Course News

Course opening times 
We would just like to reiterate opening times for the course. The course opens at 7.30am from the 1st tee only. We have had requests to play before the 7.30 start time particularly on week ends and sometimes before competitions, including starting play from various tees on the course including the 4th and 10th. These requests were denied and this is not something that we can allow to happen. The green keepers have tight timelines to get the course prepared for our members to have the best possible playing surfaces for their game. It is not an easy job cutting all the greens, making sure all the bunkers are fresh and raking them again if they are not and conducting general tee repairs and preparation work and still not inconvenience anyone playing the course. To have golfers teeing off at various points on the course would make this impossible and certainly impact on the quality of the course for everyone over the entire day.

Pond
The pond that has replaced the problematic bunker on the 3rd has now been completed with the exception of the waterfall. Until the grass grows around the perimeter and therefore making the ground more compact and safer to walk on this will be deemed GUR. We hope you like the look of what has been constructed and it's definitely in play from the amount of balls already in there!

Greens
The greens have now recovered nicely from the gradening exercise and feel firmer under foot from the removed thatch. They are still being cut at the summer height of 3.5 mm and will continue in the short term according to dictations from the weather.

Course Update November 09

During the week commencing 16th November we will be performing routine maintenance in the form of verti draining the greens. It is essential this process is done to relieve compaction that has built up in the greens over the summer season and to ensure the greens continue to be in good health for the winter months. Currently, the greens are holding a lot of water through compaction and thatch and can be subject to flooding with rainfall. This task will allow the greens to drain more freely allowing play to continue rather than having periods of course closures as well as reducing the amount of foot prints that may be present through the winter months.

The verti drain will punch holes at regular spacing’s to a depth of up to 10 inches with the heave setting on maximum. The heave is when the solid tine enters the soil square with the surface and the bottom then pitch’s up to 10 degrees before coming out of the same hole. This is a very effective way of breaking up sub soil compaction, only leaving a 10mm hole as it exits the green.

Because the compaction and moisture retention levels are high, we are planning to cover the greens twice at different depths so that we can get a good amount of oxygen into the soil. A trial will be carried out before we make a final decision on whether we go ahead with the second pass.

How will this affect the roll of the ball?
There’s no denying that the surface will be affected by this operation and you will notice the holes for a short period but please remember that this is a good for the performance of the green. Every effort will be made to aid the recovery rate by rolling straight behind the machine which will leave the surface true and smooth. The greens will go a little bumpy with traffic but we will roll them again to reduce footprints.

There will be no green closures during this operation.  

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Previous Course News:
October 2009
September 2009
April 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008