If you’ve been out playing golf over recent weeks you’ll know that whilst we’ve seen glimpses of a glorious summer, we’ve also experienced some heavy rain and some cold night temperatures. Brian Carr, our head greenkeeper, looks at the week ahead and what it brings:

“After a couple of weeks of good weather with relatively warm weather, the weather took a turn last week. Whilst the courses will have appreciated the heavy rain, the soil temperature dipped again.”

Hopefully the week ahead will prove to be more fruitful and enable us to topdress  the greens and over-seed the 2nd and 6th to bring them on further. We are currently cutting the greens at 4.5mm and by the next report we should be down to our Summer height of cut.”

“Those playing on the Wike Ridge course might spot White Horse, the redevelopment contractors, who will be here to do any remedial work and for the final handover of the course back to our green’s staff.”

Brian D Carr

Head Greenkeeper

Well, it’s definitely warmer and also we are experiencing a intermittent rain it’s exactly what the courses need to really kick-start growth on the greens. Brian, our head green keeper, keeps us in the loop with course progress in his weekly course report:

“Soil temperature are finally up which means that we should see some noticeable growth on the greens and with a little more top dressing happening this week we should be back to the high standards that we set last season. Then we will set the bar higher!”

“Also this week we will finish off the work in the new chipping mats on the members’ practice chipping area outside the clubhouse.”

“Coming into action for is first full weeks service is the new zero-turn mower that we mentioned in last week’s report – we will begin to cut in around the trees and make real progress with the semi-rough.”

“Finally, and sadly, the time has come to wish ‘bon-voyage’ to Paul Ellis, our deputy head greenkeeper, who will be heading to new pastures (or fairways). Paul leaves us after 8-years of dedicated service. May I, on behalf of everyone at Leeds Golf Centre, take this opportunity to wish him the very best for the future.”

Brian D Carr

Head Greenkeeper

The snow seems like a distant memory when the sun is shining like it has done over the weekend! But whilst the hot dry weather is great for golf, a little rain wouldn’t go amiss. The hard-work on the weather-delayed greens preparation continues and Brian tells of the latest equipment arrival to bolster his armoury!

This weeks photo shows the new bunker on the 6th.

“The forecast looks bright which should allow the greens team to top dress the greens again with approximately 3/4 tonne of sand. This will help smooth out the playing surface more and move us further along to the end goal of some great quality playing surfaces.”

“We will also begin to over-seed any newly cultivated areas that are prone to wear around the course and, hopefully with the right growing conditions, it will start to fill out into the great golf course that the re-development work, investment in new maintenance equipment and hard-work have brought around.”

Last week we took delivery of a new piece of equipment too – this is beneficial to you and exciting for us! It is a ‘zero-turn’ mower called a Hustler which allows us to closely mow around the plantations and tricky areas and will really aid us in our course presentation.”

Brian D Carr

Head Greenkeeper