Greens maintenance

[RobRob]

I judge a golf course mainly by the greens, the staff have to put a lot of hard work into them to get and keep them in good condition, but has anybody else's club performed a full hollowtine of the greens at the start of august???????

My home course had just managed to get the up to speed and running really true now every 8 inches there is a 5/8" hole and more sand than skeggy beach!

Is this unusual to be done this early in the year?? Am I wrong to be a little peeved off?

 

[Foxholer]

Now's the time! At least for some!

Has to be done! But never popular

My Rule of thumb is that as soon as you think the greens are as good as they can be, it's time to stick holes (or slices) in them!

The logic is that now is the least disruptive time as they recover quicker. Backfired at some places a year o 2 ago when there was no rain afterwards.

 

[Blue in Munich]

Not judging by the state of ours this evening, although ours was only a fine tine and dressing.

As to being peeved, no, because the greenstaff continue to improve the course, and particularly the greens, year on year and this is a small price to pay for playing on good main greens right through the winter. As far as I am concerned it's a necessary evil.

 

[PNWokingham]

We did ours this week (and first week in April) - as mentioned, it has to be done and this is a good time as recovery is quicker than when the weather is worse - we used to do it in first week of October but changed for this reason

 

[pbrown7582]

I initially thought was a bad time but for the sake if the long term good of the greens it is good for them to of been done now. The best maintenance plan would see the greens tined once a month through the summer season, do a balancing act between HGK and members needs to be carefully struck, as like yourself we all think why now when the greens are in great shape.

 

[TXL]

We did ours this week (and first week in April) - as mentioned, it has to be done and this is a good time as recovery is quicker than when the weather is worse - we used to do it in first week of October but changed for this reason

+1 - a necessary evil that we all have to accept.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I expect ours to be done fairly soon so they have recovered in time for the Club Championship in early September.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Think ours are going to be done in the next few weeks (again). We had a big problem with moss and its a necessary evil and part of a three year plan to get them back to their best. Shame as they were superb for the club champs but I'm happy to put up with a few weeks of misery for the longer term benefits

 

[My_HarrisTweed_Cap]

If they do them regularly then it means you extend the life of them into the winter months. If done properly they should be perfect again in two days.

 

[Foxholer]

If they do them regularly then it means you extend the life of them into the winter months. If done properly they should be perfect again in two days.

That may be the case for pin-tining or slicing, but not for the major disruptive work - hollow-tining which takes considerably longer to become 'perfect'! What works best is really dependent on the individual set of greens - and also the attitude of the HGK!

Remember the old adage - that in a club with 800 members, there'll be about 650 HGKs, 650 Course Architects and 650 Head Pros! The other 150 members probably aren't using their memberships!

 

[Wilson]

Ours are being done this week too, a small pit of pain for long term gain as far as I'm concerned.

 

[GreiginFife]

This is what's great about having 3 loops of 9. While one 9 is hollow tined or sliced or overseeded it is the casual 9. You are happy to accept that it will not be perfect but it's for casual play and practice.
This allows the designated 18 to be in top shape all year round as the designated is rotated around the three loops.

I think all those that have played at my place will have commented on how good a condition it was in regardless of the time of year they played .

 

[My_HarrisTweed_Cap]

If any club is hollow coring at present instead of pencil coring them they either

A) Need a new greenkeeper
B) Have serious issues with the greens

or

C) Both of the above.

 

[Deleted member 15717]

Greens maintenance is something that really riles me....but not in the way you think! My best mate is a greenkeeper at the club we are both members of (he plays off 4), and the comments he gets from some of our members are ridiculous. After every competition, members are moaning, at anytime during the week, the members are moaning. The green-staff perform any maintenance...members moan. People fully believe that our greens should be running at 12 on the stimp every day and all day, which is nigh-on impossible, and would make some pin positions unputtable.

I don't moan about the greens, as I know the greenstaff are doing the best they can to produce as good a course as possible at that particular moment, but members need to stop the moaning, otherwise the greenstaff aren't going to bother anymore!

 

[Foxholer]

If any club is hollow coring at present instead of pencil coring them they either

A) Need a new greenkeeper
B) Have serious issues with the greens

or

C) Both of the above.

On what basis are you actually qualified to make that/those statement?

And in every part of the country?

 

[upsidedown]

Ours are being done this week, course been closed for 3 days

 

[duncan mackie]

we will be doing both deep tining (not hollow coring) and sand injection the week after next - technically the course will be closed for 3 days but in practice we have another 9 (that was done last Autumn) and the other holes will be bought back into play straight away for those who 'just have to'!

as other's have highlighted, it's by not doing as much as should have been done, when it should have been done, that you end up doing 'a lot'!

 

[Robobum]

If the greenkeeper communicated to the members why he was doing what he's doing and when it would head off such comments and questions.

But then communication seems to be a hard thing in most businesses, not just confined to golf clubs. Like most things, some are very good at it and a lot are (very) bad!

 

[Imurg]

I noticed that our Temp Greens have been mown - I expect ours to be done soon!

 

[Doon frae Troon]

As an ex HGK the best time to holotine is towards the end of August.
In my time [1970/80's] if I had done that I would have expected the sack. I would have been lucky to agree the end of Sept.
Sports science is now accepted better and golfers tend to agree with what is deemed to be correct.

Grass is not artificial it is natural and has a natural season.
Are the farmers making hay around you at the moment?
Why is that do you think?