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Tee To Green June

02nd July 2026

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

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The Downs course

As we move into summer, I wanted to provide an update on the progress being made across the course and the priorities for the coming weeks. 
 
One of our main focuses during June has been the fairways. Following our recent fertiliser application, we have seen a strong response with excellent colour and growth across the course. The fairways have greened up nicely and are presenting far better coverage than earlier in the season. As expected, the increased growth has created additional maintenance demands, but the team is steadily getting on top of this and working hard to maintain consistent playing conditions. 
 
The greens have also continued to improve and are now in a much better place. Surface quality has increased significantly, and they are rolling well with improved consistency. With plant health and recovery progressing as planned, we will now begin gradually increasing green speeds over the coming weeks while ensuring we maintain healthy, sustainable turf throughout the summer. 
 
During the month we also experienced a major leak within the irrigation system. Whilst frustrating, these types of issues can be expected with any irrigation infrastructure and are often identified as systems are fully utilised during the growing season. The leak has now been repaired, and we will continue to respond quickly to any issues that arise to ensure the system remains reliable throughout the summer months. 
 
Overall, we are very pleased with the coverage and condition of all playing surfaces across the course. Following the challenges presented by the spring weather, we now feel we are in a strong position heading into the traditionally drier period of the year. This will allow us to shift our focus from recovery and establishment towards fine-tuning presentation and consistency as we move into July. 
 
Another area of focus will be the bunkers. We will shortly begin topping up bunker sand using China clay sand, which will improve both playability and presentation. This work will help create a more consistent playing surface throughout the bunker network and enhance the overall golfing experience. 
 
Finally, I would like to thank all members for their continued support, patience and feedback. Course improvement is always a journey rather than an overnight process, and whilst there is still work to do, the progress being made is clear to see. The team remains committed to delivering the best possible playing conditions while balancing the long-term health and sustainability of the course. We look forward to building on the momentum we have created and continuing to improve the course throughout the summer. 

Dan Cornish, Head Greenkeeper, The Downs course

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The Park and Copse courses

As normal with this blog, I would like to start with the weather. What happens in the sky really has a big impact on what we do daily and on turf conditions. In May we saw record temperatures from the heatwave and then at the start of June we had more rain than we had in the previous 3 months! This week is going to be another scorcher, with records expected to be broken again with 4 days of temps over 30c! Current record for June is 34.8c from 1976, this is likely to be broken by some margin. We still haven't reached the peak of summer! 

The rain was very welcome. Everywhere has greened up, the long rough, although not everyone’s favorite, has flourished and added definition to the course which we didn’t have last year because of how dry it was. The course is presenting nicely at the moment with lots of positive feedback from members. The greens have had a more consistent growth on them now, and are running true, slightly off the pace where we would like to be. The rain hasn’t helped with speeds, making them puffy and soft. Added to that, the disease pressure has been high, with outbreaks of Waitea Patch and Fusarium. To help get speeds and trueness, heights have been lowered to 3.5mm. We have verti-cut to –3mm and applied roughly 8 tons of sand dressing this month. With Festival of Speed coming up and course closed, we will be scarifying the greens (conditions dependent) a 10mm tine and roughly 20 tons of sand dressing, getting them ready for Club Championships. 

FOS (Festival of Speed) has a big impact on the course. The whole of the 10th hole is used. 2 entrances for FOS, as well as having the Super Car Paddock on the fairway. To help withstand the heavy foot traffic and flooring being laid, we applied a foliar spray application to make the plant strong and healthy before this happens and hopefully quicker recovery. It has worked well in the past, depending on the conditions. Last year was very dry, little work having to be done after. The year before was a wet build and wet during FOS, meaning we had a lot of damage, and the 10th fairway was yellow (see pics below). Many other parts of the course are also impacted. 1st and 9th have Elite Helicopters on them. Holes 3/12/13 are VIP car parks as well as numerous walkways. We hope it's dry throughout the whole process, from build to breakdown and the Event. 

On the Copse this month we are trialing a robotic mower to help cut the surrounds. This was to go out at night and cut while nobody was around. Unfortunately, this was not very successful. We believe it didn't like the mounds and got confused about what its role was as we found it in the bunker for 2 mornings on the trot!  

Same as with Park course, long rough has taken off and really added definition, but the greens have been more impacted with disease than the Park. The location is a big factor in this as well as being newly established greens. All have had a fungicide spray and now showing signs of recovery.  

Sam Enticknap, Deputy Head Greenkeeper of The Park and Copse courses

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