Thursday 31 May 2012

May 31st - 2012


Course Closed – May 31st

Unfortunately, heavy and persistent rain caused the closure of both courses from mid-morning today.

From 6am to noon our local weather station recorded just over 25mm of rainfall, bringing the total for this month to 110mm.

So a month that started cold, wet and gloomy, and then followed by the longest warm spell for 10 years, ends as it began, cold and wet.

The 18th Green - Earlier today

Although, grass-cutting operations were suspended today, we were able to complete a number of other tasks on both courses and also the completion of the practice bays upgrade.

New baffle nets being installed

Thursday 24 May 2012

Course Update 24th May 2012


After weeks of cold and wet weather, this week we have experienced some welcome sunshine.
Soil temperatures are starting to rise and already we can see improved grass cover on the greens.
The greens are now being mown daily and today we lowered the height of cut down from 5mm to 4.5mm.

Greens mowing - 12th Green 


Next week, we will lightly verti-cut the greens for the first time this season, this cultural practice grooms the grass leaf and helps improve ball roll and trueness.

(For further information on Verti-Cutting click here  "Benefits of Verti-Cutting" and follow the link).


Check out the date of the post - April 26th, which puts us some four weeks behind where we were last year.


What a difference a few warm days make .....


Finally, let's hope the weather stays as nice as it has been this week.


More Updates to follow.


Tuesday 1 May 2012

Weather


Weather - March/April 2012
  
March 2012 - Maximum temperature 21.3C  
March 2012 - Minimum temperature   0.6C     
Average Temperature 9.5C
Precipitation 7.9mm

April 2012 - Maximum temperature 15.4C
April 2012 - Minimum temperature –0.5C
Average Temperature 7.3C
Precipitation 159.7mm

After record-breaking temperatures in March this year, April has been cooler than normal and extremely wet.
The recorded rainfall in April was 155.2mm against an expected average of 39mm.

This time last year we had just experienced our warmest April for over 100 years.
Daytime temperatures peaked at over 20C on a number of occasions, which gave an average temperature of 11.1C, nearly 4C higher than 2012.

In the picture below, the Cherry trees between the 11th & 14th fairways in full blossom (April 20th 2011).

April 2011


In the 2nd picture- the same location on the 27th April 2012.
The Cherry trees are still not in full blossom and probably two weeks behind from last year.


April 2012


Let’s hope, we see a dramatic improvement in the weather this month….