Greens Maintenance

On Tuesday 9th August work will commence on the greens.

The work will consist of veritdraining across the putting surfaces creating holes 9-12 inches deep and 16mm in diameter. The holes will then be filled using a straight sand mix, brushed into the holes using a specially designed brush/sweeping piece of equipment. Weather permitting this exercise should only take 2-3 days. This may however change if conditions are wet.

This work is being completed earlier than usual in the hope that conditions will be far better than later in the year to aid in a much quicker recovery of the playing surface. 

This work is necessary to improve and maintain firmer and better draining putting surfaces. It also helps to reduce organic matter which contributes to softer surfaces, more susceptible to disease. 

Greens Maintenance Week March 2016

Greens Maintenance during this period is to focus on removing organic matter in the upper 15mm of the soil profile.

This will also include two passes using pencil tines to a depth of 4-5 Inches, one pass before and one after the scarifying and a straight sand top-dressing.

This process creates very little disruption to the playing surface, which is the preferred current policy the Club have adopted for Spring Maintenance in recent years.

Also during this week we are verti-draining the aprons, around the greens, tees and fairways. 

This form of aeration will help improve drainage, rooting, and generally improve the ground conditions after the long wet winter.

The tees are also being overseeded ready for the ground temperatures to rise for germination and grass cover, moving into the summer period.

Woodland Management

Work continues around the 3rd Tee/11th Green area. As agreed with the Bromley Council, work has begun to improve both sunlight penetration and air movement, and to encourage and retain the features of the veteran oak trees, while improving the general presentation of the area.

Re-Stocking (Tree & Woodland Management)

The Tree & Woodland Management program is not just about tree removal. It is a combination of various strategies to improve the course and to formulate practical locations of where trees can be a benefit to the course, while not impeding on the development of the finer turf areas.

This winter we plan to re-stock with over 30 trees in various locations to offset against some of the larger specimens removed. These are all native trees and have been selected to add a diverse and attractive appearance for both aesthetic and wildlife benefits.

33 trees have been selected and these are:

6x Betula Pendula birch

5x Carpinus Betulus hornbeam

5x Acer campestre field maple

5x sorbus aria whitebeam

3x Alnus alder

3x Prunus avium cherry

3x Fagus sylvatica

3x Quercus robur

These trees will be planted in due course

End of Year Update 2015

This year has been another unpredictable year and particularly this winter. No hard frosts to date and unusually mild conditions which has very rarely seen temperatures drop into single figures.With these conditions comes the risk of very high disease pressure. Many other Clubs have suffered severely in these conditions, fortunantely we have managed to contain any aggressive outbreaks to a minimum.
We believe this is all due to a combination of our pro-active management which includes preventative fungicide applications, assisted by practical methods of regular aeration, greens maintenance (hollow-coring), and by increasing levels of sunlight and air movement across the fine turf areas through our woodland management. All of these methods help to compliment each other and it is essential that these practises are continuously maintained for the future sustainability of the Club. Their are many positives to be highlighted during this mild period. Although there are many unsightly marks from machinery and golfer traffic, we have managed to keep most areas completely free of leaves and the need to use temporary greens or to close the course has not yet been required.

All in all another succesful year with many improvements just adding onto those already just a thing of the past. Before these changes become just a part of LPGC's history, lets remind ourselves of some of the highlights and improvements of 2015.

New Practice Nets

The Loggery 

Greens Maintenance / Hollow-Coring

Dry Rainge Practice Area

Tree & Woodland Management

Visitor

A new visitor has been seen recently admiring the wonderful surroundings at LPGC.

Tree & Woodland Management update

This years Tree & Woodland Management has begun. While still waiting for the oak trees to start dropping  their leaves, the opportunity was taken to proceed with this years work as approved by the London Borough of Bromey. 

Work started on the 16th by the tee. 

Three dead silver birches were also removed on the perimeter under safety concerns.

Work then shifted over to the 10th tee and the veteran oak beside the White medal tee. The central stem was showing  signs of decay and as it overhung the tee, safety became an issue as well as prolonging the life of the veteran oak. 

The central stem was removed to a point of safety and just above a young limb to encourage new growth.

The next location was the 2nd tee. A second phase of tree removal to reduce shading across the tee from the south side was undertaken.

Two trees on the left of the tee in close proximity were also removed. These two trees had phototropism characteristics and would only impact on the tee in future years if they were left to increase in size.