The West Kilbride Golf Club
Fairways are now back in play. All trollies and buggies allowed on the course. (updated 22 March at 07:01)

West Kilbride April Links Report 2022

Firstly, I hope you are all enjoying a good start to the golf season.

April has been another testing month for the Greenstaff as grass growth has been slow again this year. We have encountered one of the driest April’s on record with 21 dry days, cold easterly winds and only 40mm of rainfall. The average rainfall figures in April for the West Kilbride area are between 60mm-70mm. Thankfully, after the recent rainfall in the last few days there are good signs of recovery and new growth is starting to come through.

 

The following work has been carried out on the course:

  • Sand levels have been monitored and extra sand has been added to several bunkers at the 1st greenside, 6th greenside rhs ,7th fairway, 8th fairway, 9th greenside lhs and 12th greenside rhs.
  • All bunkers have been fly-mowed and edged and weed-killed.
  • The car park and around the club-house has also been weed-killed.
  • All heavier rough areas have been terra-raked before cutting has taken place. This helps stand the grass up to promote a cleaner cut.
  • Outfield fertiliser has been applied to all walk-off and any worn areas.
  • The burn and the ditch at the 1st have been fly-mowed and strimmed.
  • All strimming of posts, signs, steps and walls has been carried out.
  • Several surrounds have been taken out and re-shaped on several holes at 4, 5 ,13 and 18
  • All surrounds and tees have been fertilised and top-dressed. The heights of cut on these areas are now 9mm
  • All the new turf on bunker surrounds has been top-dressed.
  • All turf areas have now been cut and as growth commences the definition will increase.
  • Several irrigation repairs have been carried out on the course including repairing the main cable at the practice bays where it was damaged by the contractors. Several decoders, solenoids and valves have been replaced and cleaned.
  • Divoting has been carried out regularly on the tees and on the worst landing areas. This will be ongoing as much as possible throughout the season.
  • All Fairways have been sprayed with Wetting agent, Ammonium Sulphate, Magnesium Sulphate and Seaweed.
  • The fairways are still being cut at 14mm but this will be reduced to 12.5mm when growth increases.
  • Excavation work has been carried out at the practice area for electric cable to be run down from the main board located in the clubhouse.
  • The ground around the practice bays has been tidied. This area will be landscaped once the drain has been installed around the building.

 

On The Greens:

  • All greens have been Sarel Rolled twice
  • All greens were sprayed with Wetting agent, and Seaweed and hand-watered regularly as they were showing signs of drying out with the cold winds.
  • Irrigation has been on nightly when required.
  • The first application of a chemical called Attraxor has been applied to the greens. This is designed to control seedhead activity when the meadow grass (Poa) starts to grow. This product will be applied every three weeks through the growing season.
  • Unfortunately, we could not apply any top-dressing to the greens during April as there was a delay getting sand from the supplier. The next top- dressing will be carried out at the earliest possible chance.
  • The 11th green has had a Spring/Summer fertiliser applied as well has a granular wetting agent to help promote growth and maintain moisture within the soil profile. This green is being hand-cut at 5mm at the moment.
  • The height of cut on the greens has now been taken down from 5mm down to 4mm. The greens are being cut or rolled 3-4 times per week.

 

Other course news:

  • The irrigation company TIS have not managed to come in and install the new sprinklers for the walkway at 14. This will now be put back to the Autumn.
  • We have still not received delivery of the new Toro 3500d mower as there is a delay with parts and shipment problems.
  • Finally, I hope to have a Seasonal worker starting with us on the 30th of May.

 

Richard Fulton, Head Greenkeeper.