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Tee To Green August

19th August 2025

Find out the latest from our Greenkeepers in this month's Tee to Green.

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The Downs course

This month was a big month in the golfing calendar with the Club Championships and Goodwood invitational.

Starting with the greens which have been consistent this season, we saw stimp readings averaging 10.7 foot which have been consistent throughout the day. We have changed our chemistry this year by swapping out our older technology PGR (growth regulator) with a new type which acts instantly rather than 3 days which the latter took. This gives us more control with regards to speeds. In addition, we have started using a silicon product in the foliar mix which makes the nutrients more available for uptake to the plant and also stands the grass plant up rigid which also aids in speeds and trueness. The rolling the greens are within KPIs set at the start of the year.


We have also aerated the greens this month with a 10mm slide tine, which was then ironed behind for playability. This operation is vital for gas exchange, improving water flow in the profile de-compaction of the soil profile.

You may have noticed that the 15th green has lots of irregular markings on it and uneven growth. This was down to hundreds of seagulls on the green and excrement from them causing their faeces to act as a fertiliser. This will degrade in time and go back to normal when it grows out.

We have also had a lot of birds pecking on the 14th green which happens every year. We have repaired what we can and plugged some areas of the green from turf from 16.

The Thursday before the Ladies Club Championship saw us have 10mm of rain in 8 minutes. This caused a lot of issues with wash down in the bunkers, damaging the degrading turf banks and exposing the bases. A lot of labour hours went into getting the sand back up the faces, however we now have even more contamination of chalk and stone in them as the turf liner we installed in them 6 years ago has nearly gone and this causes the contamination from the soil below. Bunkers are raked daily and levels adjusted when resource allows.

Fairways still have cracks in them are sparse in places. In the upcoming months, when weather conditions allow, we will look to rake out the dead, later apply a wetting agent, seaweed and feed to give any new seed a good bed to grow in, then overseed to recover some grass.


We will also look to cut and collect the long natural soon as part of our regime to thin out these areas.  

See you on the course.

Rob Dyer, Head Greenkeeper, The Downs course

Glorious day looking back down the 12th as the first golfers come through
Sunrise on the 5th
Contamination from wash down
16a overseeded and top dressed
Bunkers back in play after the extreme rain
Bird damage on 14th green
15th green seagull marks
Looking down the 7th hole
Wash down from the storm
A lot of shovelling had to be done
10mm solid tine on the greens

The Park course

This prolonged dry spell continues although we did have 31mm of rain one afternoon and 24mm (1 inch) of that fell in an hour! Although very helpful for the course’s, that amount that quickly we saw a lot of water runoff and every single bunker on both courses sand washed down from the faces of the bunkers. Not ideal preparation leading up to Ladies Club Championship. This happened on the Thursday with Round 1 on The Park on Saturday. Thanks to the team hard work there were only 3 bunkers that would be GUR on the day, just mainly because they hadn’t drained in time, all others had been shovelled back and put back in to play. Since then we’ve had very settled weather and another heatwave to contend to as well. Just looking through our records show that this year from March to July we have had 128mm (5 inches) of rain compared to last year 5 month period was 360mm (14.2 inches). It’s been a challenging period for us greenkeepers.

As mentioned above about the rain fall we had, it did start to green areas up just in time for Club Championship week. Fairways greened up well enough so we could get them cut and better presented for the week then over the last few weeks were that hasn’t been much definition. Overall the course presented well for the week. Thanks to our friends at Toro who supply our machinery, were on hand to support us with some extra equipment for the week. This included another greens mower, Turf Iron and new utility vehicle. The extra greens mower we would then be able to double cut greens most of the week and on the day. This would help gain speeds and trueness. The green speeds across the days average just over 10 on the stimp meter. We ideally we of like them faster but the rain gave them a flush of growth as well. Feedback was very positive though saying they were very true and quick, which was pleasing.

With the added extra use of machines and ironing on the greens they will get a little TLC over the next few weeks. Once Junior Club Championship is over we will use the pro corer with venting tines fitted to aid with compaction and improve air flow. This will nicely lead us into maintenance of the greens when we will be doing our yearly GKB machine which reduces thatch levels and also adds sand into the soil profile at the same time. Our thatch levels have increased this year due to a number of reasons, one being the drought conditions and the use of irrigation water since March. The maintenance will take place in first week of September with the Short Game putting green and chipping green having same process but the Copse greens we will be using smaller slightly less aggressive Graden machine, which does a similar job.

The Copse

The Copse is very busy at the moment with junior camps and also a lot of pay and play. It’s presenting really well with all the use it is getting. The 6 Copse greens have had a lot of disease pressure due to the conditions and location of some of the greens. Some are in the shade all day while others are not and we have to hand water a lot. As it’s been a busy period for the Agronomy team, we had a staff social on the Copse and a BBQ afterwards for all their hard work over the last few months. Our very own Danny Carter got a Hole in One on the 4th, inside knowledge (he did grow the Copse in)! All the team had a great time and I managed not to give them food poisoning after with the BBQ!

Look forward to seeing you the course.

Scott Peterson, Head Greenkeeper, The Park course and The Copse.

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