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Tee To Green April

24th April 2025

Find out the latest from our Greenkeepers in this month's Tee to Green.

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The Downs Course

This Tee To Green will start with the weather. March was the driest month on record since 1961. Daytime temperatures rose up to 18 degrees throughout the month, with the evening cooling to 4 degrees and strong north easterly winds caused issues with watering at night with our automated irrigation system. 

A few edges of the greens have started to burn off slightly, but we will continue to hand water these to provide the best surface possible. This method requires more water resource which is currently another issue as we share our water supply with the whole of the Estate. The growth has been pretty poor throughout the month, even with fertilising all the playing surfaces, we still haven't had the moisture and warmth to promote good growth.

That being said, the course is holding up relatively well. Some fairways have started to crack slightly from the earthquaking process we did in the autumn, however now the roots are deeper from the de-compaction the fairways are currently still holding on, just. Once we have a bit of rain which is forecast, the fairways will get some much needed water. 

The greens are receiving a regular weekly sand dusting to aid recovery from our maintenance. They are improving week on week and when they have fully recovered we will revert to biweekly sand dustings. 

The 5th main tee will come back into play soon as the turf is nearly ready to play off. Thank you for your patience with this as it's one of the most problematic areas on the course to grow grass on due to its microclimate location.

Irrigation is always an issue. We have a few problems with the main line which waters 1st,17th,18th and the putting green. We therefore have to water these in the morning before the first tee time. Please be aware that these may be slightly wetter and slower than the rest of the course. We have had to fix 5 bursts so since starting up the system. 

We have planted some fruit trees between 5th and 6th this month, which is a replacement for the dead ash trees removed down the left side of the 4th hole. The brush from these will be cleared up soon. Also, from an ecology point of view, during some evenings shifts we have noticed an increase in bat activity which is pleasing to see. 

On the upcoming month we will be focusing on improving trueness and speeds on the greens, watering dry areas, moving sand and picking up debris, as well as regular cutting regime which are starting to increase  

See you on the course.

Rob Dyer, Head Greenkeeper, The Downs Course

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The Park Course

Normally for the start of the blog I talk about the weather and normally at this time of year it’s pretty wet and unsettled but been quite the opposite. It’s been a lovely spring with some good temperatures during the day. Still, the nights have been cold with the occasional frost and cold northerly winds. We haven’t had our normal spring flush of growth so all areas of the course are struggling to recover from the winter. Not having any rain hasn’t helped either. In the period last year between February and April, we had 16 inches of rain, this year 2!! All this put together is not good growing conditions for the start of the season and certainly when we have laid over 2000m2 of turf.

On the plus side of the weather, MJ Abbotts completed Phase 1 of The Park Masterplan on time and with minimal disturbance to the golf course seeing as they had big machinery out there. They have done a wonderful job on the new bunkers and they look fantastic. 4th tee has all been turfed as well as 4th/12th bunkers and the filled in ones on 3rd/12th. 13th will be done this week. The plan is once we’ve finished 13th, the 4th bunkers should be knitted and settled. We will then do the bases and finally add the sand then move on to 12th. Keeping these areas alive has been a big issue in these conditions, especially with the wind. Thank you for your patience with all the hose pipes out there and post and rope. We are saturating these areas in the morning, so the rope is there to protect as area is soft in places.

Greens maintenance this month will be a 1 ton per green and followed by a 10mm tine. The sand will the be left to dry for as long as we can and then drag matted in. Over the years our thatch levels have dropped to a manageable level with the correct maintenance and our bi weekly top dressing so there was no need for a big disruptive maintenance. The greens will be hardly impacted. The bi weekly top dressing will start now and hopefully by end of season we will use around 150 tonnes of sand. A granular feed to tees has worked well and look healthy. Aprons have just recently had a granular feed also and they are starting to come through. Fairways will be in the next few weeks have a foliar feed applied and also sprayed for weeds.

The Copse

The Copse has been very popular this month which is pleasing to see. Busy for school holidays and also been booked out at weekends by Hampshire Golf and England Golf for training. Both said what a world class facility it is and are looking forward to coming back. The greens on The Copse/Short game area will be having their maintenance in a few weeks where we will be coring and topdressing. They have become thatchy, which is expected with new greens because of the feeding and watering needed for them to establish so a harder maintenance needed.

See you on the course.

Scott Peterson, Head Greenkeeper, The Park Course

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