New 16th hole tee

It was a foggy day when we started to build the new tee for the 16th hole but work is progressing nicely

It may be cold & frosty but the work still goes on...

...and this is the view down the 16th from behind the tee, there's still some work to be done but, with good weather we'll be playing from here next season!

Last week & This...

Last week we started to trim all the low branches in the copses to give golfers the chance to play their ball if they should happen to find themselves there, the picture shows George lopping some of the branches.

Today we have started to make the changes, as published, on the 16th hole, we have started to fell some of the Poplars, which are coming to the end of their lifespan. The picture below shows the amount of rot in the middle of the tree after it was felled, looks like we've been lucky it didn't fall on its own!

Clean & Place

In order to make it clear where the fairway finishes and the rough starts we are cutting the edges of the fairways to give better definition, this should avoid all those "is this fairway or rough?" debates...

This week

This week so far has been a good week for getting on the course, although it's a bit damp underfoot. 

First Picture is of Julian carrying out the thankless task of leaf collecting, at this time of year it seems to be like painting the Forth Bridge, you get to the end and start again!

We are also busy cutting greens, they've all been cut today for the midweek medal and all 18 holes are in play...

...the greens are in excellent condition for the time of year and we hope to be playing on them for some time to come. All the hard work during the season, verti-cutting, top dressing etc. has really paid off

Drainage

With every course in York closed today it's a good opportunity to show how effective the drainage is now on the course, the top 2 pictures show the cross ditch on the 8th hole at 7:30 this morning. The botttom 2 pictures are looking across to the 9th green, again the picture on the left was taken at 7:30 this morning, the hole was completely waterlogged. The picture on the right was taken around 2pm, it's amazing how quickly it's drained away...

9th hole this morning, taken through the rain...

...and this afternoon, with the sun shining

ERYGA visit Wednesday

We held the first fixture of the East Riding & District of York Golf Alliance on Wednesday and it was great to hear all the positive comments from the visitors, in the picture we see George ironing the 18th green to make it a bit faster. You can see Mark in the background making his way slowly up the fairway verti-draining, As we said yesterday, at 1kph it's a slow process.

Work on the course this week

There are a number of things going on this week, We're continuing to verti-drain the fairways, this takes around 2 weeks to complete the whole course as the machine moves at only 1kph!

Mark verti-draining the fairways

We're trying to keep on top of leaf gathering, pictured is Phil blowing the leaves into a row on the 17th so the collector can pick them up, the windy conditions are helping to get the leaves off the trees...

Verti-draining

We have started to verti-drain the fairways, using a new set of 45cm tines (18" in old money!)
Verti-draining drives the tines into compressed ground and the unique lifting action heaves the soil in the same way you would with a garden fork, shattering the compacted layers, allowing air, water & fertiliser to penetrate deep into the soil

The picture shows Mark starting on one of the fairways, see if you can work out where...

8th hole drainage

We have started to turf over the drainage channel on the 8th fairway, the ground has been left this long to make sure that there won't be any more settling, which would cause a dip in the ground.

The picture below shows Mark laying turf along the channel.

Tees overseeded

The tees have been overseeded and are now being top-dressed, this will improve the sward on the tees

Mark top dressing the first tee

Yardage signs

Peter putting new yardage markers on the new tees, thanks for the sponsors of these signs

Winter greens

It's that time of year nearly!

The picture shows Julian verti-cutting the winter greens, getting them ready for over seeding and top dressing.

The next picture is of Mark top dressing the winter greens, looking at the number of bags in there he's going to be busy!...

Smile please!

Hedge cutting

It's hedge cutting time, here we see Julian cutting the hedges along the 10th dogleg... I wish he'd chop the trees down as well!

Fence Repairs

The fence near the 7th hole...

Our intrepid fencing team have repaired the fencing to the right of the 7th hole that was damaged when the buggy shed was broken into. They have repaired the fence behind the 4th tee as well.


The leak between the 4th tee and the 3rd green has now been repaired, the water should now start to disappear...

...and behind the 4th tee

Plant pots needed

A mixture of young ash,sycamore, rowan and maple trees ready to plant on the course late 2012 

Trees ready for planting late 2012. All these trees have been rescued from gardens around York.
Chestnuts and oaks have been grown from seed for future planting on plke hills

George, one of our greenkeepers is busy "rescuing" unwanted trees from gardens and growing them on for planting at Pike Hills when they are mature enough.
He is also growing a number of trees from seed,  these pictures show how much he has achieved so far.


BUT!!


PLEASE HELP George by leaving any unwanted large plant pots (like the type in the pictures) over at the greenkeepers shed

Young oaks ready to be potted on

  

Young oak desperate for a bigger pot. For future planting on Pike Hills 

More young trees ready to be potted on

Better weather!

You can see by the angle of the sun how early the lads start...

Now that a bit of better weather has arrived we can get on with some of the jobs that need doing, today we are top dressing the greens, including the winter greens

Mark on the 2nd green first thing in the morning

And here we see Julian cutting the fairways this morning

Early in the morning

Out on the course early in the morning, before any golfers are about and the wildlife come out to play, this deer was spotted this morning on the 7th hole, and the early morning balloonists had a good view of the greenstaff going about their work...

Championship Day

After 2 days where we haven't been able to get on the course due to hosting Yorkshire events it's time to get the course ready for championship day, pictures show George cutting the green surrounds this morning and Julian rolling the greens to make them smoother (& a little bit faster!)

Pitch Marks on the Greens

The two pictures below show the number of pitch marks left on the greens overnight, please take note of the below and repair your pitch marks as soon as possible. Each ball in the photos represents and unrepaired pitch mark which has been left overnight...


"A correctly repaired pitch mark will recover in 24 hours. An unrepaired pitchmark left unattended for two hours will take up to two months to recover. Unrepaired pitch marks also foster disease and infections in the green."

Hedge cutting

We are trying to get the course looking its best for Captain's Day on Sunday, it's time to cut the hedges now, these pictures show the 8th hedge being cut and the edges of the ditch  are being done at the same time using the same machine.

The hedge being cut

and the ditches as well

The greens

Yesterday the greens were cut, then verti-cut followed by another cut...

Julian giving the green its 2nd cut of the day

 ...then today we are ironing them so they are going to be on top form by the weekend, hopefully, as long as we get some good weather they will stay in good condition for the rest of the season

and George using the greens iron to smooth them and make them quicker

Mower update

We have borrowed a new greens cutting machine whilst we're waiting for parts for ours, this means that we can take the cut down again

Peter trying his new loan toy out on the 14th green

And whilst the rest of the greens staff are busy on the course Phil has decided to get inside one of the machines, I'll leave it to your imagination as to what he's doing...

Actually he's tightening his nuts up!

Greens

We are stripping the cutting unit down from the greens mower, ready for the new cylinder, as the end drive shaft has sheared off. (It must be all the work we do!)

Because of this we are using the old units which are cutting slightly higher. This means that the greens will be

slightly slower,  but we will soon be back to normal.

Whilst the cylinder is out we are taking the opportunity to re-grind the bottom blade so that it sits true to the cylinder.

More from Today

The trees have been strimmed round and a total weedkiller applied so we can save time strimming and don't have to cut so close and catch the trees. The weedkiller should last between 4-6 weeks

Today's Work

Another busy day today, We've even had Tony Marshall cutting the rough this morning, work is going into the winter greens, readying them for use

Tony Marshall, greens chairman cutting the rough on the 13th, he lost a ball in there at the weekend and is determined to find it!

Mark overseeding one of the winter greens

and applying top dressing afterwards