It's been a challenging few weeks for greenkeeping at Lewes Golf Club...
...with the high Easterly winds playing havoc with moisture levels on the course. Despite watering the greens regularly, we've lost more moisture when it's blowing a gale at 16 degrees than we do with no wind and 24 degrees.
Fescue Grass
Many members have asked if we can water the greens more, but the answer is yes but!! The grasses we try to promote on our greens are fescue, which doesn't like high volumes of water. We work to a percentage of 15 to 20% moisture on the greens using our moisture meter (as does The Open and many links courses).
If we start to overwater and overfeed our greens, that's when POA (a weed grass) starts to establish itself and that's when things like disease come into play, which isn't sustainable.
Red and Yellow 9 Tees during a blazing hot June at LGC
Verti-Cut
On Wednesday 26th July, we managed to Verti-Cut the greens. This stands up any lateral grass and then we mow after to return the surface back to normal. Ideally, we would have done this work 3 or 4 times already this year, but due to our new mower not yet available and breakdowns, we just haven't had the chance.
Mounds on the 5th Carry
Some members may have seen that the mounds on the 5th carry have been levelled. This should help players to reach the fairway or see where their ball has gone, and hopefully help speed play up.
Greens Maintenance
Greens maintenance is coming up soon, this will be a very light operation with small holes being punched into the greens, seeded, topdressed and brushed in. Please be patient while we let the seed germinate and get the surfaces back into play.
Thank you for your understanding.
Please feel free to leave a comment or suggestion or your questions regarding the upkeep of our stunningly beautiful golf Course.
Tim Brewster
Head Greenkeeper
Lewes Golf Club
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