Fortwilliam Golf Club

Greens Committee Meeting

Course Manager’s Report

June 3^rd, 2015

The month of May was unseasonably cold and wet. This had a negative affect on the growth of the grasses.  There have been a couple of queries from golfers about the patchy colour of the greens.  On our greens the different types of grasses react to cooler temperatures. A few start growing at slightly lower temperatures than others.  Some species have deeper roots, so they are in soil that has not warmed yet and therefore do not start to grow until warmth gets down to that depth. This is why golfers see the grasses with various colours on the putting surfaces.  The turf on the fairways and roughs were also a little slow to start growing but have recently with a few warmer days. 

The spring/summer programme was proposed at the last committee meeting and the team is doing its best to meet those standards.  The herbicide spray scheduled to be done in May on fairways and rough has not been completed yet due to the cooler temperatures holding back the growth of the broadleaf weeds.

A couple of the winter tee areas that were sodded last month have taken well and are opened.  The bench and bin have been re-instated on the17th tee surround.

This past Friday, May 30^th, the club took delivery of the new greens mower.  The mower is a welcomed addition to fleet for many reasons, the main one being it frees up man hours that were being used to hand mow the greens. 

Going into the weekend the team is focusing on getting ready for open week.  This will involve improving the presentation of the course with strimming around trees & drains, edging bunkers, divoting fairways, smoothing pathways and cutting hedges around tees and clubhouse areas.  This preparation will carry on through the next few weeks leading to Captain’s and Lady Captain’s Days.