News from the Greenkeeper and John Clarkin

This summer, the weather conditions were typical of a normal summer on the Riviera, dry and hot. A big effort was made by the greenkeeping team to reduce irrigation as much as possible and there is no doubt less water was used this year compared to last year. There were still areas on the course that were saturated for long periods due to the irrigation and this seemed to be a common complaint through the season. This was due to the following:

·         Undulations of the fairways and water moving off the high areas into the low areas.

·         Poor sprinkler system in some zones.

·         Compaction on the fairways.

·         Clay(sticky) soil conditions.

·         Poor structure of the soil.

·         Lack of topdressing.

This makes uniformed irrigation of the fairways virtually impossible. Actions are being taken to have more consistent dry fairways for next year. We are having an irrigation audit carried out to look at more efficient watering practises.  While certain areas were wet, we all noticed areas drying out on the course like the approach to the 3^rd green and the 13^th fairway where there was an infestation of warm season grasses. This was proof that the irrigation is not getting to the targeted zones of the fairways and approaches.

This October the greenkeepers are carrying out the following programmes to ensure better fairways for next year including:

·         Total Vertidraining of the fairways and semi rough to relieve compaction. This will continue throughout the winter.

·         Carottaging( hollowtining ) of the approaches.

·         Overseeding with a drought tolerant ryegrass suitable for Royal Mougins.

·         Topdressing of the fairways and approaches. There will be some holes that will have slightly excessive amounts of sand but this will be short lived and the benefits will far outweigh the negatives. This too will continue through the winter.

·         Selective verticutting of the fairways.

On the greens, there was more consistency this year with less disease. We are trying to keep the speed above 2.7m on the stimpmeter and we have largely been successful as a result of the topdressing programme of once every week. The greens too will be hollowtined,  overseeded and topdressed from the 7^th October. Hopefully the weather will be on our side and they should be back to normal within 2 weeks.

Following on from this the same procedure will be carried out on the tees.

The winter programme will address the following:

·         Entrances to the fairways. Both resodding and the introduction of artificial turf for some areas.

·         Tree management.

·         Reduction of weeds.

·         Levelling of the 8^th and 9^th tee boxes.

·         Increasing the depth of sand in the bases of the bunkers especially the greenside ones.

·         Continue to improve the driving range.

There is a long way to go to achieve our goal at Royal Mougins. It will take patience from the members as certain mechanical operations are required to bring the course to the standard expected and deserved by the members and guests. The majority of these works will take place between now and April of next year and we thank you for your understanding. We all look forward to producing a top class course for 2014.

Thank you

John Clarkin,  Turfgrass Consultancy Ltd

Richard Meyrieux, Head Greenkeeper 

Royal Cup 2013 : a Few Pictures

Prix de la Commission Sportive

Just watch

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/02/sport/golf/golf-fox-course-switzerland/index.html?hpt=hp_c5

Marshal report

Marshall’s reports

RMGC is a happy club and the need for the disciplinary committee to take action is extremely rare. However, like any club, there are incidents on the course. Almost all of these are dealt with promptly and are resolved in a courteous manner. To the members’ credit, the general behaviour on the course is impeccable and is exactly what one expects from a club of our standing.

The course marshall is in the front line. He completes a daily report of events on the course. I have reviewed these reports. The following highlights some of the more important issues:

• No shows are not acceptable. If you book a tee time and then cannot make it there is no excuse for failing to call the pro shop to cancel. No shows run the risk that they will be refused future bookings.
• You may not play anywhere or at any time on the course without first contacting the pro shop.
• Slow play is a common complaint and is unacceptable. We have a guideline of 4.5 hours for a three or four ball. This is an average of 15 mins per hole. Obviously a two ball should be faster. Please leave the green promptly once you have putted out. All too frequently players stroll off the green in a leisurely fashion.
• Equally unacceptable is that there are a few faster players who constantly and irritatingly push the players in front of them even though they are well within the time guide and they themselves are being held up in front.
• Five balls are not accepted. There have been several instances of members trying to play five balls and trying to fool the marshall. If you are so attached to your four friends that you feel that you simply cannot play a round without having all of them with you then you need to get a life. Just look somewhere outside of our club for this life.
• Several members believe they have the right to drive their golf carts anywhere on the course. If you do not obey the rules you will not be allowed to drive a golf cart. I shall be proposing a one strike and you are out rule.
• A few members seem to believe they enjoy a special privilege in that they are exempt from raking bunkers. These are generally the same members who complain about others being slow. Failure to rake a bunker is a particularly serious issue. It is utterly selfish. It is a direct slap in the face to those playing behind you. It tells the world at large that you are an egocentric oaf and that you have not understood the most basic golfing issue i.e. that above all, you should show courtesy and respect to other players. The marshall’s requests to these members to rake their bunkers are often ignored or mocked. I will be making proposals that we name and shame the offenders. This will allow all the members to know the names of the people responsible for leaving their large, ugly footprints in bunkers and not only the members unfortunate enough to play behind them and have their ball land in a footprint.

Please, both on and off the course, ensure courtesy and respect for others at all times.

Andrew Pearce
Club Captain

Royal Cup

4 balle meilleure balle: Tortues 10 Lièvres 5
Scramble à 2: Tortues 7,5 Lièvres 7,5
Single match play: Tortues 13,5 Lièvres 15,5

Les Tortues remportent la Royal Cup 31 à 28

Peugeot 308 presentation...

Discover the new Peugeot 308 at Royal Mougins Golf Club.

On Saturday October 5th, from 10am to 5 pm.

Presentation, road tests, fresh drinks, golf initioation....

Free entrance

Welcome to Sarah van Santen

We are pleased to announce the arrival of Farah van Santen, our Spa Manager, at Royal Mougins.

Please feel free to come and meet her and her team, including Valérie Ploessen who is in charge of Pilates & Kinesis coaching on appointment.

Opening hours remain the same : 

from Tuesday to Sunday – 10am to 7pm.

Reservations : spa@royalmougins.fr 

+33 (0)4 92 92 49 67

Wedding at Royal Mougins

The restaurant will be closed after 4 pm on Saturday 21st, due to a private wedding organized by a member.
We thank you for your understanding.

Championnat de France interclub par Equipes Mid Amateur à Taulane

Thursday 12th september we went with hope in our hearts to Taulane and played our practise round.

The course was heavy after a lot of rain, but we were lucky and it dried out the next days.
Beautiful wheather.

Next two days we had to play twice 18 holes strokeplay and after day one we were on the 5th
place (out of 11) with only one stroke difference with nr 4.

Stress the next day, and again we were beaten by 1 stroke by Aix les Bain. Hard luck.
No qualification matches for us on day nr 3 to try to promote to the 3rd division.

Next year better!!!

Jacky, Lene, Merete, Gerd and Julie, thank you for all your efforts!!
Conny Plesman