The Green Report – Summer ‘08

 

The playing season is well and truly with us and I think you will agree our course is looking superb. Visiting parties are always enthusiastic about playing here and the entrants in the Seniors Open back in May were no exception; I spoke to several groups from Newcastle who said they always look forward to playing at Eaglescliffe as it’s always immaculate. 

 

Green Speed

One of the most frequent questions I have been asked since the first Green Report relates to the speed of the greens. The transition from winter to summer is a complicated one involving gradual cutting height reduction, scarifying, top dressing, rolling, verti-draining and over seeding, all performed with careful timing.

It’s a delicate balance between removing enough grass to give a fast putting surface and leaving enough for the green to survive. Throw unpredictable weather into the equation, together with competition commitments and things can become very difficult.

In order to quantify green speed you may have noticed me taking “Stimp” readings on the 18th, 10th and practise green. For those members not familiar a “Stimp Meter” is a short metal ramp down which a golf ball rolls to give it a constant initial velocity so that the speed of greens can be measured and compared. They have gradually increased over the weeks and are now officially “fast”.  We will never be as fast as Augusta however with the traffic our course has to cope with this is not desirable.

 

Practising

There seems to be a certain amount of confusion, mainly I think amongst some of the newer members, regarding practicing on the course. Apart from playing a provisional ball Rule: 27-2, it is not permissible to play more than one ball – at any time.  Missing an easy shot to a green is frustrating but repeating the shot several times again is not allowed.

 

Rake Stands

I hope you have noticed we now have rake stands on every bunker, a big thank-you to John Hind who fabricated them. They have been positioned under the guidelines set by the R&A to least affect the normal run of play; please replace the rakes on the stands and out of the bumkers when you have finished using them.

 

Mobile Phones

We are received an increasing number of member’s complaints relating to the use of mobile phones. These cannot be used beyond the concourse exit, which includes the patio area and practice green. Mobile phones can only be used on the course in an emergency situation.

 

Pitch Marks

We are still seeing numerous pitch marks left unrepaired on greens – it’s our course, we need to take care of it !!

 

Architect’s Visit

During the first week in June we had a visit from an eminent golf course architect, Howard Swan, accompanied by his grandson William Swan who is also part of the family business. Howard’s father worked with Henry Cotton during some redevelopment work at Eaglescliffe in the late 60’s.  We chatted to Howard at the British & International Golf Greenkeeper’s Association exhibition at Harrogate back in January.

Howard was keen to visit our course since his father had worked with Henry Cotton at Eaglescliffe during the ‘60’s; the visit cost us nothing so it was an offer too good to miss. There never was any “hidden agenda” to this visit and it is not associated with any major redevelopment plans – so there’s another rumour quashed !! 

 

Howard’s observations and comments are presented here without bias or prejudice.

 

1^st – “Spectacle” bunkers a typical Braid “trade mark” are now less effective due to a maturing copse. Suggest consider filling the bunkers in but not planting a swathe of trees down the bank – maybe sparsely grouped. Felt the copse on the hill top was far too dense and required thinning by about a third, a large Sycamore being singled out also the Larch. [In line with Woodland Strategy Guidelines]

 

2^nd – No comments.

 

3^rd – Acknowledged preservation of the slight dog-leg with the tree spaded trees, “maybe” wouldn’t have installed the one Silver Birch closest to the fairway. Felt the new fairway bunker could have been a little flatter. Commented positively on the half & half fairway cutting and also the condition & presentation of the green. Suggested the right-hand bunker should extend further across the right edge of the green approach and further down the fairway by about 7 or 8 yards. 

 

4^th – Liked the neat appearance and elevated green.

 

5^th –Thought the stand of Leylandii at the tee should be removed along with other Cypress / Leylandii examples. [In line with Woodland Strategy Guidelines]

Thought the mounds were out of place and the fairway needed to be cut up to the pond. However accepted that the semi cut area would help speed play as shots over the pond would be slightly easier.

 

6^th – No comment.

 

7^th – Thought the fairway bunker was maybe too difficult and could be flatter.

 

8^th – Liked the contoured green, “something not built into modern greens”

 

9^th – No comments.

 

10^th – Thought the work on the corner was very good – regarded the Silver Birches as somewhat temporary given their relatively “short” life span. Thought the pond area was good and the indigenous planting also. Favours pond plants such as Flag Iris but advised consultation with The Ecological Survey. Howard said he would remove the Leylandii at the 150 marker [In line with Woodland Strategy Guidelines]. Thought the Scots Pine would already replace any significance to the hole contributed by the Leylandii. He did however think the hole was strategically poor and could be improved by the addition of two fairway bunkers, one at the point of the Escalonia (which should go) and extending to a point equal on the fairway presently reached by the Leylandii. A second staggered bunker was suggested for the left edge of the fairway. 

 

11^th – Thought the copse on the right was far too dense and had been planted like a Forestry Commission plantation, i.e. trees planted on the tops of the “Rigs”. Every other tree should be removed at very least and open out areas inside the copse to give selected trees a chance to mature. [In line with Woodland Strategy Guidelines]

Thought the grass bunker was too big.

He applauded the raised and reworked area to the back of the green but said the green itself was very steep – alarmingly so. He asked Geoff if he had problems with pin positions.

 

12^th – Commented on the narrow ball exit from the teeing area with very close tree encroachment both left and right, giving rise to tee selection problems. He thought some of the trees should be removed – at least on the left, acknowledging the right were “guarding” OOB issues. He thought the fairway bunker could be a little flatter.

 

13^th – Said new courses would have a larger area of tee, but acknowledged our acreage constraints, 600yds/sq being the operative working area proportionately split according to expected usage. He suggested we could place an additional tee to the left of the existing looking at the green across the tree nursery area. He thought the view to the green was “lovely” but the rear of the white tee area did not show the right-hand bunkers, this could be resolved by taking level measurements and excavating part of the fairway. He also suggested posting rather than sloping the transitions between white / yellow / red tees (as on the 17^th).

 

14^th – Liked the teeing area and the view questioned the fairway bunkers, agreed the original design of an “echelon” of three diagonal bunkers would have been a better playing option, also giving an improved view of the green. Thought the green was in good condition.

 

15^th – Commented the fairway bunker on the dog-leg was ineffective. Agreed the internal OOB removal was a good decision. Liked the newly landscaped tree spaded area at the green.

 

16^th – Said he would remove the Poplar at the green and maybe replace with a fairway bunker or a more suitable tree specimen. [In line with Woodland Strategy Guidelines]

 

17^th – Liked the hole and said “It was as pretty as a picture”.

 

18^th – Accepted that although the medal tee wasn’t ideal it did give the extra yardage and helped to resolve the danger issues associated with the gardens. Liked the newly worked 18^th greenside bunkers.

 

 

General comments:

 

Suggested we thin the trees on the right of the 3^rd tee, left of the 14^th tee area. We have a beautiful asset in the river, show it more and give the golfers views through the trees and bushes.

 

He thought most of our mature & semi mature copses were too dense and had suffered badly from a lack of thinning. [In line with Woodland Strategy Guidelines]

 

Suggested we could do with more fairway bunkers.

 

Liked the grouping of the greens on the hill top i.e. 1^st, 7^th, 9^th & 11^th.

 

The half & half fairway cutting, in general liked the gently sweeping fairway edge cutting, “over done on some courses”

 

Liked our contoured greens but thought the Greenstaff would have a tough time selecting pin positions.

 

He commended Geoff on how the course was presented and prepared saying “Given the start of the year we have had you would have to go a long way to find a course in better presentation – and I can’t think of one”

 

 

Agronomist Visit

We have also just completed annual course survey conducted by our agronomist David Stansfield. David advises on newly developed fertilisers and top dressings, seed varieties, the speed of greens and turf management in general. He took core and section samples from every green – see the club website for pictures – which proved to be very interesting. He briefly outlined his recommendation to modify the method of vertidraining we currently carry out on some greens, e.g. the 8th and 12th, in line with our usual fairway vertidraining; this will have no major impact on play.

Although his detailed report has yet to be received he was very positive with his comments and said most clubs would be very envious of the standard achieved at Eaglescliffe.

 

STRI

We hope to have a visit towards the end of July / August from Lee Penrose a member of the STRI – Sports Turf Research Institute – Lee advises on turf issues, planting strategy, ecology, irrigation & drainage plus a host of other related topics.
The English Golf Union and the government’s wildlife advisors, English Nature, have provided joint funding for this scheme.

  

Yellow / White ?

As of the 1^st August the gentlemen can elect to play off the yellow or white tee blocks outside the usual competitions. This will however require some medal markers to be moved level with the yellow to preserve “sensitive areas” such as the back of the 13^th tee.

 

I trust this second edition of the Green Report has been of interest to you.

 

 

Brian Ramsden

Green Committee Chairman 

 

 

 

David Stansfield our agronomist visited the course recently and during the survey took core and section samples from each of the greens. This is a section from the 17th green showing a minimal thatch layer, excellent soil structure and well developed roots which extend to the bottom of the section.