The cold snap of weather has seen growth levels drop off on the course and we are mowing when required. We have had a few frost delays and I thank you for your patience if you have been affected on one of these days. The potential damage caused by playing on frosted greens is well documented and it can take a long time for the broken grass plant to recover from this.

The greens are being mown twice a week with the dew being removed with either the rollers or the dew rope the other days depending on what is on for the day. The mixed grass fairways are being mown once a week to tidy them up. The Windsor Green have not been cut for a month now due to them being dormant. The tufts of green grass in the Windsor are the weed grass Poa Annua which will be removed by chemical spray when the conditions are most suited to get the maximum result.

The small amount of mowing being done at present has allowed greenstaff to concentrate on other areas of the course which includes:

 - Aerating fairways and areas of rough to reduce compaction which gives the grass roots oxygen and space to move to help strengthen the grass in the spring.

 - Replacing the worn turf at the end of pathways with new ryegrass turf taken from our nursery by the third hole. We have also been laying turf over the areas left by the removal of certain trees around the course.

We have been very busy with both tree removal and trimming for various reasons. It may seem like a lot of tree work but it is just a combination of normal routine work, tree removal for the Powerco tree planting project as well as work highlighted by a recent tree audit carried out by the domains board and their arborist. This audit highlighted areas that needed work to remove dead and dying trees as well as crown lifting of some trees to maximize the amount of sunlight to the 16^th fairway in order to stolonise this fairway this coming December. We have also removed some other diseased trees in certain areas to facilitate the major tree planting project which is about to commence. The decision was made to remove these trees now as they would not have lasted much longer anyway and would be better removed rather than risk them falling on the newly planted trees. We have also been carrying out crown lifting of other trees on the course for both tree health and staff health and safety purposes. These low hanging branches are very dangerous for staff as they can get caught on the roll bar of the rough mower and can spring back at speed when released.

Work Programme for July

 - Commence and complete the Powerco tree planting programme
 - Continue to aerate fairways and roughs
 - Continue to re turf areas that require work

Graeme Duncan  Superintendent