Course watering

[patricks148]

So with all the hot dry weather many UK courses are looking brown, some even white.

Are the Greens, fairways and tee's being watered, or just left?

Nairn has a full course irrigation system, which TBH doesn't get used much. The course was looking very brown a couple of weeks ago since then the course has been watered a fair bit, the greens were rock hard and not a pitch marks for a few months. all of a sudden greens are soft ish again.



I've not played that long, but how did courses survive prior to sprinkler systems?

They must have done, links course in particular should be hard and dry IMO

 

[Coffey]

Our course policy is to water sparingly as it makes the roots climb to the surface and makes a very poor and weak grass. Yet as a result our course is becoming unplayable. Our 2nd green (par 3) slopes pretty severely back to front. If you are anywhere but directly beneath the hole you are done. People are putting it from 5 foot past the hole right off the green at the front, the ball does not stop until it is off the green by 4/5 foot.

Fairways and tee boxes haven't been touched as far as I am aware. A friend of mine hit a 5 iron into a stream 280 yards away last night.

 

[casuk]

We have sprinklers for the greens and nothing else, greens are lush green and not overly hard you can still get a bit of grip on most, as the day progresses they become hard and fast again, some tee boxes are yellow to brown only really one that I have an issue with (13th)

 

[KenL]

My course is pretty brown except for the greens that are getting watered overnight.
They are watering tees and areas of some fairways.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Greens only at our parkland course but some of the sprinklers are not working so some are not doing so well. I'm not worried about fairways and rough, grass is tough and will recover there quite easily once the rain comes. The greens are a different thing though.

I thought courses were being encouraged generally to water less, not just because of the current weather, but I don't know how many are following that advice.

 

[hovis]

many people bash the belfry for their business model and greed. however the upshot is no temp greens or tees in winter and a fully watered course in spate conditions as we're seeing at the moment. fairways are still green but firm and still using pitch repairer on the greens.

 

[clubchamp98]

Our greens are fine water system but the rest is white.
We have had some massive cracks in the turf it looks like a mini earthquake in some places.
I have never seen the sand in bunkers so soft like links bunkers.
Its playing tough as you need to land everything 20yds short this brings all the bunkers into play.
Green keepers doing a great job under very testing conditions.

 

[williamalex1]

Sadly we don't have an automatic sprinkler system but we do have a water supply near every green and tee.
The sprinklers have to be connected and moved from place to place manually.

Some members have kindly volunteered to to do this after sunset, the greens are perfect, but some tees had dried out too much and cracks are appearing.

 

[Deleted member 15717]

We only have irrigation on tees, greens and approaches. They are fine and green, fairways are yellow and rock solid. Quite an interesting test.

Roll on a lot of rain!!

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

We have fairway watering - I've not been to my place since Sunday - but got a lesson this evening so will have a few holes after to see.

 

[hines57]

we are very fortunate to have irrigation on all the close mown areas of the course - and our own bore hole for the water supply. Course is looking in excellent condition.

 

[Coffey]

Our Wednesday Open results just got published- 32 points won and it was reduction only. Course is literally unplayable at the moment and that was with no wind. Funny how at the beginning of April we were wishing for the rain to stop and now we are calling out for it to come back (only for a little while though!). With no rain forecast for the next 2 weeks it is only going to get worse.

 

[Liverbirdie]

Our greens are fine water system but the rest is white.
We have had some massive cracks in the turf it looks like a mini earthquake in some places.
I have never seen the sand in bunkers so soft like links bunkers.
Its playing tough as you need to land everything 20yds short this brings all the bunkers into play.
Green keepers doing a great job under very testing conditions.

It was tough at your open 2 weeks ago, especially some of the smaller greens like the 7th.

I think i got about 33 points and didnt even look at the results, as people were out all day. I actually finished 9th with that!!

 

[Lord Tyrion]

It was tough at your open 2 weeks ago, especially some of the smaller greens like the 7th.

I think i got about 33 points and didnt even look at the results, as people were out all day. I actually finished 9th with that!!

I think a lot of people are assuming that the dry weather and the extra distance that gets will bring about lower scores automatically. The dry weather and hard surfaces bring other problems though as we are all discovering. My course is quite a long one, for amateurs, and currently the run is great. You can't hold a green though, balls are running into the semi when normally they would be on fairways, the course is not designed as a links course for attacking the greens. Your experience is mirrored at my place at the moment.

 

[jim8flog]

Although we have fully automatic full course sprinkler system most gets done by hand watering. The belief is that the grass should only get enough water to keep it alive and the water system should not be used to produce soft receptive greens.

 

[HampshireHog]

Fairway watering is in effect at our place, some browning but we are a heathland course. Greens are still very receptive due to watering, Tee boxes still green. We also have a reservoir in case the drought goes on for any length of time.


Played Silvermere after work last night. Where the fairways were bordering on unplayable. Greens were still leaving pitch marks at 5:30

 

[Jacko_G]

Links courses look and play far better when they're brown and firy.

Greens only getting a drink at nights, the rest can fry as it will green up once the rain returns and fails to stop. Absolutely dig playing in these conditions. Tests your imagination as well as shot making skills. Putting is just an absolute joy, pick the line and stoke it.

 

[Wilson]

many people bash the belfry for their business model and greed. however the upshot is no temp greens or tees in winter and a fully watered course in spate conditions as we're seeing at the moment. fairways are still green but firm and still using pitch repairer on the greens.

That's great to hear, as I'm there for the weekend in 2 weeks.

I'm playing my course tomorrow, there has been a big discussion on Facebook, as the control panel for the sprinklers has been broken, and the greens haven't been great, but I believe this is fixed, so they should be ok.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Chatting to one of the pros yesterday about course conditions - and we are OK as we have a bore hole and we are allowed to extract 300 cubic metres of water a day. And that is actually a lot of water and is proving sufficient to keep the fairways in pretty good nick (a wee bit of research shows that a 6 person household will use about 200 cubic metres of water - a year!)

But clearly we are very fortunate in having our own bore hole and not having to draw it from the mains. Bit worrying for some clubs about what will happen if mains water usage restrictions come in...