines penetrating about 150mm. The one that produces the most disruption is when we Vertidrain. This makes 300mm deep holes as well as lifting the whole surface shattering the soil underneath. This is usually done once a year, in the autumn. Timing is critical, as the soil has to be firm but not too hard. If done whilst the grass is growing well the greens will have settled down in a few days. The operation where the holes remain open the most is hollow tining where a core of soil is removed approx 100mm deep. This operation is used to allow the exchange of soil and remove thatch. And the reason for doing all this? The roots of the grass live in the spaces between the soil particles. Your feet plus maintenance equipment squashes those spaces together stopping not only healthy growth of the grass but reducing the drainage as well. Aeration comes at a cost, particularly when the conditions are dry. Below is a picture taken of a brand new star tine alongside one which has spiked 18 greens. As can be seen it has shortened by 50% and is now of no use. The machine holds 24 tines and each tine costs £9.45 plus VAT. What has to be considered though, is the fact that each tine will enter and leave the ground in excess of 130,000 times to cover one hectare! (24/09/2007)

Q:     I understand that the Club is proposing to construct a reservoir for irrigation purposes. Where will it be sited and when will it be constructed?
A:     Yes, planning permission has been applied for so it is now in the hands of the planners. It will be sited on a piece of land that is to be purchased by the Club, adjacent to the 16th fairway of the Old Course. It will have a capacity of approximately 2,000,000 gallons. Water will be collected from the clubhouse roof, grounds and car park and pumped up to the reservoir. The reason for the siting of the reservoir is that we would not be allowed to construct one on the forest and also it needs to be off the course. Some may think it would be nice to have it sited on the course as a water feature, but as the water from it is used during the summer it would become part filled and would not look very attractive. Anybody looking for a wayward ball along the now receding waterline would cause irreparable damage to the liner with their golf studs. The reason for siting it on high ground is that once water is pumped into it, it can flow back out to the main irrigation pumps by gravity. To satisfy environment agency laws the reservoir has to be lined so that the water taken out is the same water put in. This is why it is illegal to just dig a large lake in low lying ground and take the water from it because the water would be coming out of the water table as the water level would sit at the water table height. If it was sited in low lying ground and lined the liner would be pushed up by the water table from the bottom of the reservoir as the reservoir was emptied, thus damaging the liner. (15/06/2007)
 
Q:    What can be done to reduce the declining amount of heather on the courses?
A:    We know the reasons heather is declining in certain areas. Particular reasons include increased fertility from birch leaves, invasion of scrub and birch woodland along with increased use of traffic through the heather, particularly  the ease with which electric buggies go through the rough.
 
To restore heather we need to eliminate the causes of the decline by removing scrub and birch woodland as well as trying to route traffic away from heather areas. However to restore it drastic action is required. This involves complete stripping of the built up organic matter from above the mineral layer by mechanical means. This involves hiring machinery to undertake the task. Walton Heath Golf Club for example hired a machine dedicated to this task at a cost of in excess of £400 per day and that was a fair few years ago. This is to expose the seed bank that is in the last 5mm or so of this layer. Heather seed can remain viable for between 40 and 60 years. Regeneration is not always guaranteed and it can take up to 3 years for results to show. Areas that do not naturally regenerate can have brashings containing seed spread over them. The Conservators have had a lot of success on the forest using this method.
 
At RAFGC a number of areas out of play have come back very successfully after just scraping off the top layer. Piltdown Golf Club have successfully re-established large areas by complete removal of trees and the organic layer above the subsoil and fencing off to keep feet and trolleys out.
 
Bracken & birch scrub on the Old Course
 
This area at the top of the Old Course a few years ago, as can be seen above, was nothing but bracken and birch scrub with a thick layer of organic matter on it. It was all scraped off down to the subsoil. After 12 months there were very few heather seedlings showing. After a further 12 months things were more encouraging with more seedling coming up. In the third year all changed with the area nearly completely covered in heather.
 
The same area 3 years on
 
As can be seen it looks very different after 3 years with little tufts of scrub gorse showing through. These have to be regularly topped to stop them taking over and smothering the heather.
 
Evidence of heather regeneration
 
This is a different area of approximately 1 acre in no mans land between the 8th and 12th fairway on the Old Course. Stripped of its vegetation in the winter of 2003, this is what it looks like today. This is where the heather turf was taken from for the patch on the right hand side of the 12th green. Unfortunately it is very difficult to cut as turf because of the large amount of shale and sandstone beneath the surface. (29/03/07)
 
Q:    There seems to be quite a lot of moss appearing in the fairways. Can we not treat it?
A:    We could, however the cost would be very high, in excess of £7400 per chemical treatment! It is quite normal for moss to show at the start of spring. Grass growth has been weak or non existent during the winter months giving the moss little competition. As soon as the grass starts growing in earnest and the dryer months come along it will rapidly disappear. Interestingly enough there is less moss present this year than there has been in previous years. Moss, like heather, hates being trodden on so a little trick used on the greens is to place the pin in or near a moss patch and then the players feet wear it away. The mainly organic fertilisers used on the greens in the spring contain iron which rapidly kills off any moss. The green approach! (27/03/07)
  
Q:    I have noticed that there has been a lot of yellowing of the grass in some places. What causes this? 
A:    It is caused by the cranefly larvae eating the roots of the grass. There were a lot of craneflies last autumn and the conditions for their eggs to hatch were perfect. Each cranefly can lay over 300 eggs into the surface of the turf. This has been the worst infestation we have ever seen here, with literally hundreds to a square metre. Fortunately there is a very effective chemical control and all greens and other infected areas have been treated. If left unchecked, some areas would be left completely bare, devoid of all grass cover. However there is also another pest at work within the soil which is the larvae of the fever fly or St. Marks fly as it is sometimes known. This again is a small grub that eats the grass roots causing the yellowing symptoms. These particular bugs are normally only found in small quantities, but because of the conditions this winter they have survived in large numbers. The bad news is there is no chemical control for this pest and we have to hope that the damage will not be too great. Fortunately it is limited to a few areas and an acidic fertiliser will be applied today to make conditions as unpleasant as possible for the grubs. (08/03/07)
  
Q:    Why is it that when the greens start to grow, for a time, they become very uneven and bumpy?
A:    This is because there are more than one species of grass within them, different species grow at different rates. Some start growing at slightly lower temperatures than others. Some species have deeper roots than others, so they are in soil that has not warmed yet and therefore do not start to grow until warmth gets down to that depth.  The greens are predominately a mixture of agrostis, fescue and poa. Poa being the weed species that no one wants but a lot of courses end up with! This is the species that produces all the little seed heads in the spring which also causes unevenness. (08/03/07)
 
Q:    Why is it that after the winter the course takes so long for the greens to fill and the grass to grow whereas other courses seem to come on much quicker?
A:    For grass to actively grow there are a number of requirements. Moisture, daylight, nutrients and temperature. Without all four, grass will not respond. Adding more of any one of the elements without all four being present will make no difference. By mid March there is enough daylight.  Nutrient and moisture could be applied but for one factor, the soil temperature is too low. It does not matter how warm the air is during the day. What counts is the temperature of the medium in which the roots of the plant sit. A warm afternoon is easily outweighed by an overnight frost. Ten degrees Celsius is normally seen as the minimum for a few days, to start growth. But we now have a further problem in the fact that the wetter the soil, the slower it is to warm up. This is one of the reasons that irrigation is never used until the soil warms up as it would work against us. All courses are on differing types of soil. A sandy soil warms up much faster than a clay soil, because it contains less moisture, which is the reason that early season potatoes and strawberries are grown on the sandy soils of Norfolk and Lincolnshire. Conversely when the greens on other courses are past their best our greens can still be putting beautifully late into the autumn. (06/03/07)
 
Q:    The course has suffered from being very wet this winter. What impact does the removal of a large numbers of trees have upon this?
A:    None whatsoever. Deciduous trees only take up water when actively growing, so when dormant in winter with no leaves take up no water at all. Conifers, although they retain their leaves, become dormant as well and take up little moisture.
 
Q:    Why is it that the 2nd tee on the Old Course is in such a poor state during the winter months?
A:    The answer to that is that it receives virtually no direct sunlight because of the cover from the trees in the property next to it. For grass to survive it needs at least 6 hours of sunlight each day, so with the sun so low in the winter time it receives very little light. The West Course putting lawn was constructed at the same time as the 16th green using the same batch of turf and the same construction materials. The putting green is looking very well in January whereas the 16th green looks very sad. Again it is down to lack of light due to shading. It very much the same situation with the huge modern stadia with their stands blocking light. Many stadia have to be returfed every 12 weeks or so at a cost of over £80,000!
 
Q:    Would it be a good idea for golfers to carry bio degradable divot anchors so they can anchor their divots down once they have replaced them?
A:    The problem with them is that even if the divots were anchored down the birds will pull the ends up looking for food. If divots are anchored down in the summer months they would die anyway as they do not have enough root to take up what little moisture there is. We then have the scenario of dead, brown divots which will have to be individually picked up. It would not be possible for a sweeper to pick them up.
 
Q:    Why is it not possible to lower the height of cut on the greens to increase the speed?
A:    It is, but it does not last very long. Too much leaf is removed and the plant can no longer produce enough food to live. Mowing at a height of 3 mm for any length of time measured in days rather than weeks creates excessive stress and the grass dies. Thus the age old term the quick and the dead. The recognised way to increase green speed is to increase the height of cut to encourage the finer species of grasses and to regularly roll the greens. This comes at a cost in terms of equipment and particularly labour. The excellent R&A website outlines the sustainable route and we have been actively working at achieving this by signing up to the scheme. Poa dominated greens can be made very fast but unfortunately require massive inputs of water, fertiliser and chemicals. Encouraging the finer grasses does not happen overnight but as has been proven in Denmark, since all chemicals were banned there a number of years ago, it certainly works.
 
Q:    Why is it that some times the West Course is closed but the Old remains open?
A:    Size is quite a large factor. The putting surfaces, the tees and the fairways on the Old are double the area of the West, so it is much easier to spread wear. The Old naturally drains better than the West for many reasons. One huge factor is that the West from hole 7 through to hole 16 is the site of a WW1 army training camp which had 3000 troops stationed upon it. With their respective horses it became churned up for the 4 years they were on it. When the army left the site in 1919 they merely levelled out what was there, leaving concrete, footings and old broken drains buried below. All soil structure was destroyed along with any natural drainage. Another consideration is the fact that the West was built on a very small budget and for 25 years was completely abandoned whereas the Old was still having improvements and maintenance. To drain the West would be a very expensive operation but something that will be undertaken when funds permit.
 
Q:    How much maintenance does the course machinery require?
A:    The answer to that is, a lot. Apart from routine servicing throughout the year each machine has to undergo a complete winter overhaul. Modern greenkeeping machinery has become very sophisticated with on board computers and monitoring systems that need to be maintained. All cutters are stripped to their component parts and checked for wear and damage. All cutting edges are reground accurately, all parts painted and worn items replaced with new ones. All fluids are replaced and the machine is then reassembled and the work undertaken is written up in a machinery logbook. This work normally takes David, our mechanic, 3 months solid work. All ride on vehicles are given a comprehensive service and any worn parts replaced. All this is to minimise breakdowns and ensure that the machine works at its most efficient.
 
Q:    Why is it some greens are wetter than others?
A:    As with most things there are a number of reasons for this, soil type, topography, shade and foot traffic. The greens on both courses are what is known as push up greens. This means they were made by pushing up together whatever soil was on the site of  the green. Thus the soil type will vary from green to green with a differing infiltration rate. There is no topsoil as such just a very silty subsoil with about 25mm of accumulated top dressing on top. In fact when I have shown people what lies beneath the turf they are quite amazed that the grass grows at all. Any drainage is only as fast as the water can penetrate the underlying soil. You could put as many pipes as you like underneath but it would still drain at the same rate. A modern green would be constructed using a purpose made rootzone designed to drain easily. Where there is heavy cover from trees this stops sunlight getting to the green surface and also impedes air movement. Where a green has bumps and hollows this again allows a build up of standing water. Foot traffic in the walk off areas causes compaction when wet which leads to surface puddling.
 
Q:    With all the talk of global warming should we not be planting trees rather than cutting them down and should we not burn them when we do?
A:    Trees do take carbon dioxide out of the air and lock it up within the tree. However they can only do this when actively growing with leaves on them. For 6 months of the year they are not removing any carbon dioxide at all whilst they have no leaves. Grass however keeps ticking over all the year round, fixing carbon within the plant, only becoming dormant in very cold conditions. As for burning the remains, yes it does release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, but it is the same carbon dioxide it took out of the atmosphere in the first place whilst growing, so in effect it is carbon neutral. If the tree died naturally it would still release the same carbon dioxide as it decomposed. The only net increase in carbon dioxide is from the burning of fossil fuels which have locked up the carbon within them many millions of years ago.
 
Q:    Would it not help drainage if sand were put down on the wet areas?
A:    In a word, no. Sand on wet areas can for a very short time stop mud sticking to trolley wheels and feet. To understand why it will not help we need to know about particle size. These are the individual particles of clay, silt and sand. The individual grains of sand will have a relatively large space between each of them but clay and silt are very fine and very mobile when wet. Any water flowing into the spaces between the sand would very rapidly be filled by the clay and silt particles carried by its flow, thus impeding any movement of the water once all the spaces are filled. Also filling hollow tine holes with sand will just give a sand filled hole full of water as the water has nowhere to go once it reaches the bottom of the hole. An old greenkeeping adage is that clay and sand make bricks!
 
Q.    Why is it necessary for the course to be closed in very wet weather?
A.    When very wet all the soil particles become mobile i.e. the water acts as a lubricant allowing them to slide over one another. When the ground becomes saturated feet push down the turf into the soil. Very soon the soil has worked its way on top of the turf and the turf dies. Remember it is the roots that bind the soil together so all sorts of erosion problems are caused. Surface levels are easily damaged causing greens to become bumpy. The surface can become very smeared which in turn has a very detrimental effect on water draining from the surface. Different areas are affected in different ways depending on the clay content of the soil, which can vary greatly from one area to another. In the winter months very little if any water is being taken up by the roots so that it takes less rain to cause a problem than it would in the drier summer months.
 
Q.    Why is the amount of heather on the course in decline?
A.    Mainly because of the way we now play golf. We play all winter taking great heavy power caddies through the heather. If there is one thing heather hates it is being walked on or rolled down. On any hole on the course where there is heather in the rough nowhere is it in greater decline than where the majority of errant drives land. Heather hates being shaded and the amount of shade caused by birch invasion has an effect. Heather likes infertility, but birch leaves in autumn increase the fertility of the soil. Gorse is a legume and as such fixes atmospheric nitrogen into the soil, again increasing fertility.
 
 
Q.    Why is it some times the greens are topdressed after spiking and not other times? Surely it helps smooth the surface?
A.    This depends on what type of spiking was carried out. If it is hollow tining, where a core of soil is removed then it is good practice to work some dressing down into the holes. When using solid tines however, the soil around the hole is displaced and has to be allowed to settle back. If the hole were filled this would not happen and the ground would remain compacted.
 
Q.    How often are the greens cut and at what height?
A.    In the main growing season from mid may until the end of September they are cut every day unless weather conditions dictate otherwise. For the rest of the year, as necessary. In summertime the height of cut will go down to 4.5 millimetres rising to 6 millimetres during the winter.
 
Q.    Why do you top dress, how often, and what does it consist of?
A.    Top dressing is a way of smoothing the surface and helps make the greens true. Over a period of time it helps improves the quality of the topsoil. Normally the greens will be topdressed 6 times per year. There are many types of top dressing and different ones suit different courses. It all depends what the greens were built out of. The top dressing used here consists of 70% silt free round grained washed Sevenoaks sand and 30% Fenland alluvial soil.
 
Q.    At certain times of the year, particularly in the spring, the holes become crowned. What causes this?
A.    Frankly, it is your feet! When the ground is soft which it is in the spring with virtually no growth and having had the winter rain and frost to contend with. The most used area of the green is obviously the hole with all feet headed in that direction. The bit that makes it worse is the leading foot 6 inches from the hole with all your body weight resting on it, pushing the surface down, as you retrieve your ball, causing the last 6 inches to be higher than the piece your foot is on.