Head Greenkeepers Blog

We have had a very settled spell of weather this past month or so, but last week was very humid which created a bit of a flush of growth. The difficulty with humid nights is that there is often heavy dew the next morning which can make mowing a little messier than usual. The result is that we have been mowing all surfaces more frequently during this period to maintain playability and aesthetics which is time consuming but presentation is a key part of our maintenance regime.

One area we have been closely monitoring is the longer grasses around our new bunkers. These will eventually become completely unmanaged once the sward has been refined, but some of the courser grasses were starting to encroach into the bunkers so we gave all of them a thin out and tidy up. Towards the back end these will all be strimmed pretty short with all clippings collected, much like our rough management programme where we are trying to strip away any natural fertilisation and encourage a sparser and wispier growth pattern. Below is a before and after where we subtly tidied the bunker right of 5.

 

July into August is a period when we always start to see signs of stress throughout the whole course, but more obvious on our greens surfaces. We're experience fluctuating temperatures, spells of wet weather, spells of dry weather, damp humid conditions, drying winds and many more factors than can contribute to stress within a grass plant. This is very much magnified when a plant is being mown at such a low height of cut so we are always on our guard to monitor for any conditions favourable for the development of disease. 

We have seen development of Fusarium Patch, Take All Patch, Fairy Ring and Anthracnose in recent weeks but none serious enough to require an application of fungicide. Our spring granules fertiliser has run its course and the greens are lean and in need of a boost of nitrogen but we rarely ever apply any granulars throughout the season as it can drastically affect ball roll and encourages inconsistent growth. We work hard in spring to achieve fantastic trueness and smoothness so timing is critical when it comes to our next granular application which is typically after our autumn maintenance. Below are a few pictures of the typical diseases you may see on greens.

 

 

Weather outlook is much of the same however a little cold spell to the middle of this week is forecasted followed by some high pressure pushing in some nice warm weather for the weekend onwards.

David Gray 
Head Greenkeeper


 

August Medal - Saturday, 6 August 2016 

Cat 1+2 
1st - CA Calley - 73 (4) =69 2nd - AF Anderson - 79 (9) =70 3rd - KM Findlay - 75 (5)=70 

Cat 3+4
1st - GS Gray - 84(13) =71 2nd - S Lindsay - 87 (16) = 71 3rd - SE Watson - 89 (17) =72 

M + H ( Nicol Wilson).


LADYBANK LADIES - Centenary Rosebowl 

Round 1 
C Farmer (7) 75, M Hair (11) 76, L McDonald (6) 77

Round 2 
S McRae (6) 77, L Bennett (4) 78, M Robertson (18) 80

Centenary Rosebowl (best aggregate score) 
L Bennet (4) 157, M Robertson (18) 158, S Johnston (13) 163. 

SAS Merit 5 
M Campbell (14) 29pts bih, L McDonald (6) 29pts bih, D Rettie (19) 29pts. 

Nine Hole 
E Stone (19) 15pts, F Black (19) 13pts, E Paterson (20) 12pts.


 

36 ladies took part in the exchange day Tri-Am to Panmure Barry on Tuesday, 9 August with an additional 2 non playing ladies along for the 'Craic' and to provide the half time refreshments. We enjoyed the course in good weather, in great condition along with the excellent catering and helpful assistance from the Professional, Andrew Crerar. 

Tri-am winners - 'The Putting Princesses' - Myrtle Gilbert (C), Mary Robertson and Cath Findlay (147) 

Tri-am runners up - 'The Drunk Drivers' - Elsie Hutcheon (C), Aileen Laing and Jane Beaton (152 bih) 

Putting competition - 'The Fairway Flukes' - Fay Ronaldson (C), Shona Peebles and Jaci Connally 

Longest drive - Silver division - Irene Morrow. Bronze division - Ina Shankley 

Nearest the Pin - Silver division - Alison Houston. Bronze division - Jenny Rearie 

Golf Quiz winners - 'The Happy Hookers' - Moira Begbie (C), Aileen Hampton and Elsie Houston 

Additional fun prizes and free raffle concluded a most enjoyable day out, however, the amount of balls handed out in prizes fell well short of the 41 balls lost on the course!

   

   

 

As we move towards the start of Autumn we still have loads going on at Ladybank GC. Please see our below many events coming up in the near future. 

For our Ladies we have the bi annual away day coming soon. The Squirrel trophy will get polished up and will be up for grabs on the day. Date, timings and venue to be confirmed in next weeks enewsletter. 

Our Professional FUN day is now open for bookings on Sunday, 25 September. Please pay entry fee in the Pro Shop to book your time. Teams of three or four as previous years. Entry fees are £15 for teams of three or £20 teams of four. Times available from 8am - 1.30pm. 

Our eagerly anticipated Seniors away day will have the date and venue confirmed by the start of September. We are looking at an October date for this event hopefully.