Start of winter golf...hollow tining

[roccokj]

Greens are getting hollow tined at my course on Monday, for me its the start of winter golf as the greens are absolutely ruined! Hopefully it'll be done with soon enough.

(I take it hollow tining in September is when the greens are pole forked and sanded)

 

[HomerJSimpson]

They did ours on the 24th. The timing seemed odd as we had a big gold letter event last weekend, the Masters tomorrow and members/guest day next Saturday.

They don't look great and have been treated with chemicals which has made some of them brown and bare in patches but to be fair now the holes are closing up they are putting reasonably. Its an inevitable part of the golfing year and I guess the greenkeepers know their trade much better than Joe Average like me and it makes sense to do it now while there is still good growing climate and sunlight rather than waiting for the temperatures to drop and the greens to get too wet.

 

[USER1999]

A necessary evil if you want good greens next year. A little bit early perhaps, as ours get done at the end of the month.

 

[Smiffy]

Ours were done over 3 days starting from the 24th of August.
Haven't played there since (playing this afternoon) but talking to a fellow member on Friday he reckons the greens are absolutely superb at the moment so they would appear to have recovered very well.
I remember visiting St Mellion once and playing the Nicklaus course. They started to hollow tine the greens right behind us, thankfully not in front!
I'd have hated to have been in the group following them.

 

[Imurg]

Autumn's coming a month early so everything else needs to be early as well. Ours have been done and tbh they're not too bad.

 

[DCB]

But in doing this necessary work at this time of year there is still adequate time (growing time) for the greens to recover from this very quickly and before the poorer weather starts.

 

[MarkS]

grass continues to grow as long as the temperature is above 5 degrees

 

[matt01]

ok in some way it must be done but what about some comps that still have to be played yet is it not time until these are over!!

 

[vig]

Ours were done on Thursday.
Bit bobbly yesterday but why don't the a**eholes repair their pitch marks while the greens are vulnerable

 

[DMC]

Ours will be done when they get round to it,usually late September early October.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Thats a bit off considereing they probably charged full green fee!

 

[DCB]

If it's done properly and the corect dressing applied and brushed in then it shouldn't cause too much disruption at this time of year. We still have a good month and a half of the growing season left so the damage should be minimal.

It needs to be done, that's a fact that can't be disputed.

 

[mono217]

Ours get done in a few weeks

 

[thecraw]

Dont know what all the moaning is about as its something that needs to be done. I am one of the few who would happily play on winter greens from 1st October through to the end of March if it meant that the greens come spring were in tip top condition.

The greens need to be maintained and the hollow coring is part of that process. In winter the greens need to be protected from footprints, frost and disease.

As has been stated allready if the greens are hollow cored properly they should be playable again in a couple of days.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I've no problem with it being done. From a personal persepective I didn't think the timing was great particularly with members/guest day next weekend and an opportunity to show off the course and attract some potential members. The greesn still aren't brilliant to putt on but I hope the wet weather and then the warmth promised will get them growing again and a decent mow will have them back to normal.

I totally agree about protecting greens in frost. I've played a number of courses that seem to stick to normal greens throughout and then wonder why they look a mess in the spring and take time to recover. As mentioned in the winter golf thread, I'll play in competitions but other than that I'm not overly fussed playing ashortened course and temporary greens but rather them and their bucket sixed hole than damaged greens next Spring

 

[USER1999]

The course I used to belong to had the best greens of any where I have played in this country. Greens were on, 365 per year. Frost, snow, rain, whatever. Come summer they were scary fast, true, etc. Built on clay, 120 years old. All this keep off them in the frost is junk. Just get on and play. Grass is a weed. You can't kill it.

 

[Twire]

Ours are done pretty much the first week of September each year. Although it's around the right time to do this work, we also have to take into consideration, that we don't own our own equipment, and it has to be hired in. I'm sure many other clubs in the area hire in as well, and this may result in hollow tining earlier than required.