Morecambe GC Greens Blog.

Firstly, Apologies for the lack of news on the blog, I know it's not really an excuse, but we have been quite busy. It seems a lifetime ago that the liner on the Irrigation storage tank split and left us without water for over 5 weeks. But in hindsight, this has has been a really good thing for the greens. I had always intended to dry the greens out this year, as the soil profile had been so wet since July 2107, but I would have liked a bit more control over moisture levels! As it was, we all witnessed how hardy fine turf grasses can be. The finer Bent & Fescue species hung on by their finger nails, while the Annual Meadow grass curled up & died.  This gave us a great opportunity to increase the amount of fine species in the greens by over-seeding into the bare ground and spaces. This has been highly successful with huge increases in population levels. This also leads sadly to some slower putting speeds while the seedlings were growing in & maturing. It seems po...

As a follow on to last weeks presentation, here are couple of pics from the 2nd hole showing the impact of White poplar roots. As you can see, the roots have travelled over 20 metres to reach a depression on the edge of the fairway. The roots are significantly longer than that, but that was were they snapped off. I would like to thank everyone who came to the information night. It was great to see so many people with a real interest in what we are trying to achieve.  

Despite the prolonged wet weather, work has continued to move forward on the course and with the recent dry weather set to continue, we plan to start tidying and fininshing off the drainage and tree removal. The creation of the mounding and pond alterations on the 2nd hole are nearly ready for seeding. The top soil just needs spreading and raking off. The fescue grasses should look amazing and provide a much improved feature next to the green. The drainage work next to the 3rd green is ready for topping up with rootzone and the frosty forecast will allow this to happen. This area will still take a while to dry out as the amount of roots is hampering the flow of water thru the soil profile.  The drains on the 4th hole will also be topped up. Seeding will take place when the rootzone has setttled and the temperatures warm up. The large tree roots have been removed on the 4th, 5th, 12th & 16th, but there is still a fair amout of repair work to complete before these area...

The Greens team are looking to employ a 16-18 year old enthusiastic person to join the team and learn the trade of greenkeeping. Full training will be given in association with Myerscough College. If you are interested or know some, please contact the General manager for more information.

Introduction. It has been 7 months since I joined Morecambe GC, which, apart from the weather has been really enjoyable. I have meet some lovely people and the rest of the “team” seem to have a passion and real connection with the club. My initial thoughts regarding prioritising projects and aims was based on my early days. Unfortunately, 2017 was a far from average year weather wise. The total for the year was only slightly above average at 1,017mm. But the year was divided up with the first 6 months having just 259mm and the last 6 months having 758mm! That’s 50% more rainfall than average in 6 months. This has had a major impact on the management and playability of the course. Winter work programme . The original intention this Autumn/Winter was to improve drainage, remove trees, extend Tee areas and renovate and improve bunkers. A great deal of drainage work and tree removal has already taken place to great effect, but no Tee or bunker work. I propose that we concentra...

The tree removal program is now underway, with some major work completed on the car park and felling starting on the 1st hole. We are also cleaning up the remaining trees to improve playability and improve sunlight and air movement across the course. This work will continue up to Christmas and beyond depending on the weather conditions. There are logs for sale as a result of this work. Please contact the office for details .

Just a few pics of the recent flooding and damage.  

The 4th fairway has suffered all year with the continual rainfall. A combination of damaged drains, tree roots and issues with the outlet onto the shore have made the hole unplayable at times. The club have provided the funds to carry out improvements and the greenstaff have been busy installing new drain lines with perforated pipe and washed gravel. The 1st area to be trenched was close to the fairway bunkers. A large floating "cows belly" had appeared which indicated broken pipework below. A new 100mm pipe drain has been installed and connected into a servicable clay tile land drain (which was rodded). This area has dried out already and will improve even more when we dig a small extension drain to the area. The next area to be drained was closer to the tee, near the rear of the 16th green. Large quantities of water have been running across the surface from the R/H side of the fairway and rough. 2 problems were discovered, a spring and old land drains damaged by tree...

The work to improve drainage in the valley is moving forward depite the weather. The banks have been dug out apart from the section across the 2nd hole, which will be completed early next week. The rest of the bankings have been prepared for turfing and sections across the 11th & 15th have been turfed. Turfing will continue over the next week. The drainage outlets have been leveled and cleaned out. Additional drains will be added later in the winter. The crossing points have been raised and the astroturf removed. This will be replaced by a hard wearing rye grass and a plastic ground stabilisation material. The crossing points will be roped off and temporary crossing points created while the turf recovers. Please pick any balls out of the ditch using the rakes supplied as walking down the turf will destroy the bankings. Again, some hole closures will occur during this work. Thank you for your patience at this time.

This afternoon, myself and the greens committee walked the course to determine which trees would be removed as part of our winter work programme. It was a very productive time, with  agreement on all areas under discussion. The main aims of the tree removal are to provide light, improve areas for drainage, reduce leaf litter, remove undesirable species and to re-instate views across the course and across the bay that have been lost. The areas of removal this winter will be the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th, 12th & 16th holes. As always, the work will be weather dependant and will also include the removal of any stumps which would be seen as in play. The work should start early next month (November) and will continue thru the winter.  I will update the blog with more information and pictures as work progresses.

The recent wet weather has highlighted areas on the course were the drainage is not performing as it should. With this in mind, we have started some projects to improve matters. This week we started removing the wooden shuttering from the valley on the 2nd, 11th, 14th, 15th & 17th holes. This will be replaced by a turfed bank which will speed up surface water removal and make further drainage easier to add. As well as this, we are creating swales to dry out areas which hold water.  The digging of the trench will be completed by the middle of next week and the turfing will start on Wednesday (weather permitting). The whole valley will be completed within the next 2 weeks. While working in the valley, we will also be installing some extensions to existing drains and also installing some small manholes to aid surface water removal in low lying areas.  There may be some hole closures during this time to speed the process up and also allow a safe working...

As you will all be aware, the weather during the last 3 months has been extremely wet. This has brought forward the earth worm activity throughout the course. As you can see from the above pictures, this has a huge impact on the playability and preparation of the course. One thing you may not know, is that from 31st August 2017 the only chemicals available for worm control were withdrawn from use by DEFRA. This will have long term repercussions for the course.  In the past, we used these chemicals to reduce the number of worms in many areas of the course. With their removal, the worm population will increase year on year. Add to this the change in weather patterns and you can appreciate the problems we now face. Many companies are exploring alternative solutions, but as yet, nothing reliable or cost effective has been developed. We will be trialing some of these products over the next few months and I will keep you posted of any developments. In the meantime, please ...

The 30th of August will be national Golf Etiquette day. With this in mind, I would like to highlight a few issues we have at Morecambe Golf Club. Standards af etiquette have slipped throughout the world of Golf over the last 10 years, no one seems to have an answer why this has happened, but it is hoped by increasing awareness of the consequences of poor etiquette, this problem can be reduced. Pitchmarks It is extremely noticable that the greens at Morecambe are peppered in unrepaired pitchmarks.  Last Thursday morning, I took some new range balls from the Pro's shop and placed a ball on each unrepaired pitchmark scar on the 3rd green. In total, there were 286 scars on the surface of the green! Each one creating a hollow which effects ball roll. The scars also allow Meadow grass a perfect place to germinate and thrive. The Greenstaff spend a large amount of time and money trying to perfect the putting surfaces. Pitchmarks, if unrepaired destroy those surfaces. Watch t...

Been a busy morning on the course and we have a busy week ahead with competitions and an Seniors open on Friday. We took the opportunity today to remove the thick pond weed that had developed on the 6th stream. This was resticting water flow and also was a real eyesore. A large excavator was hired in and 10 trailer loads of weed and silt were removed. We will tidy the fairway side tomorrow and keep the banks cut and tidy.

Welcome to the Blog associated with the regular maintenance of the Morecambe Golf Club. The team hope to provide you with updates and information you may be interested in on the week to week running of this seaside links. Hope you enjoy reading our news. Cheers, Morecambe Greens team.