Bush Hill Park
Course Manager's Blog, 25th March 2025
The weather has remained on our side, with minimal rainfall helping to dry the course out. However, overnight temperatures are still very low, keeping growth potential to a minimum, as shown in the graph below. As a result, turf recovery remains slow - something we’d expect for this time of year.
GREENS MAINTENANCE
This week, we will be applying a low temperature fertiliser to give the greens a boost ahead of next week’s maintenance work. The scheduled work will include deep Verti draining, followed by micro coring, and the application of approximately 25-30 tons of top dressing.
These practices are essential for maintaining healthy and consistent playing surfaces. Deep Verti-draining alleviates compaction and improves air and water movement through the soil profile, helping to create stronger root systems. Micro-coring further enhances this by removing small plugs of organic matter, reducing thatch buildup, and encouraging firmer, more responsive greens. The topdressing will then help smooth out the surface, improve ball roll, and dilute any organic material, ensuring the greens remain in optimal condition as we transition into spring.
TEES AND APPROACHES
This week, we’ve started maintenance work on tees and approaches to improve turf health and playing conditions as we move further into the season.
Verti-draining has been carried out to relieve compaction and improve drainage, helping surfaces recover from recent wear.
We have applied a soluble iron along with ammonium sulphate to strengthen the turf and enhance its resilience.
The divot repair programme continues, ensuring playing surfaces remain as smooth as possible. As always, we encourage members to make use of the divot boxes to fill tees and approaches to help bolster repair and recovery efforts.
Looking ahead to next week, we’ll be top-dressing the approaches and tees to refine levels and improve firmness. This will help sustain quality surfaces heading into spring.
FAIRWAYS
The fairways are steadily improving as the weather remains relatively dry, allowing the surfaces to firm up. However, low overnight temperatures continue to limit growth, meaning recovery from winter wear is slow.
Recent Work and Current Conditions
Drying Out Well: Minimal rainfall has helped reduce surface moisture, improving overall playability.
Limited Growth: Cold nights are keeping soil temperatures down, so the fairways are not yet actively recovering from divots and general wear.
Crow Damage: Crow pecking has become a real issue, particularly in areas where chafergrubs or leatherjackets are present. This is causing disruption to the turf and creating an uneven surface in places. We are exploring options to mitigate the damage.
Divot Management: The team continues to work through divot repairs, but without consistent growth, these areas will take time to fully recover.
Upcoming Maintenance:
Targeted Feeding: A light nutrient application will be considered to encourage early season growth when temperatures allow.
Topdressing and Overseeding: As conditions improve, we’ll look to introduce more seed into high-wear areas and apply a light topdressing to smooth surfaces.
Continued Divot Filling: The divot repair programme remains a priority to ensure as smooth a playing surface as possible heading into spring.
Crow Damage Repairs: Where necessary, we’ll be addressing affected areas by top dressing and reseeding damaged turf.
BUNKERS
Regular raking and sand distribution are making a noticeable difference to bunker consistency, ensuring they remain playable and well-presented. The team has been focused on maintaining even sand depth and keeping edges tidy, which has helped improve overall bunker conditions.
However, we continue to face a significant challenge with fox digging, particularly on bunker faces and across various areas of the course. We continue to explore ways to minimise this issue and maintain the bunkers in the best possible condition, while working alongside the wildlife on the course, and the implementation of the Club's recent Fox Feeding Policy will continue to assist us in our efforts. The policy can be read here.
COURSE CLEARANCE WORK
Over the past few months, we have been carrying out clearance work around the course as part of a long-term plan to improve areas that have been neglected over the years. This work is not just about enhancing the aesthetics of the course it also has real agronomic benefits that contribute to overall turf health and playability.
By selectively removing overgrown vegetation and thinning out certain areas, we are improving light penetration and air movement. These factors play a crucial role in reducing disease pressure, improving turf recovery, and helping surfaces remain drier and healthier year-round.
This is an ongoing project, and we will continue working through different areas of the course to ensure that all spaces are maintained to a high standard. While some of these changes may be subtle at first, they will have a long-term positive impact on both the playability and presentation of the course.
AROUND THE CLUBHOUSE
We’ve been busy improving the areas around the clubhouse and practice facilities, ensuring they are well-presented and ready for the season ahead.
The patio area has been jet-washed in preparation for planting the yew box hedge. To help it establish properly, we will be keeping this area roped off for a while to prevent foot traffic and minimise any potential damage.
We’ve also put the jet washer to good use elsewhere, giving the decking at the halfway hut a thorough clean, as well as refreshing the astroturf area at the practice nets.
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