Preparing the Course for the Club Championships

The Club Championships are always one of the highlights of the golfing calendar, and preparing the course for our flagship event takes weeks of planning, careful preparation and a tremendous amount of hard work from the entire greenkeeping team.

Our primary focus was on producing smooth, fast and consistent putting surfaces. To achieve this, the greens were double cut for the three days leading up to the Championships and throughout the competition. This helped increase green speed while maintaining an exceptional quality of finish.

We also used groomers to remove Poa annua seed heads from the greens. This is an important process that improves the smoothness of the putting surface, resulting in a truer and more consistent ball roll for everyone competing.

Each morning, the greens were then rolled to further enhance surface quality and consistency without placing unnecessary stress on the turf, ensuring they performed consistently throughout the weekend.

With the hot, dry weather, water management became another crucial part of our preparations. Rather than simply increasing irrigation, we used moisture meters to measure the moisture content of each green accurately. This allowed us to apply only the water that was needed, maintaining firm, fast playing conditions while keeping the turf healthy.

Finally, we reduced the height of cut to 2.6mm, helping to deliver the championship-quality putting surfaces expected for the club's premier competition.

Presenting the course for an event like the Club Championships is very much a team effort, and I'd like to thank every member of the greenkeeping team for their dedication and attention to detail in the lead-up to the weekend.

I also want to thank all of the competitors for their many kind comments about the condition of the course. Receiving such positive feedback makes all the hard work worthwhile, and we hope the course provided a fitting stage for this year's Club Championships.