Greenkeeper

Last Updated on Friday, 12 March 2010 16:13

Nick Paris joined us in 2007 and settled in very quickly. He arrived here from Chobham Golf Club where he was Deputy Course Manager. He has keen sporting interests which include football and golf, with a playing handicap of 7. He is also a keen supporter of B.I.G.G.A and plays regularly in their regional events. He has been a member of the B.I.G.G.A support crew at The P.G.A Event at Wentworth for the past eight years.

 

 

New Chairman of Greens

Terry Gilbert was appointed the new Chairman of Greens at the Club AGM in December 2009 and together with his new Greens Committee has started regular working parties in support of the greens staff. The new team is working well, but do require help from any members who are prepared to volunteer some of their time to undertake small tidying up jobs on the course. The work is normally carried out on Tuesday and Thursday mornings for a couple of hours, so if you can spare some time, please contact Terry. 

 

End of Winter Report

As we approach the end of this winter, we can look back on what has been a trial and a test for both Greenkeepers and Golfers alike! In all my years as a Greenkeeper I have never seen such consistently poor weather stretching the entire length of the close season. We have had record snowfall, rainfall and average low temperatures which all put excess stress on the golf course and the grassplant itself. I must compliment my staff as we have worked tirelessly through the wind, rain and freezing temperatures for what has seemed like a never-ending arctic storm.

 

I am pleased with how the course has held up over these last few months and am really looking forward to the relief that the spring sunshine and warmer temperatures will bring to the golf course, and then onwards into the cutting season.

 

Our winter work and construction schedule has been largely affected by the poor weather but in spite of this we have completed the majority of what we had set out to do at the beginning of the year. The work on the trees throughout the course has been completed and should only require minor pruning and thinning for the next few years to come.

 

The new pathways and surrounding areas have almost reached completion and the remainder of the work will be completed before the end of March at which point we will begin our preparations for our first major tournaments of the year. The original plan with the pathways was simply to give them a facelift and renew the topping, but once we had investigated them all a little further, it was clear that to make a comprehensive finish to the pathways they would require a total renewal.

We began by digging off the topping and removing all of the old wood edging which had become rotten and broken. After replacing all of the wood edging and securing the new wood (which was almost half a kilometre in total) we filled in the sides with topsoil and are now awaiting the spring so we can seed theses areas. We then applied the new topping, which is ‘Cotswold self-binding path gravel’ between 8-10 cm thick throughout; this was then compacted using a vibrating wacker plate.

The pathways will take a short time to compact and weather in, over this short period with the help of golfers feet and trolley wheels, the pathways will compact until they become solid, during this time the rain will wash away the finer particles from the top. Your care and attention is required in ensuring you are helping the path compact and not digging away the pathway whilst walking.

The outstanding work will be to turf and overseed the areas of path, which we have taken away and replaced with soil.

 

For the remainder of this winter and leading into the spring we will be refurbishing some of the areas that have been damaged by our machines, golfers or animals etc. This will include old drainlines, bunkers and heavy wear areas. Also to coincide with all other annual spring preparation.

 

The Greens have come through another winter with excellent coverage despite being in play for the entire season. At times, but unsurprisingly given the volume and consistency of the rain, they have been a little soft which brings the negative effect of becoming bumpy where people have left footprints, any issues of this kind will be rectified as we head into the warmer spring weeks.

 

If anyone has any questions or enquiries please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Nick Paris

Head Greenkeeper.