Greenkeeper Newsletter

1st April 2021

Dear members,

This week myself and Morten Jæpelt were invited to Simon’s personal residence to celebrate Scan Group’s (our parent company’s) 52^nd Anniversary which falls on April 1st. We happened to discuss our fantastic new bunkers and Simon has decided to make ALL bunkers GUR play prohibited for the 2021 season. 🙂 🙂 🙂 Happy April 1^st.

More detailed information will follow regarding the bunkers, after Easter.

Thank you all for the very positive feedback regarding my last newsletter, especially those of you who took the time to email me stating that you appreciate the challenges we face by us staying open and on regulation/summer greens all year.

Last week we were able to bayonet tine the large putting green, chipping green and A & B Loop greens, we then applied creeping bent grass seed and top dressed with sand. We aim to continue and repeat this through the weeks ahead to aid recovery.

We also trialed a specialized concept of seeding cassettes that attach to our greens mowers which will enable us to insert seed directly into the greens with minimal disruption to play. The goal this season is to fight even harder to increase the percentage of bent grass in our greens through the growing season. These cassettes have now been purchased and will be permanent part of our fleet in a few weeks.

Please note: once we have applied sand it is difficult/impossible to  brush, roll or mow the greens for a number of days afterwards, especially in the damp mornings as growth is still at a slow pace, I do not expect us to be able to mow greens until the end of next week.

Caspar Grauballe has visited the course to mark out the new grass lines, predominantly on the newly turfed approach run-off’s and some fairways. These areas will be gradually lowered in height and top-dressed though the season. We have sprayed red and yellow dashed lines so my staff know where to mow to.

We have also managed to spray all tees, approaches, fairways, greens complexes and grass pathways.

The trolley ban will remain in place, the large putting green at the range will remain closed as will summer tees, you will all be emailed when this is to change in the weeks ahead.

Please note the forecast looks as though there is a risk of night frost though the week ahead.

My team and I would like to wish you all a very Happy Easter.

Reamonn O’Neill
Golf Course Superintendent