Dear Member,

You may have noticed a series of thin lines on church seven and eight greens and wondered what they are (see photo)? During the church maintenance week, one of our aeration machines sprang a small hydraulic leak that was impossible to see at the time. A hydraulic leak normally kills-off grass plants for three reasons: the hot working temperature of the oil, the volume of oil spilled, and its toxic petrochemical constituents.

So, what’s the situation? Thankfully, these were the first greens aerated and so the oil was cold. The grass wasn’t burnt and so survived the most harmful stage of a leak. If that’s the case, then there’s a good chance the effects of the chemical properties within the oil may not kill the grasses. Especially when in winter as growth isn’t strong and they’re not quickly absorbed. Finally, although spread over a large area the volume of oil spilled was very small. Great news as it didn’t saturate and contaminate the soil.
Will you re-turf the damage then? An oil leak on church nine green in the winter of 2018 proved patience is key with recovery coming naturally rather than from us re-turfing the damage. It pays to wait in this situation because re-turfing isn’t without problems. The greens are cut at a height of 2.25mm and so any deviation in smoothness – either above or below surrounding levels – causes dips to form where settled and/or scalps on the raised turf. It will take a very long time for the newly installed turf to knit in and putting quality will be negatively affected. Therefore, although unsightly at present, the best option is to allow natural recovery assisted by over-seeding and topdressing to replace any grass lost. That process has already started in earnest, and we’ll be carefully monitoring progress over the coming weeks. Should the rate of recovery not be in line with our expectations then of course we’ll re-turf and have to work hard on bedding the new turf in.

I hope this information sets out the situation and what our plan is going forward. Thank you for your patience while we work to undo this temporary problem.

John Lockyer
Director of Greens