Ssssssshhh! 

Don't tell anyone but there is a rumour going around that there is going to be a heatwave!!! I blooming hope so because the fridge is packed, including a fantastic new isotonic drink that is so full of natural goodness you can have a chocolate bar to go with it! 

When the rain was lashing down on Monday night a heat wave seemed a million miles away. After ¾" had come down through the night I was curious to see how the 5th and 8th fairways had "coped" after both had endured some "aggressive" work.

              

There is never an ideal time to do disruptive work, and with all the fantastic drainage work carried out over the last few years working well, these 2 holes appeared to not get rid of the water as well as the others. It was clear that whilst the drainage was in place, there was still too much thatch below the surface as Joe had mentioned in last week's newsletter. 

As the pictures show, when I arrived at work on Tuesday morning it was great to see how well the fairways had drained. Admittedly it will take a little while to recover but "short term pain for long term gain"

          

There is further news from our Head Greenkeeper later. 

Whilst out on the course for a playing observation lesson on both Tuesday and Wednesday mornings with the sun beating down, it was a great reminder of what an absolute pleasure it is to play our course. With the Rhododendrons finally coming out in bloom after the cold start to the year, the next few weeks are a great time to play here at YGC. 

It is great to see Julian Taylor return home this week. Can you believe its 4 years since he went out to the William Woods University? Looking as well as ever and a sun tan to match after his time in Missouri, it was great to see his silky swing on the range again and.....................................................

Click here or on the thumbnail to see a practice drill Julian does regularly. Many of my pupils will recognise it!



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It's been all action for the greenkeeping team this week at York Golf Club, we started early on Monday morning micro tinning the greens to a depth of 3". As soon as this was completed we sprayed a wetting agent, the weather men have been threatening that summer is around the corner and higher temperatures forecasted so the aeration work and the wetting agent will also help the irrigation or rain water to penetrate the surface evenly. This will help avoid getting dry patches and keep the grass plant a lot healthier and also allow oxygen to get to the roots. We also then double rolled the greens to smooth out any imperfections caused by the tinning!

We also set about the task of improving the quality of the approaches, we doubled verti cut which thins out the grasses and makes them more uniform and then top dressed with straight sand, this will help to smooth out the approaches and improve playing quality.

The next couple of weeks are going to be extremely busy, we have a lot of work to prepare the course for the Men's and ladies captains' day but we will be looking forward to seeing the course in superb condition!