Fairways, Rough And Some Course Notes

When I first arrived at The Royal Mayfair last September Ted Locke advised me that fairway widths were a matter of concern. I then discussed this topic with Robb James in the spring and we looked at a few areas on the course that needed attention this season. I widened a few fairways and redefined the perimeter of many others. I didn't however narrow any fairways. I did change the first cut mower and as a result it was narrower this year. We all know how thick and difficult the rough has been to maintain the last few months. Before I go any further be rest assured that changes will occur to make the fairways more conducive to membership play for next season. Does that mean they will all be much wider? No. All landing areas, bunker and mounding position and soil conditions will be given careful consideration before making any drastic modifications. As I have mentioned previously the time to make these changes is when the turf is not actively growing or in the spring.

Here's the plan for now. We have lowered the first cut height from 1.5 inches to 1.25 inches. We have lowered all other rough to 2 inches from 2.5 inches. No more fertilizer either. We only fertilized it once by the way, in late May. I have managed to get us a mower (on loan form Oakcreek Golf and Turf) similar to the first cut machine we are using now but with a wider cut. It should give us about an extra 16 inches. That doesn't seem like a lot but it will be noticeable. This machine uses reels instead of rotary blades so there will be a better quality of cut with less clipping clumps. If all goes well I will make every effort to have it in our inventory for next season. Lastly we will begin to modify the fairway and apron perimeters when the turf growth slows down in September. I hope this is a reasonable plan we can all live with.


On The Course:

• The greens will be sprayed early Thursday morning with a liquid fertilizer mixed with a preventative fungicide (Heritage -  to guard against a couple of common diseases that can show up on greens such as ours).
• We will be landscaping the tree line that is just to the north east of the first tee and west of the 9th green. This area is unsightly with the weed growth and such. A few more Larch, some dogwood and lilacs will make it look much nicer.
• Continued cartpath edging and small sod projects throughout over the next month.
• Preparations for phase 2 of the LREP (details to follow soon).

Good luck to all competitors in this weekend's Club Championship. It is our hope the course meets your expectations. In closing: I picked the pin locations for all 3 days and I'm sure I'll be hearing from some of you after the weekend :)

Wade