Morecambe GC Greens Blog.

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.