Date posted: 21st February 2020

Fellow members,

Thank you for your patience in respect of the works on the 5th/14th.

From Saturday 22nd February we will be opening the 14th for play. All areas are in play except the bunkers which will be marked with a white line, from which you have a free drop not nearer the hole.

Please observe the ropes and do not walk with trolleys over the newly sodded areas. Please continue to the path on the 6th with your trolleys as we have been doing recently. Your cooperation in this would be greatly appreciated. 

Our fairways came in for much discussion at the end of 2019.This mostly related to cut height and frequency of cutting.

Frequency of cutting depends on the level of growth. One should not cut more than a third the height of the leaf in one go. This puts undue stress on the plant and can result in loss of same. So, the rule of thumb is to cut a little and often. This goes for greens, fairways, rough and your lawn at home. Our fairways are cut from an average of once per week in the winter to up to three times a week in the spring/summer when growth is at its maximum. Basically, frequency of cut is dependent on the rate of growth.

The height of cut according to our course policy document varies from 20mm in the winter to as low as 13mm when growth is at its maximum. The agronomy industry recommends that summer height should be in the region of 12-13mm.This allows the ball to sit on top of the grass, resulting in better club to ball contact and also allows new shoots to develop, as the leaf at this height tends to remain vertical, allowing more growth, resulting in increased density. This effect can be seen if you look at the grass in the collar around our putting green. This is the same type of grass that’s in our fairways but has been intensively cut and managed over a period of time.

However, having listened to your concerns and discussed the issues with our agronomist, the summer height will be increased to 16mm this season. This will be reviewed regularly going forward from both a playability and agronomy perspective.

With the increased rainfall in August/September of 2019 we had increased activity from casting worms. This resulted in our fairways looking bare very quickly due to the smudging of the casts coupled with the fact we were at our summer height of cut. Our most recent agronomy report laid out the options open to us to tackle this problem. From a budgetary and effectiveness perspective and following limited trials on site a new product called ‘PURITY’ seems to be the best option for Killiney. This product is expensive and has a 4-6-week efficacy, so our greens staff will be using their intuition and knowledge to apply it when it is felt it’s going to be most needed. 

There have been regular reminders for the carrying of sand bags while playing during the winter league. The carrying the sandbags is appreciated but using them to fill your divots is even more appreciated. It amazes me the amount of sand that is still in the bags that are returned at the end of a round. For some of you who run out of sand during the round we are organising refill boxes at the steps on the 4th and near the bench on the 7th. Thank you for your efforts.

Finally, the trees right of the 6th green are encroaching on the green both from the canopy and the roots. These will be felled in the near future and the area seeded. This will remove the unsightly green mat and improve the playability of this area. In time it is envisaged that a more suitable specimen(s) will be planted in their place.

Remember

REPAIR YOUR DIVOTS, RAKE THE BUNKERS, FIX YOUR PITCH MARKS

 

Happy Golfing

Paddy May

Course Convenor