Course Report

JULY 2012 - CAPTAINS LETTER

Dear David,

We write to express the gratitude of the men's, ladies and senior's sections for the outstanding condition of the course this year, culminating in a superb Championship Week.

It has been a pleasure to see the course improve during recent years but' given the amazing weather you had to contend with this year, the efforts from you and your team have been exceptional.

 Please pass on our thanks to all your team as we can see just how much hard work you have put in.

With Thanks,

Liz South

Malcolm Lloyd

Mike OShea

 

 

SPRING COURSE NEWSLETTER 2012

 

In mid March we completed our spring maintenance on the greens. We hollow tined the greens, fertilised and top-dressed them, we also applied a wetting agent to the greens. Unfortunately due to the very prolonged dry time that followed along with the cold temperatures at night, the growth on the greens has been quite slow.

During the last week in April we have been able to Verti-Cut the greens, we then pencil tinned the greens to help assist the root growth of the grass.

The fairways have all now been Verti-Drained and have all received a liquid fertiliser along with a further two and a half tons of granular fertilise, which has been applied in the last couple of weeks. We will be spraying for all the weeds on the fairways in the next few weeks.

Gravel banding has taken place on some of the worst drained fairways and during the recent downpours appears to be working quite well. In all during the past months we have done around ninety tons of gravel banding on the course.

We have purchased sixty tons of sand which has been distributed around the bunkers on the course.

New tee signs will shortly be going out on the course along with eight new ball washers and a further six litter bins.

During the coming months we will continue to monitor the new gravel banding to see that it is working as planned and look for further fairways that may benefit from similar work being carried out on them.

 

Enjoy your Golf.

 

Peter Tulk

Course Manager

 

 

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COURSE REPORT NOVEMBER 2009

  

With the adverse weather we have been experiencing recently, the course as you can imagine, is extremely wet underfoot and we would request that where-ever possible try and carry with minimum clubs in your bag!

Also if you could try and pick your way around the course avoiding areas which are prone to excessive wear we would be grateful as it will help to preserve the overall appearence throughout the winter months.

If you have no alternative but to use trollies, please can you keep them in the rough at all times as it is our aim to try and keep this facility open throughout the winter where ever possible?

It is our intention to keep playing on the main tee boxes as much as is possible, with the exception of par 3's where we may ask you to play from the mats, helping to avoid unnecessary wear from iron play in the form of divots.

I am pleased with the progress and response from the greens and it is apparent from visiting golfers that Orchardleigh is fast becoming known for the quality and condition of our greens and this will only get better in years to come. It is also worth pointing out that in order to get this quality, there will be times throughout the year when we need to work on them and whilst it is frustrating for you at the time, I hope you can understand the benefits this reaps in the latter parts of the year?

 

Regards

 

Peter Tulk

Course Manager

 

 

 

COURSE REPORT AUGUST 2009

  

On Monday 17th we managed to hollow core all 18 greens to a depth of approximately 10cm and on Tuesday 18th all 18 greens were top dressed with both machine and hand-brushed to 'fill-in' the holes.

 

The purpose of hollow coring, is to allow air to penetrate the turf and encourage root growth into the sand voids created by the core and in doing so strengthening the plant, which in turn helps to fight off disease.

 

We have also verti-drained the tees and will shortly be top dressing these areas in readiness for the Autumn.

 

Peter Tulk

Course Manager

 

 

 

COURSE REPORT SUMMER 2009

 

Over the last few months a programme of work has been taking place to improve the standard of the course.

The greens have been aerated and fertilised.

We have grass harrowed the fairways in order to remove all the dead matted grass from the bottom. They have also been fertilised, firstly to give them a kick start and secondly with an organic slow release fertiliser which should give steady growth and colour.

All the fairways have been sprayed for weeds and most of these now have died off.

We are further improving them by increasing the height of the cut, thereby giving the golfers a better lie from which to play their ball.

In the coming months we will continue our programme of improvements and hope you are all pleased with what you have experienced so far.

 

We are hoping if conditions allow, to slightly reduce the height of cut for the forthcoming Club Championships.

 

Peter Tulk

Course Manager

 

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COURSE REPORT APRIL 2009

 

NEW COURSE MANAGER

Peter Tulk has recently joined Orchardleigh as Course Manager, he has a wealth of experience in his field and is very proud to be associated with Orchardleigh Golf Club.

He is looking forward to the years ahead and wishes everyone a great golfing season.

 

GREENS 

Over the past three weeks an intensified work programme has commenced across the greens, consisting of;

 

Hollow Coring

Overseeding

Fertilising

Top Dressing

 

as well as being Deep Tine Spiked.

The purpose of this programme is to encourage deeper root growth on the greens which will in turn create stronger plants and help in fighting off Fusarium Patch and other fungal diseases during conducive weather conditions.

 

FAIRWAYS

Throughout the next couple of weeks we aim to grass harrow the fairways and fertilise with an organic fertiliser to give the grass both body and coverage.

 

The cut has been raised to allow better coverage and to help provide less stress on the plant during dry conditions, this in turn appeals to the majority of golfers by allowing their ball to sit up on the grass aiding in club to ball contact.

 

Once we have good growth the fairways will be sprayed with a selective weedkiller which will remove the dandelions and daises, thus encouraging grass growth and obtain a stronger grass coverage.

 

It is our intention to give the fairways better definitions of cutting and we are currently looking at various mowers which will provide a number of cutting options open to us.

 

Peter Tulk

Course Manager