CHRISTMAS OFFERS ON COACHING 2019
THE PERFECT GOLFING GIFT AT CHRISTMAS FOR YOU LOVED ONES
WE ARE OFFERING A RANGE OF LESSON DEALS FOR ALL GOLFING ABILITIES HERE AT ABRIDGE GOLF CLUB.
Year: 2021
An apology from your Course Manager
Hi, I wanted to say sorry for all the works that have gone on the last 8-10 weeks. I appreciate everybody’s support, patience and understanding whilst we have been carrying out major beneficial works on your Course
ADIOS AMIGO’S AND THANK YOU!
Yesterday we said farewell to our construction team and their BIG TOYS! I’m sure you would all like to say a massive thank you to them. They have done a fantastic job and watching the work being done has been an education to say the least.
The abstraction pipes from the brook behind the 3rd Tee are now all in place, connected up and ready to pump when water levels permit. The water you see in the Irrigation Lake presently is solely water that has drained off the Golf Course!
We still have a crew to come back to put pumps, pipes, electrics from the Irrigation lake to the Irrigation tank and finish the overflow at the top of the Irrigation Lake
I am sorry for all the construction traffic and upheaval around the course but as you know these were essential works.
Apart from the 34000 cubic metre Irrigation lake we have also over the last 10 weeks :-
1) Successfully drained 2 greens
2) Resealed and reshaped the 4th pond (it looks like its holding!)
3) Installed an overflow chamber in the 4th pond which is connected by a pipe into the Irrigation Lake
4) Installed abstraction chambers, pump, pipe, electrics and water meter at the back of the 3rd tee
5) Installed a chamber, pump, pipe and electrics between the 2nd and 3rd to catch and pump water coming from the drainage from the Driving Range,1st , 2nd and 3rd holes
6) Turfed the new bunker’s at the 2nd and 4th holes
7) Carried out necessary Tree work around 1st, 2nd, 3rd ,4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 17th and 18th holes with use of a Cherry Picker
8) Added further Primary drainage to the 7th and 8th fairways
9) Started installing secondary drainage on the 18th Hole
10) Installed new Irrigation cables on the 10th hole
Been quite busy me thinks ?!
Hopefully we have maintained your Golf Course to a great condition given the time of year and the amount of ‘improvement’ work that has been carried out?
My staff have worked very hard and I thank them for that. The feedback i am getting is that the greens are playing really well
Thankfully the works are nearly all finished but here below is a list of the rest of the jobs to get done weather and conditions permitting over the next few months.
Install Secondary Drainage to fairways 10,11 and 16 and possibly more on 1,4 and 5
Re direct the ditch across the 2nd to catch more water.
Trim back all perimeter and internal Hedges
Top up paths where possible and re –roll them.
Overseed the banks and top of the Irrigation Lake.
General Winter Tree work where trees are over hanging or are diseased/dead.
ALL BUNKERS WILL GET TOP UP WITH NEW SAND IN EARLY SPRING . IF WE DO IT NOW WE RISK THE CHANCE OF WASH OUTS AND MAKING MORE MESS WITH HEAVY TRAILERS GETTING TO THE BUNKERS THAN GOOD.
A QUICK MOAN ABOUT PITCH MARKS. IF YOUR GREENS HAVE SCARS AND ARE BUMPY IT MAY BE OWING TO WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU DON’T REPAIR YOUR PITCH MARKS!! I OFTEN HERE MEMBERS MOAN THAT ITS SOCIETIES THAT DON’T? FOR THE RECORD WE HAVE NOT HAD ANY SOCIETIES FOR ALMOST 2 WEEKS
SO PLEASE DO REPAIR THEM !
Once again I apologise for all the work that has taken place but hopefully you can see the benefits of what we and the Club have invested in.
I am, (slowly), putting together a video of Drone footage and stills which will show the whole construction of the Irrigation Lake and how it all works. Once finished I hope you will be able to watch it on the Tv’s in the Clubhouse
Enjoy your Golf, Enjoy your Club ………………it’s your’s remember!
Regards Geoff
Course Manager
STILL WORKING HARD!
Well as I’m sure you see we have been busy out on the Course. As promised I said I would give you an update on Course works and a revised schedule
The rain we had Saturday and then the horrendous rain we had Tuesday morning has caused havoc I’m sure you will imagine. Any of you that tried to go through Abridge Village would have seen the 3 foot of water on the roads and the fields below us are well and truly flooded!
The good news is is that the Course has held up incredibly well. All greens were back on by 10.00 am Tuesday morning and those Golfers that went and played reported the drainage that we have installed on certain holes to be working really well.
The 4th pond thats been resealed also has enjoyed the rain and is filling nicely!
The 1st and 13th Greens that have had drainage installed are draining brilliantly and I am pleased to let you know that these are back in use. The rain has disturbed the sand in the lines a little but this should settle again with a bit of dry weather .
Sadly with so much rain so quickly we have a few issues to sort out!
The Irrigation lake is looking great , unfortunately its not finished yet to start filling too much so to stop the ‘run off’ going into the lake they have had to redirect this onto the 3rd fairway! The 4th pond also is not ready yet to fill to the top so the flow from the drainage and Clubhouse also had to be diverted away from the 4th pond and onto the 4th fairway.
These were the reasons we had to close the four holes yesterday as it was too slippery everywhere.
Some of you may have also noticed that some of the hard work my staff had done with the drainage works on the 7th, 8th and 11th holes has been washed away by yesterday’s deluge. So we have had to spend yesterday and today reinstating some of the works. This means that we have not had time to get Bunkers back in play yet but will as soon as we can.
You will also have noticed that a few areas of the paths have been damaged by the heavy rain. We will get to repair them in the next couple of weeks but presently we have the cherry picker on hire,(which is not cheap!) and we need to concentrate on the tree work. Until we can get to the paths please take extreme care when using them.
The deluge of rain has also made areas very soft especially behind the 2nd green. It has been decided between us and the Contractor that it will make far far too much mess if they attempt to re-configure the pond and mound the back of the 2nd green up next week. They have agreed to come back mid July next year and do it then when ground conditions would be much better and we can get the repair works done and recovered much quicker . I am sure you all agree with this decision ?
They will be however finishing off the 4th pond and the filling in of the 3rd small pond on the left of the fairway next week.
For health and safety reasons we will have the first four holes closed on Monday to Wednesday inclusive next week (11th -13th Oct), as large machines will be crossing over these holes to carry out the works needed to be finished and also we will be carrying out tree work with the cherry picker and other works on these 4 holes. If things go to plan the holes will re-open on Thursday morning.
Thank you all again for your patience and support
ENJOY YOUR GOLF ENJOY YOUR CLUB……………..IT’S YOURS REMEMBER!
SORRY, A BUSY MONTH AHEAD !
The weather has been kind the last few weeks and has enabled us to get more primary drainage installed. The 11th is all completed and this week we have added some more drainage to holes 7 and 8 and now we move onto our next jobs!
Below is an appropriate timetable of what’s going on the next month. Please be patient with us as there is a lot going on and there will be some disruption.
Tuesday 28th Sep:- 8th hole closed for drainage works. The 3rd pond being filled in on the left of the fairway. The tees on the 3rd maybe forward.
Thursday 30th Sep:- The pond between the 4th and 5th fairways is being remodelled and resealed. Dumpers and diggers will be crossing the 4th fairway so please take care. The 4th and 5th may both have their tees moved forward for safety reasons. Works to strip off the turf at the back of the 2nd green may start today.
Friday 1st Oct:- The pond between the 4th and 5th fairways is being remodelled and resealed. Dumpers and diggers will be crossing the 4th fairway so please take care. The 4th and 5th may both have their tees moved forward for safety reasons. Works to strip off the turf at the back of the 2nd green may start today.
Monday 4th Oct:- If the 4th pond is completed then works on the 2nd hole will start. This involves the remodelling and resealing of the pond and also the ‘banking up’ at the back of the green. The hole will be closed during this work and the small par 3 hole to the left of the 8th will be used as a replacement hole. When walking to the 3rd tee please take care as diggers and a large dumper will be working in that area.
We will also be commencing extensive tree work around the course with the use of a Cherry picker. We aim to pick up all debris as we go round but some may be left on the ground for a couple of days.
Tuesday 5th Oct:- 2nd hole closed for works. 4th possibly shortened as chamber works being carried out at the pond. Tree work with Cherry picker
Wednesday 6th Oct :- 2nd hole closed for works. 4th possibly shortened as chamber works being carried out at the pond. Tree work with Cherry picker
Thursday 7th Oct :- 2nd hole closed for works. 4th possibly shortened as chamber works being carried out at the pond. Tree work with Cherry picker
Friday 8th Oct :- 2nd hole closed for works. 4th possibly shortened as chamber works being carried out at the pond. Tree work with Cherry picker
Mon 11th Oct to possibly the 29th Oct:- Tree work with Cherry picker
Also during October we will be turfing the new bunkers and also the back of the 2nd once the ‘banking up’ is completed.
During all of this!! the Irrigation lake will be continued with. They estimate they have 2-3 weeks work left. Its really looking great and we think it will become a great feature of the 3rd hole as-well as the obvious savings the storage of water will bring us.
On the w/c the 25th October they hope to be laying the cables and pipes from the chambers by the 3rd tee to enable us to start filling the lake by abstracting water from the Brookhouse Brook which runs behind the 3rd tee.
Finally MJ Abbotts our Irrigation Company are back in on the 26th to redo some of the Irrigation on the 10th and 18th holes. They have discovered that the cables are not deep enough to their required standards . Its a genuine error and like all good company’s would do, they want to come back and put it right .
So as you can see plenty of exciting work going on !! Amongst all this the leaves will be falling and thus begins that clearing up job!
I ask that you appreciate all this work will cause some disruption but hopefully you will be happy with the eventual outcomes. Also please note the above schedule is subject to change and I will try to keep you all informed as much as possible
A little note re the 1st and 13th greens. These have come back really well and we have wanted to give the surface as long as we possibly can to recover. We really appreciate everyone’s patience with regards to being on two temporary greens. Some people have said its improved their putting!! Anyway, we hope to open the main greens up sometime during the week of the 4th October.
Also people have been asking about the fairways that are suffering with small brown patches over many areas. It’s a disease called Dollar Spot. We have had it before and is brought on typically by heavy dews, and damp warm conditions, which we had pretty much through late August and September. Many many Golf course are reporting the same issues. Those that remember us getting it before know that it will come back. Whilst it looks a little unsightly the roots do not die and the top surface part of the plant will recover. To spray a fungicide over all the fairways and the approaches would cost in excess of £9000 and although it may check the spreading of the Dollar Spot it would not aid the recovery. We are however spraying the areas with some iron, sugar and molasses to help the areas recover.
Let’s hope the weather remains good for us during October with all this work going on!
Thank for your anticipated understanding again
Regards Geoff
Enjoy your Golf Enjoy your Club ………………It’s your remember!!
Busy Busy Busy!
Greens renovations went really well last week and recovery is coming along nicely. The new seed from overseeding of the greens is ‘flying’ through as you can see. Yesterday morning they received a further top dressing to help smooth the greens out.
The greens will be slow and a bit ‘hairy’ for a few more days yet, but by next week things should start to get back to normal so please be patient and understanding with us. Any of you that have played other Golf Courses will have seen most have also carried out these essential renovations and are at similar stages of recovery.
Wednesday and yesterday we have been installing drainage systems into the 1st and 13th greens. Recovery should be about 4 weeks max and should make both the greens much more playable in the wetter periods. Hopefully you will all appreciate these improvements and understand playing on a couple large temporary greens during this period of recovery.
Click on the play button below.
25mm perforated pipes are trenched in at 300mm deep and backfilled with Lytag 250mm and then the last 25mm is topped up with sand and finally overseeded
Next week and the rest of September we will be installing further drainage into fairways. The plan is to add a few more primary drains to holes 4, 7 and 8, and then install mains and primary drains into holes 11 and 14. The weather and other pressing jobs will determine how much we get done but as always we will be doing our best.
September will also see the seeder to go out and overseed a few areas on fairways and some of the drainage lines from our work in the Spring.
Early October we will be finishing off reinstating the bunkers at 2 and 4 and seeding the old bunkers at 1 and 8. We will also start installing secondary drainage, weather and ground conditions permitting, will start installing secondary drainage to certain fairways weather and ground conditions permitting?
I am getting lots of requests re the Irrigation Lake in regards to how its going, how long it will take, what will it looked like when finished to mention a few. Hopefully you appreciate we have been busy with renovations etc the last couple of weeks, but i intend to find the time next week to take some video of the area and produce a separate report on just this subject. Also it will include the work will be doing at the 2nd hole
All I can tell you re the Lake for now is that its a bloody big hole !!!
Thats it for now
ENJOY YOUR GOLF ENJOY YOUR CLUB……………….I’TS YOURS REMEMBER !
FOR THE GOOD OF THE GREENS !
Monday, as in the club diary, sees us start carrying out essential greens maintenance .
I appreciate a few people may find this disruptive but it has to be done. This year we will try to keep it to a minimum but still making sure it’s for the ‘green’s ‘ benefit! I think most golfers now understand it’s vital this work is carried out.
We will be deep spiking, spiking, overseeding and then heavy topdressing greens. The reasons for this is to get vital air, thatch reduction and to relive general compaction caused by golf and machine traffic . The work gives roots a chance to flourish and the general health of the grass plant to maintain or increase. After this the greens will get a good feed to aid with their recovery.
To help us get this work done as quick as we can, THE BACK 9 HOLES WILL BE CLOSED ALL DAY MONDAY 23RD AUGUST. Please be patient with us, as i have already said, its essential we get this work done.
When you do play golf next you will notice that we are preparing temporary greens on holes 1 and 13. This is because on the 1st and 2nd September we will be installing drainage into the greens on these holes. This is continuing with the drainage of greens programme we started 5 years ago. These 2 greens will be out of action for up to 4 weeks. Obviously we will be doing our best weather permitting to get them back in play as quick as we can. I will keep you updated more on this in the next couple of weeks.
It’s the time of year when also other renovation works start to happen and you may have already seen this bad boy out on the fairways scarifying them. It does a great job and doing them in August means they recover much quicker.
Once September arrives we propose to carry on with the drainage work on the fairways. We intend to put a few more primary pipes on the 7th and 8th fairways and then move onto the 14th and 13th fairways with the hope of getting them completed by the early part of October again weather permitting.
I’m sure you have noticed how well they are getting on with the new Irrigation Lake, I hope to find some time to do a few drone flights over the site for you all to see.
As you see from the photo below my staff have been getting used to their new toy ! A boat ! to keep on top of the reeds
That’s it for now , I will post how we are getting on later next week
Regards
Geoff
Enjoy your Course Enjoy your Club……………it’s your’s remember!
WE ARE DIGGING A HOLE
On Monday I am pleased to announce that we will commence construction of our Irrigation Lake. This is the 3rd phase of our Irrigation and Drainage plan which we set out 4 years ago.
For those interested, it will hold approx 34,000 cubic metres when full. To put this into perspective its about the volume of about 14 Olympic swimming pools !
Part of the contractors remit will also be to clear out, reshape and reseal the pond between the 4th and 5th. This pond we will then feed drainage pipes into from various holes to ‘catch’ water and in turn from this pond we will pipe water into the new Irrigation Lake.
The contractors will also be using some of the excess soil to ‘bank up’ behind the 2nd green, we will also be making the 2nd green slightly bigger and finally they will be digging out the 2nd pond and hopefully resealing it.
It will take approx 6-8 weeks to complete if all goes to plan! Hopefully there will not be too much disturbance to your Golf but please be patient . We do not envisage any hole closures whilst the main lake is built but we will have to close the 2nd hole for approx 5 days when those works are done. We may also either have to move the tees forward or close the 4th hole when this pond is repaired.
So all exciting stuff and making us much more self sufficient and great use of recycling water. I will keep you updated on the progress of the works and will also record some Drone footage for you to see the works.
If you wondered why we have had tree works done on the 13th hole this week, this was being done by the Electricity Board as the Trees were too close to the high voltage overhead cables.
Hopefully you have been enjoying your Course the last few months despite the ‘not great’ weather.
Congratulations to Mandi and Lol our new Captains.
We will be commencing our Summer renovations w/c 23rd of August but I will give you more details of that in the next couple of weeks
Regards
Geoff
Enjoy your Golf Course , Enjoy your club………..it’s yours remember!
What are these !!!!
I am sure most of you already know what these are and the problems they cause but I want to educate those that don’t .
This picture of the 8th green shows thousands of grubs called leatherjackets which basically are the grubs that turn into a crane fly( aka Daddy long legs). Their eggs are normally laid in late summer -Autumn and once hatched basically feed off the roots of grass and if not got rid of can cause terrible damage and even total loss of grass cover. They are and are found pretty much everywhere and some years are worse than others depending on many factors. Until 3 years ago we had a pesticide, chlorpyriphos, that we could legally spray and they were totally eradicated . This pesticide is now banned and we have very little single effective treatment to get rid of the darling little things!
This year we are suffering with them on the following areas the 1st,3rd,8th,13th,17th and the putting green, and also the 18th fairway. All we can do is now use a combination of various methods.
SOME PEOPLE THINK THIS IS JUST ABRIDGE THAT GET THEM !! If I was that lucky I would do the Lottery !
Please ,if you are one of those who think it’s just Abridge GC, for your own education of the problem we are facing either right click on this link below or copy and paste it in your web browser to read a very interesting and clear explanation of the problem. We are not making excuses we are telling you the honest truth about an issue ALL Golf Clubs have got!
The methods we can try legally now and have been the last two years are 4 fold. Accelypryn, this is an emergency licensed pesticide which has some effect but not a total cure. Nematodes, this is a biological way of getting rid of them, they do work but you need very very precise conditions to make them work. Vegetable Oil, this is something being trialled and seems to suffocate the leatherjacket but again you need precise conditions. ‘Sheeting off‘. This is literally covering areas off with large dark plastic sheets overnight, it seems to bring the leatherjackets to the surface. This does bring a lot of them to the surface but not all of them. The issue with this is we have to take the sheeted area out of play from the afternoon until the next morning. We will continue to do this though over the next couple of weeks . Please see the video below.
Sorry the last bit of that video also contained a clip of the damage the heavy rain caused last night! Another nice little issue the dreadful week of weather we are having, but at least we know the drainage is working!
So as you have now hopefully read we do have a problem and as always we are trying , like all other Golf Clubs, to do as much as we legally can do ! Regrettably, a few Golf Courses may still be spraying things they should not be! it should be a level playing field?
I know Lol Green sent a link to a much more in depth explanation . Copy and paste the link below. It’s an hour long presentation but I ask that if you do get time please watch, as this issue is all about education and getting you as Golfers to understand the issue?
https://www.bigga.org.uk/resource/managing-the-leatherjacket-challenge.html
To sum up hopefully in the next week or so we will have thrown every bit of ammunition and the warmer growing conditions arrive we will out compete the leatherjackets and the areas affected by leatherjackets will start to recover. It’s been a terrible spring for grass conditions but it is what it is , we are where we are and we will always be trying our best!
Who would be a Greenkeeper!!
Most of you are very understanding and those that are not so understanding I ask you read and watch the articles i have posted.
Sorry for going on but I have to get this message across !
Bunkers getting topped up next week !
Enjoy you Course , Enjoy your Club …………It’s your’s remember!
Frustrating times, but hopefully higher temperatures are on the way!
This very strange cold, dry weather we have experienced the last month or so continues to test all Greenkeepers and puts us under immense pressure to try and get things ‘ kick started’ We have no magic wands I am afraid to make grass grow in cold dry just above freezing temperatures. This April, as I understand, was one of the coolest and driest April’s on record and Monday’s bank holiday was the coldest ever recorded early May Bank holiday, so please be patient with us we are doing our best and are very ready to start manicuring your Golf Course as soon as we get some proper growth and some decent temperatures. As I write this (Saturday 8th May) the rain has arrives, 17mm in 4 hours to be precise and slightly warmer. Ha ha and as i finish this article off (Monday 10th May) the nightime temperature has been 10 degrees so maybe the start of growing is coming!
Below is an article that appeared in the Telegraph a couple of days ago which I thought you might find interesting. Copy and paste the link on your internet browser.
I thought I would answer a few more of your questions
- How is the drainage going and why did you stop doing the 10th hole
The drainage is going well despite the issues with the 10th. It’s a lot harder doing the installation with Golfers playing than when we were in Lockdown last year and the Course was shut, but I obviously don’t wish for closures again. 18th’s Mains and primary drainage is all complete and we are well on the way to completing the 16th hole this week . The reason we had to stop doing the 10th was because there was an issue with the irrigation cables not being installed deep enough. Whilst we were trenching we hit cables 5 times so we soon realised there was a problem . Our Irrigation contractors came straight out to see us and have confirmed that they are not happy with the depth of the cables on the 10th. All cables have been repaired and now working. We could carry on and dig around the cables by hand which would take a lot longer and risk further damage, but the contractors wish to come and re-install the cables at a deeper depth later in the year. So we have moved onto the 16th which has been one of the wettest fairways the last few years. To improve the results we have reduced the spacings between each of the primary drain lines. This obviously then takes longer to do but will be worth it. The plan is to carry on this week where we will complete the 16th and go back to holes 7 and 8 and add some more primary drains to these holes. We will then stop for a few months as we really appreciate everyone’s patience during the upheaval of drainage works and want to allow you all to enjoy ALL of your golf course. We aim to start further drainage later in the year and we also have a couple more ditches to get done.
2. When will the Bunkers be topped up with Sand and the ones that we have started filling in be finished?
As soon as we get the drainage out of the way this week , we will start topping up bunkers with new sand. We also will be soiling and either turfing or seeding the Bunkers that are to be filled in. Finally we will re-construct the bunker at the 2nd Green and 4th Fairway bunker.
3. Greens are still bobbly, when will this be sorted?
Once again this is all to do with night time temperatures and lack of growth. As i have already said this has been a stupidly cold dry Spring. Forecast after this weekend is for it to start warming up so fingers crossed. We are and will be doing all that we can to get things moving.
4. There are a lot of soil piles around the edges of the course, will they be tidied up?
We are very aware of this and once the drainage is finished next week we will be reusing a lot of the soil to fill the chosen Bunkers in . We will also be getting the Digger out and shaping the piles around the Golf course.
Well that’s it for this time hope you have all found the info useful. W/c 17th May we will hopefully have the conditions to Verti-cut and topdress greens plus start giving all surfaces a nice feed and manicure.
Enjoy your Course, Enjoy your Club …………..It’s yours remember !
Open Sunrise to Sunset
