It's been a dry week, but there have been frequent heavy dews which can keep greens surfaces damp much of the day. These conditions strongly support fungi, and therefore fusarium is widespread. Gavin did spray with fungicide a week or so ago but rain messed that up. At £850 per spray we can’t afford many mis-applications. The EU are gradually banning chemicals designed for this use - the most effective have already gone. Gavin is going to spray with iron which toughens the grass and helps it resist attack, but longer term life will be difficult without an effective defence.

Greens and tees have been vertidrained. They have been rolled a couple of times to allow them to be cut. The approaches are still to have the same treatment, although in those areas the tines will not penetrate so deeply (to around 6”: on the greens the pins go down about 10”, to the stone/gravel foundations).

We’ve had to replace the baffles nets in the driving nets; this has to be done almost annually - the sun destroys the plasticiser in the netting, making the plastic mesh brittle. It’s remarkable how balls can find failed areas through two layers of netting.

A reminder: this week we will be stripping the turf from the tees, with the contractor coming in on Thursday to level them. The forecast is not brilliant, unfortunately.

Course Committee