Update On 11th Bunkers

Sand has been delivered and the boys have been busy filling the new bunkers, 3 down just 2 more to go! Bunkers are still currently GUR, rakes have been placed in the bunkers for members and visitors to rake when retrieving their ball.

Signed Off Deputy Course Manager Joshua McCallum

Update On 11th Bunkers

Channel has been dug out for the rubber crumb shelf to be put in.

Ben and Tom mixing the rubber crumb and resin.

Me laying the rubber crumb shelf.

Rubber crumb shelf set and ready for revetted turf.

Pallet of revetted turf.

Ben backfilling sand behind the revetted turf.

Bunker prepped and ready for top turf.

 The far left green side bunker finished, now just needs sand adding. 

We have two more bunkers to revett, backfill and turf.

Signed Off Deputy Course Manager Joshua McCallum

Trip To John Deere Headquarters

We took the trip up to Nottingham to see the new release of there 9009A rough mower. We wanted to see for ourselves what all the hype was about and give it a inspection and test drive.  

The John Deere 9009A rough mower has a 2.7m cutting width and 55 hp engine with a new digital control display. Some of the new features it had on the control display were impressive, Password controlled for Course Managers preference, adjustable transport speeds, adjustable turning speeds and load match.    

Some of the fine turf machinery they had in stock.

Greens mowers.

Huge combine harvester on show. 

Some of the bigger tractors they had there.

Lots of compact tractors they had in stock.

Signed Off Deputy Course Manager Joshua McCallum

A Very Wet January!!!

We have had an exceptionally wet January, in total we have had 79mm of rainfall over Caversham Heath. As for yourself im sure you can see how wet the course is in places but i think we are coping rather well on greens and tees, some fairways are laying wetter than others. The verti draining has helped with draining standing water through the soil profile. Others things we have put in place to help with the wet conditions are, spreading sand over worn traffic areas and placing more post and rope around greens. We ask members and visitors with trolleys to keep to these marked areas to prevent play around the green becoming well-worn.

New Tee Distance Markers 26/1/2016

We started by taking the existing yard plates in, they had seen some wear and tear over the years. Alot of the concrete Tee stones had broken into parts making the Tee area look untidy and a hazard for our mowers. It was about time they needed changing!!!

After all the yard plates had been brought into the Greenstaff shed we took a wire brush to them to take off any scum and debris. Afterwards we gave them a hot jet wash so they came up looking like new.

 This rubber crumb is what we have used for the base of our new Tee stones, Its the same idea as the new bunkers that have been lined with rubber crumb on 4,7,9,and 11. The gluey resin which is set off by temperatures and moisture levels, within 2hrs it has already started to harden. After the rubber crumb has been poured into the already made sunken tee holes, I placed the refurbished Tee plates with some resin and set flush making sure no mowers would hit the Tee stones. 

This is the final product, I'm fairly happy with the final finish of the tee stones costing nothing in parts or material just man hours. hopefully they will last a while and making the overall tee area look a bit smarter. 

The Mapledurham wildlife has already been scraping and ripping up the rubber crumb, my guess would be the rabbits. So over the next few weeks we may be making some repairs to the Tee stones. 

Weather analysis

Some info on what the weather has brought us this year.

This chart shows a month's worth of temperatures and rainfall back from today. We have had a very warm December period, we had temperatures on Christmas day reaching 15 degrees hotter than Los Angeles. It has been a very wet start to the new year, we ask members to walk around roped off areas and stay off worn areas if possible.

This data started from May showing us the temperatures and rainfall there highs, lows and means. We had two very wet months July and August also with the summer sun causing a great deal of mowing this year throughout the summer. We had our hottest day on July the 29th reaching 33.9 degrees, Our lowest was on November the 6th reaching -1.8 degrees. The end of the year has been on average much higher around 12 degrees with increased rainfall, the normal is around 6 degrees.

What does this mean for Caversham Heath :

• Grass is growing quicker.
• More mowing is needed causing more traffic and wear on the course.
• More golfers playing due to the warmer temperatures.
• More roped off areas to manage traffic.

Some of the weather presents difficulties with our maintenance plans we will adapt and change plans as the weather switches.