Slade valley - course condition

finglashoop

Played Slade Valley this afternoon. I had played it once previously a few years ago and my memory was it was a nice track.

Course condition was very poor overall, special mention for the 12 (i think) which had tyre track marks all down the fairway. 13 was similar.

Most greens were dead with no run at all, exception of a couple which were a bit faster.

Fairways look like they need a cut and it was very soggy which was a surprise considering the recent weather.
Managed to plug a ball where i could barely see the top of it just off the side of a fairway ( in fairness it was roped off) but was a surprise.

Is there a problem up there? I wont be going back. With such a great day it was total letdown.

We left after 15 holes and i can say it is head and shoulders the worst course ive played.

Russman

Unfortunately 3 days of sunshine doesn’t do a whole lot coming off the wettest April in 80 years, and a first quarter (Jan-Mar) with 79% more rain in the greater Dublin area than the same quarter last year.

12 & 13 are particularly bad to be fair, 12 more so as 13 is a par 3 so it doesn’t matter so much. I think they tried to do something with the fairways during the week but it was obviously still a little too soft for machinery.

On the flip side I believe they’re sanding the place this coming week (weather permitting) and funding is in place to replace older greens machinery, I know they’ve been trialling new equipment recently so hopefully it starts to improve.

finglashoop

Russman wrote: »

Unfortunately 3 days of sunshine doesn’t do a whole lot coming off the wettest April in 80 years, and a first quarter (Jan-Mar) with 79% more rain in the greater Dublin area than the same quarter last year.

12 & 13 are particularly bad to be fair, 12 more so as 13 is a par 3 so it doesn’t matter so much. I think they tried to do something with the fairways during the week but it was obviously still a little too soft for machinery.

On the flip side I believe they’re sanding the place this coming week (weather permitting) and funding is in place to replace older greens machinery, I know they’ve been trialling new equipment recently so hopefully it starts to improve.

It would want to improve a lot imo.

Maybe the drainage isnt great up there but other courses dont seem to have the saame problem.

The difference was night and day comparing to st margarets last week which was in superb condition and elm green before that which is always in great nick.

GreeBo

finglashoop wrote: »

It would want to improve a lot imo.

Maybe the drainage isnt great up there but other courses dont seem to have the saame problem.

The difference was night and day comparing to st margarets last week which was in superb condition and elm green before that which is always in great nick.

It's pretty unfair to compare slade valley to those two courses, it's not exactly like for like location wise.

There has been ridiculous rain in that part of Dublin not to mention several metres of sitting snow long after the thaw everywhere else.

You can't complain about long fairways AND tyre marks...

finglashoop

GreeBo wrote: »

It's pretty unfair to compare slade valley to those two courses, it's not exactly like for like location wise.

There has been ridiculous rain in that part of Dublin not to mention several metres of sitting snow long after the thaw everywhere else.

You can't complain about long fairways AND tyre marks...

I didnt say it was like for like hence the question about drainage.

I live close to elm green and margarets and work close to slade valley. I dont think the weather was kind to any course lately.

I have no problem with long fairways you must have misunderstood, the cut i referred to was the length of the grass, i do have a problem with tyre tracks all down a fairway though.

GreeBo

finglashoop wrote: »

I didnt say it was like for like hence the question about drainage.

I live close to elm green and margarets and work close to slade valley. I dont think the weather was kind to any course lately.

I have no problem with long fairways you must have misunderstood, the cut i referred to was the length of the grass, i do have a problem with tyre tracks all down a fairway though.

Like for like location wise, one is in the Dublin mountains for gods sake! Talk about apples to oranges.

I'll guarantee there was still feet of snow on slade valley long after it was gone from st Margarets.

I'm talking about long grass on the fairway, that's done because they can't get the mowers on without damaging the ground with tyre tracks!
The grass cutting, levitating mowers are fierce expensive you see and sure they probably didn't know you were coming.

Russman

GreeBo wrote: »

Like for like location wise, one is in the Dublin mountains for gods sake! Talk about apples to oranges.

I'll guarantee there was still feet of snow on slade valley long after it was gone from st Margarets.

I'm talking about long grass on the fairway, that's done because they can't get the mowers on without damaging the ground with tyre tracks!
The grass cutting, levitating mowers are fierce expensive you see and sure they probably didn't know you were coming.

Absolutely. There was indeed feet (even metres in places) of snow up there for weeks after the storm event, there was even a second snow event around St Patrick’s Day that only topped it back up. Some of the staff had to park in Rathcoole and walk up. One of the neighbours actually skied down to Saggart (seriously !)

To be specific on drainage, there are 4 or 5 bad spots have developed in recent years. Slade kind of got caught in the perfect storm of building new holes 12, 13 & 14 (two as mentioned by the Op) right around the time the recession hit. The fall off in members that a lot of clubs experienced, coupled with trimming non essential costs meant that the annual sanding program was suspended for a number of years and i don’t think (not 100% sure tbh) that the slit drains were ever put into 2 of the 3 new holes.

They put in new drainage last year on some holes and were to re start sanding last autumn but the weather turned too quickly to get the machinery on the course so it was postponed to the spring - like I say, I believe it’s to be done this coming week, but I’m not really in the loop. They did scarrify fairways last week but clearly a few holes were still too soft for machInery hence the tyre marks on those two holes.

kopkidda

Tough time of year to be a green keeper, that's for sure.