Greenkeeper Newsletter

Dear members,

This newsletter is to inform you as to what has taken place so far this year and what to expect through the month of March.

January
In January another Danish weather record was broken (TV2 weather report), this time in the form of 150mm of rain! At least half this amount of rain fell on frozen ground, as the water could not get through the soil to the drainage the course remained closed until it was dry enough to open. Towards the end of the month we were able to mow greens, tees and fore greens, change holes and roll twice as well as being able to apply a winter bio tonic.

February
February although drier than January still received a considerable amount of rain along with significant winds, including that from Storm Otto. We braced the storm remarkably well with just a few trees falling at the lake on B6. The winds helped the course dry out and we were able to mow greens, tees, and fore greens twice and mow fairways and semi-rough all at winter height. We were also able to change holes a number of times and roll greens four times as well as apply winter bio tonics to tees, fore greens and greens. I am delighted with the condition of the course and would like to thank you all for all your positive comments.

Duck Analogy
As we enter the month of March with only 20 days left until the spring equinox we look forward to the longer days but we can still expect to receive frost at night and warmer temperatures in the late afternoons as discussed in TV2’s March weather prognosis. Allow me to explain how this can affect course opening or delays. As we stand today, we have a hard frost in the greens, even with temperatures reaching positive degrees in the late afternoon this is not sufficient enough to thaw the greens out. To help explain this more clearly, I use the “frozen duck” analogy. Imagine removing a frozen duck from the freezer and placing it outside to thaw, even if the temperatures are +5°C or more the duck will still take a considerable amount of time to thaw, especially with the evening/night temperatures dropping back to close to or below 0°C.

Thawing Conditions
As stated in my newsletter of December 16^th 2022, protecting the course during thawing conditions is just as important as protecting the course during frost conditions as there is significant risk of root shear, hence why the greens have to be completely thawed down to the gravel layer before they can open.

Please note all information is posted on the splash on the Clubs website if it states that the course is “Closed all day due to frost in the greens” then the course will be remaining closed all day and I ask that members do not contact the Administration for further information as there won’t be any. Please also note that when the course is closed due to frost this includes all grassed areas including the training areas.

Machinery
We have just taken delivery of a replacement Toro 1750 sprayer and a heavy-duty Toro Workman.

At Simon’s we have over 100 machines in our fleet and our talented mechanics have been extremely busy all winter servicing all our machinery so that they will be ready for the season ahead. This in itself in regard to labour and spare parts is a huge investment.

On Tuesday evening I had the pleasure of witnessing the spectacular Aurora Borealis. This picture was taken from A5 tees looking over the Club House.

Kind regards

Reamonn O’Neill
Golf Course Superintendent