Club Noticeboard

No, not the kind you have served with your evening meal, it’s a reference to the putting surfaces we are experiencing here at TLGC.

Some members maybe concerned that the greens are not being watered sufficiently and that this is why the surfaces are only slowly recovering from the essential early Spring scarification and sand injection which created the lines you see now.

The correlation of lack of rain fall, and the slow recovery from the maintenance work seems to make sense but this in fact is not the reason.

The soil moisture levels of the greens have been measured and in general are within the tolerance required. This doesn’t mean the greens have not been watered though. The irrigation system has been used as necessary and areas that are more susceptible to drying out such as the 9^th green and the back of the 18^th green have been receiving additional hand watering. This though is to simply keep the grass alive as unforatunately the temperature of the water that comes from the irrigation is extremely cold and further holds back the soil temperature. To try to reduce the effect of the cold water, any hand watering is done during the warmest part of the day.

For the grass to grow and the putting surfaces improve we have to be patient and wait for the soil temperatures to rise. The consistently cold nights in addition to the cold water being applied has meant that growth is very slow, for consistent growth the soil temperature needs to be at least 6-8 degrees Celsius 24 hours a day. The fact that we have experienced frosts nearly every morning shows this has not been close to being the case. Once the night time temperatures are consistently higher you will start to some significant growth and improvement. The rough will also get a bit thicker though, can’t have it all!

Finally, we continue to follow the guidance provided to us by STRI and this will mean in the next few weeks further spray applications with regards to moss. Followed by a verticut (light scarify) of the greens, over seeding and top dress. This is all necessary work to continue the long term improvement of the putting surfaces.

Hopefully members have been able to read the STRI reports from last year (they are available in the Club Docs area of the Members Hub App) and are aware of the need for us to reduce the levels of thatch in the putting surfaces. We started this process last year with additional hollow core and dressing treatments and members were informed of the intention to continue this positive action though out this year starting with the use of a Graden machine in March.

However, due to a combination the sudden improvement in weather conditions and likely return to golf on the 29th March. Our Course Manger made the decision to bring the planned maintenance in March forward and it is being done right now. The reason for bringing it forward is purely to have an increased period of recovery before the members return to the course. The surfaces are still a little soft but on balance this decision made perfect sense, especially if temperatures remain as they are as the grass type we have begins to grow and recover well once soil temperatures reach around 10 degrees Celsius.

So what is a Graden? Click Here to see it in action.

Effectively it is a deep scarification that removes a higher percentage of thatch than the hollow core process whilst at the same time filling the grooves with sand to firm up the surfaces and dilute the thatch levels further. This treatment works down to a depth of 20mm, but this is the depth requiring most attention, hollow core treatments will be used later in the year to reduce thatch at a greater depth.

Whilst members have been away from the course, we have been reviewing many aspects of the club and the services offered to members. One of the challenges for both members and staff has been the number of different systems that we use. This sometimes creates a confusing experience as well as duplicating many of the data inputs required which clearly reduces our efficiency and effectiveness.

As result we are going to gradually bring as many of the operations and services we provide under a single point of access for all users. This is the Club V1 Member Hub. Many members will already have access to the Hub as it can be accessed directly via an app for your phone or tablet or via the website. (Which is also under review!)

The first aspect we intend to improve is the system for casual tee booking.

Up to now members needed to create an account on BRS and then link through to this from the CV1 Hub. This often-created difficulties so from now on we will be using the booking process provided within the Hub itself. The links below are brief videos of how to use get the access to the Hub if you have not yet registered for it. How to reset your password if needed and how to book a casual tee time.

Hub Registration Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iObOeDs8T1A

Password Reset Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF_Lx2xSB1s

Casual Booking Video - https://youtu.be/OVjXMcZ8xGA

As we are not yet back playing, we thought it was a great opportunity to let members have a play with this new booking process and so we have switched it on for the next two weeks. Obviously, this does NOT mean that the course is open, and members can play. Feel free to book sometimes and then go back in and see how easy it is to also cancel them. You can also book other members and they will also receive notifications of those bookings by email. The system will not permit a member to book a time that their membership category doesn’t provide.

In addition to the casual tee booking there are other aspects the Hub provides, and we will gradually introduce them to you over the next few weeks. These aspects include.

Integrated diary

Bar Card balance, transaction info and top up facility

Competition entries

Handicap information

Membership subscription info and payment option

And in the future a separate member card account for the Practice Range with top up facility

If you experience any issues in gaining access to the Hub or in using it, please don’t hesitate to let us know.