General.
For anyone who
has been living in the South of France during the winter will understand, there
has been an unprecedented amount of rain since December. In total, 660mm of rain
fell between December 1st and the 8th of February which
effectively equates to 10mm of rain each day for 2 and a half months. By the end
of February this figure stood at 720mm for 3 months.
This obviously
makes it difficult to play the course and also difficult to maintain. Certain
small in house projects had to be put on hold due to the inability to move
around the site like the entrances to the fairways being resodded and the
levelling of the tees on the 8th and 9th
holes.
That said, what
was very encouraging was the speed at which the fairways dried out post rainfall
and allowed the course to become playable again. It must be noted that Royal
Mougins was back in play faster than any course in the region which means that
the Vertidraining and topdressing that had taken place at the end of last season
is starting to work.
Greens.
The greens have
overwintered well. Coming into the winter greens 2,4,7,8 and 12 all suffered
some turf loss due to low light intensity from the adjoining trees. As the
leaves came off these trees the greens have recovered significantly. We have got
the green light to start thinning out these trees to help the recovery even
further. Density has improved throughout the course and speed has been
consistent over the winter.
There has been
very little disease. Due to the wet weather topdressing has not taken place as
often as one would like which has left the greens a little softer than hoped
for. This will improve when the team can start the programme
again.
What has been
disappointing are the number of pitch marks. I have pictures from the
10th green and it is a disgrace. This is from the members. We need to
address this as the members are destroying their own course. This is an
educational process. I watch one member use their foot to repair a pitchmark.
This is a first for me!
Tees.
There is a new
programme in place to move the tee markers around more often to reduce wear and
tear. As said earlier, the 8th and 9th tees that have
slopes in them are due to be rebuilt. It is our intention to start bringing down
the height of cut now and increase density. A hollowtining and overseeding
programme will also commence this month to prepare for the
season.
Fairways.
We have
definitely seen an improvement with the condition of the fairways. The
topdressing programme is working and the intention was to get another one on
during December and January. This will now take place over the coming weeks.
What was encouraging was the ability to use the vertidrain during the wet
weather meaning that the fairways are drying out quicker. Worm casts have not
been as big a problem this winter.
The
13th fairway is recovering slowly and is not helped by the trees on
the right. Obviously we don’t want to cut the trees down given the view behind.
There will be another complete overseeding of the fairways over the next month
to improve density for the season.
Rough.
This will be
kept at about 55mm for the season and it is our intention to cut it as often as
possible to improve consistency.
Bunkers.
The bunkers
quite literally took a hammering this winter, with more than 9 days of 50mm or
more of rain falling. It takes 6 people 6 days to repair the damage. We are
currently carrying out a study to renovate completely all of the bunkers to make
them more playable and maintainable. This will be phased over the next couple of
years. Extra sand has been budgeted this year to add to the bunkers and have
them more consistent.
Regards and here
is hoping for a good Spring!
John
Clarkin
Managing
Director
Turfgrass
Consultancy Ltd.
