The Team:
Pat, Gareth, Jack, Sam
Team now up to 5.
Will update with new photo soon.
From The Greenkeeper
The course: Latest news
Keeping you informed when course is closed
Sam is going to text me whenever the course is closed.
I will post updates on this site.
Will try to give you as much information as possible.
Tuesday 24th September 2024
Following the heavy rain the course remains closed today.
You can see from photos that full course will not be open tomorrow.
Hoping to get a few holes open.
Before an iron
Matted and ironed
Wednesday 10th April 2024
Greens were spiked on Monday. 30 tonnes of sand applied to greens yesterday.
Currently matting the sand and ironing the greens. Apologies for any disruption.
Friday 26th March 2024
Another 80 tonnes of sand has been delivered so work on bunkers re-starts.
Sam and his team have now completed holes 1 to 5.
They plan to rework all the bunkers.
The bunkers are dug out and if the bunkers are too shallow they are dug out further. Fresh sand is then applied.
Following the recent heavy rain and flooding you can see the difference this has made.
The top photo is hole 4, and the photo below that is hole 15. The reworked bunkers are draining well.
Sam noticed that whilst the reworked bunkers have been draining well. The first hole bunker that had been reworked was not.
So Sam and his team are now putting drainage in which should solve the problem.
From The Greenkeeper: Tuesday 27th February 2024
There is still a small flow of water form the adjacent field onto the 9th Tee area. On the Friday 5th January it was a deep torrent, now it is a very slow. This means that the course will have a chance to drain over the next few days.
The flooding as a result around the 9th Tee is much improved.
On Friday 5th January the ladies Tee on the 6th was an island. It is now clear of standing water. So the course is draining well.
It will be a few days before you can walk on the fairway without causing damage.
This is the view looking up the 18th. I walked down the 18th fairway to get to the 9th Tee.
Despite the fairway looking largely flood free, it was very soft and slippery underfoot.
Looking good over the next few days, so I expect the course to drain and be much improved by end of this week. Will post an update on Friday 12th January
From The Greenkeeper: Monday 8th January 2024
There is still a small flow of water form the adjacent field onto the 9th Tee area. On the Friday 5th January it was a deep torrent, now it is a very slow. This means that the course will have a chance to drain over the next few days.
The flooding as a result around the 9th Tee is much improved.
On Friday 5th January the ladies Tee on the 6th was an island. It is now clear of standing water. So the course is draining well.
It will be a few days before you can walk on the fairway without causing damage.
This is the view looking up the 18th. I walked down the 18th fairway to get to the 9th Tee.
Despite the fairway looking largely flood free, it was very soft and slippery underfoot.
Looking good over the next few days, so I expect the course to drain and be much improved by end of this week. Will post an update on Friday 12th January
From The Greenkeeper: Monday 8th January 2024
On the 9th Tee looking towards the 8th
On the 9th Tee looking towards 5th Tee
Popped in to see Sam and his team today, to wish them a happy new year and to see how the course had got on with the overnight rain.
Gareth and Pat took me down to the 9th Tee so I could see extend of flooding. The problem is the amount of water from adjacent fields flowing on to the golf course. The above videos were taken standing on the 9th Tee. You can see the amount of water pouring on the course. This has left the area around the 6th and 8th under water.
Sam is pleased with the drainage on the course, just need adjacent flooding to stop. All the ditches are full to overflowing and have no flow as yet.
Will keep you updated
Brian M
From The Greenkeeper: Friday 5th January 2024
Ongoing work
Sam and his team will be looking to redo the bunkers over the winter. Typically, trying to get 3 done per week. This will involve tidying up, fresh sand and re-facing.
The re-seeding has gone well. Sam and his team will re-seed as needed in the future. This should help the tee areas in particular.
Work continues on the Par 3 greens, which are now much improved.
Irrigation will be drained down for the winter months. After Xmas a new generator will be installed as well as rewiring. Maintenance support will be in place. Going forward we do not intend to have a repeat of the issues with irrigation.
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Fairway Spiking
In the next few weeks depending on the weather the fairways will be spiked.
This will improve the drainage on the fairways.
24th October 2023
Buggy ban is regrettable, however unavoidable in current conditions.
Shown here is damage with trollies around the 18th
24th October 2023
Greens and Tees hollow cored
Greens and Tees verticut and hollow cored on 23rd October
This will improve drainage and encourage roots to grow deeper.
Greens in good shape on 24th October
20th October 2023.
Wet Wet and Wetter. Coarse Closed
Maintenance in August
Sam and his team have been very busy during the time the course was closed for maintenance.
They worked from 5am till 4pm on the Monday. 5am start on Tuesday but given how wet it was they packed up at 2pm. 5 am start on Wednesday finally finishing at 4pm making the most of a nice day.
What did they do:-
1. Scarified the greens, which rips the thatch out.
2. Vertidrained the greens, deep spiking to break the ground up underneath.
3. Seeded whole area of greens
4. Verticut greens
5. Sanded the greens. (60 tonnes of sand!!!!)
After sanding the greens it was so wet they had to give up on Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday the sand dried out nicely allowing them to spread the sand out on the greens.
Spoke to Sam yesterday who was pleased to see the newly seeded grass coming through.
Sam and his team
31st July 2023
It is with great pleasure that we announce the new signing of Pat, our new greenkeeper. Pat will be a great asset to the team, we can't wait to train him up and watch him develop. I'm sure you'll give him a warm welcome
May 5th 2023
Well, what a busy week it's been getting ready for another Bank Holiday weekend. The lads have pulled it out of the bag this week. Everything has been cut and looking fresh despite it being a short week. Hope you all enjoy it out there
April 7th 2023
A glorious start to the Bank Holiday weekend. Who's joining us
March 18th 2023
Final preparations have been carried out this morning ready for today's first major tournament of the year. Tournament of Champions.
Greens have been cut and ironed, tees cut, and all bunkers raked. We've also put new tee markers, flags, and hole cups out.
Good luck to all playing.
February 17th 2023
The course always looks better with a stripe on it.
You're in for a treat this weekend. The lads have been busy mowing this week.
Enjoy
Jan 5th 2023
Work on the bunker at the 2nd is now nearing completion. We've filled half of this in and reshaped it due to the tree roots growing in it. Once the time is rite we will seed the area and hopefully have some lush green grass growing on it
Dec 12th 2022
Just because the course is closed doesn't mean we get to relax. Today we've been starting machinery maintenance, this includes changing the engine oil and filters along with sharpening the cutting blades. As well as preparing new tee blocks to go out on the course.