The recent heavy rain and last Summer's fairway burn-ups

Ours were really grim last year. We lost large areas of fairways. Slit seeded last autumn and they gradually got a bit better in the spring, but not great. We then had a prolonged dry spell in the late spring and I was really worried about another dry summer causing damage... Hopefully the last month will have set us up for the year.

When I was at Walton heath for the qualifying last month, there were still quite a few areas where they had reseeded and it hadn't really got going.
 
We had Open qualifying at Kedleston on Monday and the greens were awesome - gaining lots of praise from players, caddies and spectators.

The fairways were burnt to a crisp last year and are now improving as a result of the recent rains. Hopefully the warm weather this weekend will only help them improve, rather than burn up again!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1141048010366955520
 
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I only started playing in 2006 so no experience of what it was like before sprinklers, but surly clubs didn't lose fairways on a reg basis due to good weather????
 
patricks148 said:
I only started playing in 2006 so no experience of what it was like before sprinklers, but surly clubs didn't lose fairways on a reg basis due to good weather????
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Nope changes in greenkeeping and the approach developed grass that became over reliant on water and feed. Hence now why we're now trying to reverse that trend and have hardier grass which doesn't rely on feed and water.
 
Jacko_G said:
Nope changes in greenkeeping and the approach developed grass that became over reliant on water and feed. Hence now why we're now trying to reverse that trend and have hardier grass which doesn't rely on feed and water.
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Makes sense, i remember 76 everywhere was burn to a crisp, but none of it died, well not my parents Garden and the village grass areas
 
patricks148 said:
I only started playing in 2006 so no experience of what it was like before sprinklers, but surly clubs didn't lose fairways on a reg basis due to good weather????
Click to expand...
My FiL plays on a 9 hole links course on the Northumberland coast. They never water fairways, greens and tees only, tees rarely to be fair. It browns every summer but always recovers. Last summer it browned and burnt, as did many places. Normally it would recover over the autumn, winter and spring but this year there was not too much rain so that did not happen. Even now there are patches that are still bare and they may have to re-seed as it is simply not recovering. This is classic links, open land etc where the grass has been left ot its own devices, bar cutting, for years. It was just a harsh spell of weather followed by a too dry winter.

I suspect the worst cases are links and heathland / moorland courses. Most parkland courses tend to be wetter by nature so will have recovered better.
 
Played today at our place and it was superb. Greens running at 11.5 and everything looking the business for the Club Championships this coming weekend.

Approach to the 14th green.

14th.JPG
 
We could do with some more rain. Sand based, so it soaks really quickly. The amount of rain we have had is great, but a good few more inches is always welcome. Just not when i’m playing!
 
being a downland track my course is based on chalk ,last year the fairways looked a little brown but this year they are back to being lush and green and no damage suffered. the greens staff work very hard to keep the place looking and playing in top notch condition no matter wether its a monthly medal or a prestigious board comp .
 
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