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Welcome to Grass Roots!!!!!!
This page will have information from our greenstaff, some gruesome pictures of them, general snippets of information that hopefully, will increase awareness of why things are done a certain way, what is/will be happening in the near future and an email based forum so that you can ask the greenstaff questions and get a response!!!

Contact the greenstaff on
greenstaff@chalgravegolf.co.uk

Minor Alteration to Course!!!

Work has started to change the tree area between the 13th and 17th holes, from the ditch in front of the 13th Tee, to level with the ladies tee on the 17th hole. A small number of trees have been removed from the area, mainly very short or misshaped ones, to enable the roughcutter mower access between the remaining trees. The intention is to reduce the height of cut in this area to be a continuous normal rough height throughout the wooded area. The reasons for this adjustment is the new tee position on the 13th hole means that tee shots to the green are generally required to be aimed very close to the tree line when the flag is on the right hand side of the green. In turn, this makes it much more likely that players will miss hit into this area. The trees are now of a size where they cause significant interference to shots played from that area. In addition, the current depth of grass causes problems when the tee shot on the 17th is pushed right, as the ball lands in an area unseen from the tee. This minor adjustment should help to speed up play in terms of reducing the amount of time spent looking for lost balls on both holes. Initial cutting has already been carried out and the area will be cut regularly over the next few weeks to disperse the cut long grass and to create a new standard rough height throughout that area. Once the transformation is completed, the appearance will be very much like that of the right hand side of the 12th hole.  

New Course Routing Experiment

Captains Day 2007 saw the trial run of a potential new routing for the course. There are a number of issues that we would like to resolve with the course that have become apparent over the 14 years of operation, and the renovation of tees and the work with the reservoir will give an opportunity to resolve most of these issues.

The main areas where problems have been identified are:

3rd Green to 4th Tee ~ very slow part of the course as players have to wait for the group in front to putt out and walk back towards them for some distance before they are clear to play the next shot to the 3rd green. Excessive wear is also experienced on the front of the 3rd green as a result of this high traffic.

8th Green to 9th Tee ~ occasionally, we have players taking a short cut across or in front of the 17th green to access the 9th tee.

11th Green to 12th Tee ~ everyone's pet hate, the long walk up the hill!!!

17th Green to 18th Tee ~ players walking across, often with trolleys, the 9th tee box.

Other Issues:

10th Tee as a start hole ~ being over 150 yards and unseen from the clubhouse and a par 3. At busy times, players often go down to start on the 10th when the 1st is busy, only to find that there are already a number of groups waiting on the 10th. In addition, par 3's are notoriously slow start holes. It is not inconceivable that a fourball all might take 5 shots each on the 10th....that is 20 shots to be played before the next group can start. Compare this with the 1st where it is rare for players to still be in range after a second shot has been played. In a worst case scenario, after 10 shots, (everyone plays 2 and two players have played 3) everyone will be out of range and the next group can start.

Mid round snacks, balls, tees and toilets ~ at present, the 9th hole is not conducive to players coming back to the clubhouse mid round, whereas the 18th to 1st holes is a much more ideal set up.

The possible Alternative Route as tried on Captains Day, meant playing the holes numbered as they currently are, in the following order: Front Nine 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 10th, 11th, 15th, 16th, 17th and 9th
Back Nine  4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 8th and 18th

This resolved all of the earlier identified problems. The 3rd played very smoothly, with players moving to the back of the green and away from the following group. From the 8th green, players would now move to the 18th tee, meaning that there was no benefit to walking in front of the 17th green. There was no walk up the hill to the 12th hole. The players on the 17th green moved to the 9th tee so again there was no problem with players crossing one tee to access another one. The 4th Hole became the 10th tee, visible from the clubhouse and a par 4 so no starting problems at all.

However, all was not perfect. The walk from the 9th green to the 4th hole was quite long, uphill and bumpy through the carpark, even if it was perfect for collecting a bacon roll and using the loos. The loss of correlation between the 7th green and 8th tee meant that people appeared (from the 14th green onto the 8th tee) as players were about to play their shots to the 7th green. In addition, people ready to tee off on the 8th were disturbed as players approached the 7th green. The access to the 4th tee from the carpark would need to be sorted out. At present, the walk from the 3rd to the 4th tee is across and up reasonably level ground. The 4th from the carpark is across a quite severe side slope, which would be very difficult and slippery in the winter.

All in all, it was a very successful experiment and the problems of 7th green to 12th tee and 14th green to 8th tee can actually be reasonably easily resolved with realigning tees for the 12th and 8th holes, and these tees are to be renovated extensively as part of the reservoir project anyway. The walk from 9th green to the 4th tee can be resolved by going from the 9th green to the 1st tee and the 18th green to the 4th tee, which shortens the walks considerably, although we then lose the direct walk past the clubhouse after each nine holes. We are, however considerably closer than we are at present.

The comments from players were very favourable. A few had reservations, as described above. Most found the alternative route much easier on the legs. There was a final added bonus of the two nines being more balanced in terms of par for nine holes and the distribution of the par 5's.

Will we implement it? Possibly, once we have looked again at the problems that were created. To change and create new problems to replace existing ones seems somewhat pointless. Watch this space.......

 The Reservoir Project:

The Club has gained a planning consent to construct a 4 million gallon reservoir to store water during the winter for use in the summer. This will enable us to extend the irrigation system to cover tees, fringes and the approach into the green as well as enabling us to use a higher level of water on the greens if necessary.

It is anticipated that construction may begin during the course of July or August 2007, although this is not yet finalised.

Details of the plans are set out below:

The above plan shows the location of the reservoir in the triangle of "dead" ground between the 12th, 13th and 14th holes. As the construction gets underway, more details of schedules and areas affected will be posted on this page to keep everyone up to date.

From the meetings that we held from 28th~30th March, I have detailed below the points as FAQ's which were the ones that seemed to raise the most queries and concerns for those that attended:

Is this going to mean an increase in my subscription fee?
No. The cost of construction will be funded from the revenue that is gained from the importation of the subsoil that is required to deal with the landscaping. This is sufficient to fund the whole project, including the lining of the reservoir and the extension to the irrigation system. Also, once completed and operational, the resource will allow for a significant upgrade of the quality of the course through improvement to the Tees, Approaches, Fringes as well as the Greens themselves. Our annual fees are already significantly lower than the fees charged by Clubs that would be considered our direct competition. Chalgrave Manor Golf Club will remain as competitively priced in the future. In addition, as there will be some disruption during the construction, despite the fact that subs have been at their current levels since 2004, fees will be held at current levels for a further 12 months.

Will there be much disruption to the playing of golf?
There will be some holes affected, mostly for short periods of time. The two holes mostly affected are the 12th, which is where the majority of the direct disruption will be as the fairway will have to be reshaped. Whilst this is happening, the 8th hole will have its fairway extended width ways in both directions to create a massive, shared fairway for the 8th and 12th holes. As the Tee positions for both holes are similarly placed, and the direction of play is the same, it should be possible to avoid too much conflict and retain both holes with the same yardages for the required period. In the event that this proves to contentious in actual operation, the 12th will be shortened to a short par 4 or long par 3.

In addition, we have to create a small secondary bund alongside the right hand side of the 11th hole, to act as a secondary form of defence. A small amount of material will be required to create that bund on the 11th Tee side of the ditch. Access to this area will be gained via the driveway, through the wood and across the 16th hole where the access was for the construction of the new 16th tee a couple of years ago. Indexes will not be altered in either event.

Where will the material come from and how will it get to the reservoir site?
Subsoil material will be sourced from local construction excavations etc. Using this material for the formation of facility associated with sport is an accepted and encouraged form of recycling material that would otherwise be disposed of in landfill sites. Costs of excavations and haulage is such that material moves as little distance as possible, and the expectation is that most if not all will come from within a 10 mile radius.

All vehicles will have to access the golf course via the front entrance. Once inside the course boundary, they will move to the left side of the 5th, 6th and 7th holes and will access the reservoir site between the 12th and 14th holes or continue down to the back of the 11th green for works in that area. The expected volume of material incoming on a daily basis will be around 50 vehicles per day.

When will it start and how long will it take to complete?
We are currently agreeing final details and contracts with South Beds District Council. Once contracts are signed, construction should start immediately. We expect to be underway around May. It is likely that the construction will take at least a complete year and may possibly move into next summer. The in play areas on the 11th and 12th holes will be completed as quickly as possible this summer. The contractors will be laying a hardcore road around the perimeter to enable them to continue to work through the Autumn and Winter of 2007/8.     

What about other improvements to the Golf Course?
We will take advantage of the landscaping and heavy machinery to rebuild or renovate a significant number of tees around the course, prior to the installation of the irrigation systems. As work passes various areas, for example the 15th tees, these areas will be stripped, reshaped and restored. This will give us the opportunity to rectify and improve the visible impact that some earlier constructions have caused. The 11th tee for example, will return to its original position close to the perimeter fence. this will straighten the hole and will reduce the conflict with players playing the 15th Hole. Other examples will be that the obviously false slope on the edge of the 8th tee as viewed from the 12th tee, will be reshaped to soften its appearance in the landscape. The ditch which crosses the 11th, 14th and 15th holes will have to be enlarged and this will also enable us to run drainage pipework fro the new wet spots that have appeared on the 14th and 15th holes. The general landscaping to the rear of the 11th and 14th greens will enable us to control the vast amounts of water that currently drain off the field between Toddington and the golf course, most of which ends up in front of the 11th green and is a contributory factor to the boggy area in front of the green. By controlling the flow and the route that this water takes, we will be able to improve the area in play on the 11th hole. These are just some exaples of the improvements that will be made as works progress.

Will the club greenkeepers be involved in these works?
Both Rob and myself will be involved to the extent of ensuring that finishes and angles of slopes are what we require for the safe, ongoing maintenance of the golf course. Other than that, the greenstaff are already rather busy during the Spring, Summer and Autumn period keeping on top of the grass cutting and course presentation. They will not be involved in the day to day operations and constructions. This will all be the responsibility of the contractors.

Have you got a question??? email steve@chalgravegolf.co.uk and I will add it to the above, along with an answer!!!

The Greenkeeping Team:

Head Greenkeeper: Rob Parr. Joined Chalgrave in July 1996 as temporary greenkeeper, did all the college courses where he was nominated Student Greenkeeper of the Year in 1997 and 1998 for the South East Region (Didn't win though!!). Rob worked his way through the ranks to become our 2nd Head Greenkeeper (pretty short list!!!). Rob is 34, lives in Toddington, single (although open to offers), has a cat (but that could go if the offer is good), collects Vintage Action Man (which is why he is still single!! although the cat loves him). Hobbies include Darts, Off Road Driving (which is handy for mowing fairways) Clay Pigeon Shooting and drinking Guinness.

Deputy Head Greenkeeper: Darren Adams. Joined Chalgrave (1st time) straight from 6th Form in Feb 1997, did his college courses 1997/8 and then promptly left! Found out that the grass wasn't quite as green and came back 2 weeks later! Made it through the even shorter ranks to Deputy Head Greenkeeper, then decided to leave for the 2nd time in Nov 2003 to be a driving instructor. He qualified, had a nasty experience with sudden braking which left skid marks on the road and in....so returned to greenkeeping in April 2004 (still here... but watch this space!!!!) Darren is 26, also lives in Toddington but is not single anymore. In January 06, he won't even be just a couple, as he will be a Dad as well (about time he was good at something!!!) Hobbies include Darts, being vain (the only greenkeeper ever to ask for a mirror in the shed), football management (retired from playing already due to numerous ankle injuries!!) and pre~natal classes.     

Greenkeeper: Phil Adams. Joined Chalgrave as a seasonal Greenkeeper in 2001 and has made it to the full time team (took over from Darren when he left for the second time!!). Phil joined us from Vauxhall Motors, so the Shed is now well equipped with tools!!! Phil is the most frequent winner of the "Jacket of Shame" (see below) but currently holds the Jacket for his latest escapade in sliding the roughcutter down the bank at the back of the 2nd green, through the post and rail fence, before coming to rest just inches from the main road!! Unfortunately for Phil, the mower would not move back onto the course under its own power, so the rest of the greenstaff had to be called to help out, with Robs off road (but only just) skills put to good use. Phil is 53, also lives in Toddington, married with two kids and one grandchild on the way (see entry for Darren, above!!!). Hobbies include Darts (surprise surprise), being a beer monster
(what??? this may provide a clue to the Jacket of Shame!!!) and Luton Town Football Club.

Greenkeeper: Tony Gibson. Joined Chalgrave in 1999 and we just can't get rid of him. Tony only drives motorised vehicles on the golf course, he own method of transport is his mountain bike (and he's been knocked off that twice!!!) doing an 18 mile a day round trip to work (he only lives 4 miles away but gets lost every day!!!). On one memorable occasion, having fallen asleep after work and waking up at 8.30pm, thinking he was late for work, cycled half way back to work, phoned Darren to say he was sorry for being late but was on the way in (Darren was with Rob and Phil in the pub... playing darts!!!) before realising that something might not be quite right as it was starting to get dark!!!! Tony works every weekend doing the bunkers and tee markers (we haven't explained the concept of weekends to Tony!). He is worth his weight in gold (he's a light bugger!!) as he takes on all the small, irritating jobs like bunkers, strimming etc etc. Tony is 57, (58 in a few days 29th Sept), single (so is in competition with Rob) but doesn't have a cat or Vintage Action Man perversion. His hobbies are collecting Motorcycle models and is renowned for eating a whole loaf of bread for lunch EVERY DAY!! (one day it might get sliced and some filling put
in it!!!!!). A word of advice....never ask Tony if he is feeling alright...unless you have the rest of the day to spare!!!

The Jacket of Shame
"awarded for gross incompetence of the highest order"

Current Holder:
Tony Gibson:.....Fri 28th October...Tony regained the jacket in spectacular style......and my thanks to a club member for his sense of humour in making the point so well.....Tony was white lining....down the left hand side of the 11th green as you look at the green from the fairway, and across the bridge and around the front of the yellow stakes...Darren was supervising and took his eye off the ball for just a second but it was enough for Tony to include 9/10ths of the bridge INSIDE the white line!!!! A member, playing the 11th, hesitated for just a second before balancing precariously on the remaining 1/10th of the bridge and pulling his trolley through the ditch!!!! Darren looked on incredulously, wondering what the hell was going on until he realised where the line was.....Tony was relegated to driving the tractor... until Tony tried to cross the bridge without crossing the white line!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

Darren Adams....7th October 05, Friday afternoon, cutting the 4th fairway, is halfway through the job when a group of golfers arrive on the tee, with another group on the 3rd green behind them. Daz decides to go elsewhere for a while and goes off to cut the 2nd fairway. Saturday morning, beautiful stripes and short grass on the right hand side of the 4th fairway, no stripes and light rough on the left hand side, as Daz had forgotten to go back and finish it!!!

The Jacket, flourescent orange in colour, signifies an act of gross incompetence of the highest order. Fine examples for each greenkeeper exist:

Rob Parr....asking Steve for a new compressor when the old one packed up....the old one worked fine when the plug was inserted into the electrical socket!!!!
Darren Adams....for asking for assistance as the drill bit wouldn't go into the material as expected. When the drill was set to run forwards, the problem seemed to disappear!!!
Phil Adams.... so many choices, so little time....but see above for the latest one...
Tony Gibson....managing to have a crash between two mowers, one of which was stationary at the time(not his one). Bearing in mind that there is 150 acres of manoeuvring space to work with, this is quite an exceptional effort.

Greenstaff Requests

BUNKER RAKES: Please leave all rakes IN the bunker when you have finished with it. There are two reasons for this....

1. If you hit the rake with your ball, then you must have hit the ball into the bunker in the first place, whereas if the rake is left outside the bunker, a ball that otherwise might have missed could be deflected into the bunker, and
2. Every time someone leaves the rake outside the bunker, we have to get off the mower to move it before we can cut the grass. All of our machines have safety switches so that we cannot get off the mower and leave the cutting units running, therefore the machines either have to be switched off or will switch off automatically. There are 32 bunkers on the course (which isn't a lot) but the amount of time we waste on this is significant, not to mention the extra wear and tear on the machinery from constant stop/starting.

Warning Sign for 3rd Green:

On the 1st tee is a sign that asks for players not to tee off until the 3rd green is clear of players. We bruise just as easily as golfers and would appreciate it if you would make sure that we are off the green as well!!! The same applies to all areas of the course, we try to keep out of your way as much as possible, but we do have to get the course cut. Please make sure that we are out of range...strangely enough, your voice shouting "fore" from 200 + yards away doesn't quite penetrate the 100+ decibels of the Hayter diesel engines whilst wearing aircraft grade ear defenders (with a walkman on underneath them) except Chris Baker's laugh (what are you laughing at anyway, you are here to play golf, not enjoy yourself) which we can hear perfectly from anywhere on the course.

Pitchmarks:

Every golf club suffers this, but the principle is quite straightforward. If your ball lands on a soft surface at any speed, the impact damage will require repairing. If you don't repair it, the damage caused will take weeks to grow out, ruining the green surface for sometime. An unrepaired pitchmark also seems to attract additional damage from the crows and rabbits, probably something to do with the breach in the  surface. Therefore, if you are good enough to hit the green with your ball, please be good enough to repair the damage as well.......and why not repair another one while you are there.

Fascinating Facts:

If you were to cut the 8th fairway with your 18" cut garden lawnmower, you would have to walk 21 miles to do it....and that's only if you get the overlap exactly right, all of the time!!!!

We use about 1,000,000 gallons of water over the whole of the summer to irrigate the greens... Wentworth uses 250,000 gallons a NIGHT to irrigate the West Course!!!!

The main mowers, 1 x Fairway, 1 x Light Rough, 1 x Rough, 1 x Tees and 2 x Greens adds up to £150,000 worth of equipment alone!!

A single 25Kg bag of grass seed (Bent grass for the greens) costs £400!!!!

To spray the greens ONCE, if they are attacked by a turf disease such as fusarium, costs around £800 for the chemical alone!!!!

Many thanks for your co~operation from Rob and his team, we are all here to ensure that you get what you want, the best course that we can provide, as often as we can.