Oswestry Golf Club
Course Update Feb 25
Dear Member.
It is pleasing the weather has improved allowing us to play some golf on the main greens and use trolleys and buggies.
The main greens are firm and drier than this time last year due to extra verti-draining,slitting and top dressing.
Our greens have improved but organic matter in the top 0-20mm has increased. This is theresult of interrupted or cancelled maintenance combined with the wet and strong growth. The Organic Matter has increased 1-3%.
Weather permitting on Monday 10th March we will be scarifying the greens. The greens at Oswestry have never been scarified. We will be scarifying to a depth of 15mm which will leave a thin layer of organic matter which willdissipate.
There will be some disruption to play.
On Monday 10th February the greens were sprayed with a liquid feed, some iron and a wetting agent to give them a boost. All part of our greens programme.
Our greens are made up of a mixture of meadow grass and pure bent grass. We use only pure bent when over seeding the greens.A 20kg bag of bent cost £460 + vat.
We use 8 bags per year. £3680 + vat per year.
For tees and divoting we use a rougher grass seed at £80 + vat per bag with a rye grass mixto toughen it up.
As part of the winter programme a number of bunkers have been tidied, sand topped up making them more consistent. The bunker left of 5 was tidied; the following night rabbits got in and contaminated the new sand, very frustrating.
We have had wind damage to some large trees; we saved the trees by taking out the dangerous branches. Other trees have beenremoved. There is a number of Scots Pine down left of eight.
We have removed a number of Silver Birch trees as per the winter programme.
There are logs available for sale from the Chairman should anyone wish to purchase them.
On Sunday 16th February 2025 two club buggies were hired. These caused nasty skidmarks on the course, the 10th fairway, 11th tee, 15th fairway were particularly bad, there were other areas. Roped off areas were ignored and the buggies taken on tees.
When making the decision to allow club buggies or not we always say yes to allowbuggies. It is incidents like this that persuade green staff to say no buggies. Please stick to routes and roped off areas, avoid fierce braking, quick acceleration and sharp turning.
During February 2025 we purchased a walk behind grass seed spreader for use on the greens at a cost of £1000 + vat. The old spreader could not be set to correct levels. Grass seed is expensive and requires sowing atcorrect levels.
Commercial Manager Jeremy Rose is raising funds to replace the old practice net with two new nets with a concrete based hitting area.He will need the support of every member at the club to raise £5K. Please support Jeremy where you can. Thank you.
Darren Sumner has agreed to manage the project; he will need help from members when we start.
The Ladies Skins raised £500 and have donated the money to the project. If you can help, please speak withDarren.
I have been using hedgehog wheels for a few weeks as a trial; they have good and bad points. They don’t leave marks on the frostyground; they don’t leave skid marks on the muddy ground and they prevent spinning the wheels to clean them.
They are heavier on the battery, ok for 18 holes, you have to get used to turning. The pips clog up with small sticks and mud and the mud gets flicked over the trolley. Cleaningtakes quite a time but gets quicker when you work out a system. They cost about £75available in the shop.
Once again if you have any suggestion that will improve the course or your golfing experience let us know.
If any member would like to meet with Gary and myself to discuss any course problems please contact with me to arrange a suitable time and date.
The coffee machine in the club house is now available for payment by credit card.
Please visit the shop and introduce yourself to the staff and have a browse, there is a great choice of equipment and accessories.
Ian Pearce. Course Director. 1.3.2025.
Created by intelligentgolf version 10.1.2.
