Friday 8th January

All courses still closed.

Links Report For December 2009

December was a short month with seasonal holidays reducing staff numbers from the 21st onwards. This coincided with the onset of the current cold spell which closed the courses and restricted turfing and aeration work. Work then focused as usual on gorse, broom and tree management as well as chipping. Some fence repairs were carried out along with screening and driving sand and waste turf, carrying out competency checks and staff training in general.

Aeration

Traffic routes and certain areas of rough were verti-drained early in the month as were lower silt affected sections on the "island" of the 17th hole. The 10th green was mini-tined and top-dressed to help dilute remaining silt from the November flooding.

Mowing

Greens, winter green areas and fairways were mown early in the month.

Sulphate of Iron

A sulphate of iron mix was applied to greens, approaches and surrounds early in the month.

Top-dressing

Several fairways were top-dressed in the first week of the month. This process ceased with the forecast for wintry conditions.

Bunker Revetments

Bunker revetments completed during this month involved th following:

• 
  
  lhs 8th green 2


• 
  
  lhs 10th fairway 1


• 
  
  rhs 10th fairway 1


• 
  
  lhs 11th green 2


• 
  
  rhs 11th green 1


• 
  
  lhs 11th fairway 1


• 
  
  rhs 11th fairway 2


• 
  
  lhs 13th green 1


• 
  
  rhs 13th green 1


• 
  
  lhs 14th fairway 3


• 
  
  lhs 15th green 1


• 
  
  rhs 15th green 1


• 
  
  lhs 17th approach 1


• 
  
  rhs 17th approach 3

Grow covers (fleece) were installed to a number of new bunker faces including:

• 
  
  3 on the 9th hole


• 
  
  2 on the 10th hole


• 
  
  1 on the 11th hole


• 
  
  2 on the 12th hole


• 
  
  1 on the 13th hole


• 
  
  3 on the 14th hole


• 
  
  1 on the 15th hole

Weather

December was a colder month than normal due to the cold, wintry conditions which set in on the 17th of the month. Day temperatures have been little above freezing ever since with night frosts virtually continuous. The average noon temperature for the month was 3.5 degrees centigrade and total rainfall 62mm. Winds in the early part of the month were generally westerly, as usual, turning more northerly from the middle of the month A surface thaw to the snow cover around the 26th of the month resulted in water turning to ice with sub-zero temperatures overnight. The worst affected areas were as usual greens, tees, approaches and fairways where frost had penetrated the most. The course remained closed from the 18th of the month into January.