What does a downland greenkeeper do in summer?

This article was featured in the Spring 2019 edition of Your Course magazine

What is it you see when you watch a greenkeeping team at work on mowers? Look closer, next time, and you might witness something that surprises you.

It turns out there’s more to cutting in the summer months than simply running a blade over the grass. At Royal Winchester, course manager Andy Barber knows that keeping the sward upright is vitally important to the health of the turf at the chalk downland course.

“When we block cut, you can get into the habit of the grass laying down too much and so we are always trying to make sure we alternate the cut,” he said. “We go back against the grain with a bush, especially when cutting the fairways. You can imagine that when the grass lies down, it can get quite long if you cut it in the same way all the time, so brushing is important.

“We want to get air and light around the blade but if you get all the grass upright you will get a better cut. People forget about fairways. It’s a bit area and the main thing that everyone sees, presentation-wise.”

If you think a links can get dry, then a downland course will rarely be holding any significant source of moisture under the soil either.

With his course found at the highest point of Winchester, without fairway irrigation and a busy sheet at times, keeping things ship shape in the summer months is not an easy task.

“Last summer we weren’t only dry, but we are a busy course so there was stress from play all the time. The main problem is managing the traffic and keeping the course pristine and being strong for the winter.

“We start early, but we don’t do any different practices to anywhere else. There will be a lot of aeration and it’s just about keeping the turf healthy all the time, planning, using wetting agents and seaweed to keep things strong.”

Andy will use soluble fertilisers and wetting agents, alongside a fairway feeding programme that employs a little and often approach. He added that keeping things simple helps dormant grasses recover following a drought.

“It’s a lot of stress on the plant but, on the other hand, it does show how hardy grass is,” said Andy. “It comes back well. We are constantly working and trying to do the best we can. It’s about simple greenkeeping techniques and not trying to over complicate anything.”