March 2023 (Click to Expand)
Since my February report we have had a mixed bag of weather, from warm sunny days, hard frosts, high winds and snow fall.
The high winds resulted in a couple of trees blowing down amongst the avenue on 3rd and 4th semi rough. These were just two small 20ft trees that we chopped up and disposed off due to the nature of them. We have continued to work towards the allocated allowance of trees to meet our quota with regards the Forestry Commission plan and have only 7 trees left to remove between 7th and 9th fairways.
We have been dropping off onto this work while the weather has been bad and the course is closed as it’s a dangerous area to work when golf is operational, therefore when the course is closed we can work safely and effectively. Over the last two to three weeks while weather hampered us, we have also been processing split logs in preparation for next year and have cleared an area inside the main machinery shed to store them and allow them to dry.
After speaking with Ian, the beech tree at the start of the 12th avenue that was marked to be removed last year, was trimmed back to try and save it as it was decaying. After monitoring it last year and then into this year it was showing severe signs of disease and rot. It was decided that we had tried our best to prolong and preserve the tree but now the time had come to remove it. This was carried out last week during the snowfall and the tree was felled safely and the majority of smaller limbs and branches were burnt on site, the remainder of the trunk was cut up, split and taken off site.
All the new tee markers that we cut, dried out, nailed have now all had the bodies stained with two coats of Ronseal and the end facias double coated in either white, red and yellow and are ready to be put out at the start of the new playing season. All the course furniture is now completed with the same stain, but some seats as I reported last month needed a bit of attention to repair them. So far we have only lost one seat completely but that has been replaced with a seat purchased in remembrance of Mr. Gary Amos through his friends. The seats as they have been completed have been put back onto the course as we’ve completed them.
A friend of mine Mr Kevin McArdle who has his own landscape and fencing company had 20 rolls of left over turf. He kindly dropped it off for us free of charge. After we had re-installed the new pipe at the 3rd green we back filled with gravel and root zone and intended to over seed it. During this time the rabbits have had a field day scratching out the root zone. With the turf Kevin provided, I decided that we would turf the whole drain line, as far as we could from the front to the back of the green. This has tidied up the area massively and will knit in far much quicker than the intended seed. The 20 rolls got us the full length of the approach and the out of play areas we will seed, preseason.
All the bunkers have been edged and shaped with the half-moon turfing iron and long handled shears. The top bunkers have been rotavated but due to hard frosts the bottom bunkers were just edged and tidied. There are several bunkers that needed more work and reshaping. Again after my last meeting with Ian we agreed that the two bunkers on the 6th be re-shaped.
The left one was to be made a better shape in the bottom and slightly larger and the right side one to reshape the bottom and to lose “the eyebrow “from the top. Both these are now done and just require a little landscape and fresh sand. We also agreed that the 15th over hang be removed and the face turfed, this has been shaped and the face requires backfill when weather allows, but will keep original sand. The 11th right side bunker is to dig out and the sand be used to top up left green side bunker and replace the right side bunker with new, as last season we temporarily topped it.The right side 14th bunker lip was to reshape to try and deflect the water from washing the bunker out. This channel has been lifted so now the water will be diverted away from the bunker, this will also be topped up pre-season. The new sand is ordered and will be literally the last thing to do. This way with the bad weather the sand will be fresh and not contaminated with all the bad weather we are having and will be fresh for the start of the season.
I ordered all the oil and fuel filters for the machines last month and they arrived at the start of this month. I’m currently working my way through the machines, changing filters, greasing units and frames and repairing any faults I notice along the way in preparation of the season.
Along with this work we have continued to clean car park of leaves, grit car park and pathways when needed, change holes, rake bunkers, dress wet areas with sand, move ropes to spread wear. We have cut tees and approaches when possible and also greens. The team and myself are also taking the remaining days of our annual holiday allowance before the end of this month. Jeff and Jack have had there full allowance, Colin is off next week and I’m off the last week of March which will complete 2022/23 holidays.
Finally an incident occurred on Tuesday 7th March, a senior member, Mr J. Lamont slipped while approaching the 18th green and fell. Although he was fine, albeit a little shaken he was helped up by his playing partners and completed his round. I was approached by Mr Lamont minutes later in the car park as I had been fitting a new toilet lock in the male toilets. Mr Lamont explained what had happened and said it was extremely dangerous. I pointed out and tried to explain to Mr Lamont that we would hoop the area and dress it with sand, as we have done other areas to help access. I also explained that at 9.30 when the seniors teed off the ground was white frost and hard. By 1pm when they were completing their round the sun was now out and the frost had thawed. I explained we can try and direct golfers as best as we can, with roped areas, signage but the players themselves have to be vigilant and have a certain degree of mindfulness regarding changing ground conditions and take appropriate action, if required. Following that I explained the only other possibility is to close the course when it’s wet.
If this was the result over the winter we would never be open. We as a club and staff monitor the course daily and move ropes when needed, sand wet areas and try and provide a service that the members pay for, we understand and take seriously the duty of care regarding to members safety, but they equally need to take some responsibility.. If they feel they are at risk, walk off and bring to the attention of the club.
Hope this can shed a bit light on the situation and the controls we use over what is tricky ground conditions over the winter months
Thanks Regards
David
February 2023 (Click to Expand)
Greens Report
February 2023
Now that January is out the way, we are another month nearer to the season. The weather hasn’tbeen too bad as we eased into February. Day time temperatures have been hanging around late single and early double figures which has allowed us to do a little early preparation.
With the weather being as it was we have continued to apply seaweed to the greens but we have also managed to apply a liquid feed, an application of liquid iron and also a half rate application of some left over granulated fertiliser from the end of last season, a proper autumn winter analysis.
We have repositioned some roped off areas, spread root zone, over seeded and fertilised walk off areas with old left over fertiliser in hope that with the current conditions of warm and damp that maybe we gain some early germination, if not there is nothing lost as the root zone and fertiliser will boost recovery when we do have some growth and we will continue to seed in early spring.
Once we had applied our liquid products the sprayer was removed from the tractor and the Verdidrain was installed. The verti-drain was set a depth of 8-9 inches and over 3-4 days all the greens were aerated, I started on 10th green as it is probably the wettest green and on the final day of aeration I returned to 10 to give it a double spike. The process has gone extremely well and will help with water passing through the soil profile and create new areas for spring time root structure and development.
We have been able to get buggies back on with the ground conditions being substantially drier, which when the course signage and buggy rules are followed allows safe passage around the course, this is still monitored on a daily basis. While this work on the greens of spraying and aeration was being carried out, the staff were continuing to tidy up the course by trimming lower limbs throughout the copses, trimming back gorse bushes in overflow car park, chipping and weeding the path edges at 5th, 6th,7th,8th,9th,10th,16th and 17th. Upon the completion of these paths the final result in my opinion looked really good. We still have small areas to complete but these will be carried out over the following week.
We have also power brushed the tees to remove worm casts and have cut the tees 3 times in the last 3 weeks to tidy them in preparation for spring fertiliser. We have also brushed the greens after the verti drain and cut twice at a height of 4.5mm and also cut once round the approaches.
We needed to replace two irrigation valve assemblies to allow automatic irrigation to be successful, one was 4th green 5th tee and the second was 9th green 10th tee. Both these valves were dug out and A.V Irrigation have renewed both valves and we have now back filled and reinstated the areas.
As you are all probably aware Ian and myself try to meet up and have a course inspection every 6-8 weeks to see what has gone on, plan future work and to bounce ideas against one another to
improve the course. Well we had such inspection last Saturday and we both agreed that at the end of this season we should plan and look into draining the 10th green. What I will do is plan and price up what I feel would be the best options. It won’t be a full green rebuild as it was levelled in early 90’s it just simply needs some herringbone drainage installed and connected to existing drain system from 15th. I will over the next 6-8 document my plans and forward them to the directors.
Finally I have spoken to Ian this weekend about the state of the course furniture. We brought the seats in to dry out in October and rubbed them all down. We have started to stain them, but have found several are rotting, rotting that badly that the wood is crumbling away. A few years ago ( while I was at Slaley ) Malcolm Allison repaired several seats, about 2 years ago we had to discard a couple as they were unrepairable, after asking Malcolm was their anything we could do. A lot of the seats that are rotting are all over 30 years old and I feel the families may have no connection to the club any more. What I propose is to manufacture like a “perch bench” to lean against with a small railway sleeper top. Then we can remove the original name plates and fix them to the new bench. Not many people at all sit on the seats we have, but to remove them would not be an option without replacing them and to replace a wooden seat comes at a cost of £200 upwards depending on quality. I have priced up for the wood alone and for just less than £100 I can manufacture 4 what I call perch benches. These will be 120cm in length, 75cm in height, the top comes in 2 options, first option 9in x 2 in or 6in x 2 in.
9 x 2 ( 4.8m length ) = £60….. this will give us 4 tops
6 x 2 ( 4.8m length ) = £26….. this will give us 4 tops
8ft 3 x 3 posts halved will give both legs = £9 per bench
I will get a diagram drawn up and get a copy for the directors to be able to visualise for the meeting
Regards David
January 2023 (Click to Expand)
Firstly I’d like to take a moment to wish the Directors, members and all the staff of Consett & District Golf Club a happy, prosperous and healthy New Year. Let’s hope 2023 is a good season for us all.
Leading up to Christmas there were a few jobs that we wanted to tie up for over the festive period and also prepare for others between Christmas and New Year.
One of my main priorities was to try and spray the greens, the frosts and snow had put pay to this but the mild spell leading up to Christmas week couldn’t have come at a better time. We managed to spray with Stress Buster and seaweed, we still need to spray some liquid iron at our first next opportunity.
I also wanted all the machines cleaned down, degreased and pressure washed down in preparation for the winter servicing programme. All Flymo’s and strimmers plus hand tools have been cleaned.
As mentioned in last months’ report we had cleared all the damaged trees to the rear of the fourth tee apart from one which is leaning badly, but this will be removed in the coming week. I also mentioned Phase One of our felling licence was near completion at the 7th and 9th and this is continuing at present ( 8 trees remain to be felled and 2 pruned ) to work within our dead line for the end of the month and then Phase Two will commence end of Jan to April. Currently with the annualised hours, January we are on a 6 hour day to compensate for our extra 9 hr days throughout September which should be an 8 hour day.
The drain at the 3rd has been left open to ensure we have no problems before we back fill the ditch and lay the new pipe. We have extended the ditch further than we initially intended due to the amount of gravel stuck in the pipe. We originally had dug out 15 meters by hand then extended it to 25meters when we saw the amount of debris in the pipe. I kept it to 25m as normally a roll of pipe is 25m, but 6inch pipe comes in a 50m roll so we have now extended the ditch the full length of the green, hopefully this will result in no further issues. The new pipe has been installed and backfilling is nearly complete, we have a wiring connection to finish and the test holes to fill. This will be completed totally this week.
Between Christmas and New Year while the staff were on holiday I managed to get all the fairways deep tine slit with our tractor mounted sisis slitter. Some heavy traffic areas in the semi rough and roped areas were also slit to a depth of about 8-10inches. This continued aeration work on the fairways over the last several years is now showing signs of continued improvement especially in the drainage of surface water.
We are still continuing with our day to day duties of blowing leaves, dewi greens, raking bunkers, moving ropes, sanding wet and worn areas, along with changing holes and gritting car parks and steps when need.
As you are all aware the path from the buggy rank to Jack Temperley Memorial stone was completed in December as a “tester “ due to the cold, frosty, wintery weather. The company returned the following day and confirmed it was too cold to continue and would look at returning in the New Year. I didn’t hold much hope, as we all know the weather can be brutal in Consett during the winter months. Being nearly1000ft above sea level and north facing does us very few favours, but luckily a mild spell hit us and the path installers arrived on Wednesday 4th Jan. The weather couldn’t have been better. They started at the starters hut and worked back towards the clubhouse,
by the end of day one they were at the driving net. Thursday we transported the materials to them and by the end of the day they were at the flag pole. Friday was a case of starting at the 18th green and working back to the junction at Temperley stone and connecting all the junctions. Again we transported the materials to the site and by 4pm on Friday the path was completed. It was cordoned off over the weekend to allow the resin to set properly. It was agreed that single seaters were to be taken off on Thursday and Friday again to allow the surface to cure properly, but then on Saturday single seater buggies were reinstated. The finished path looks really good I’m sure you’ll all agree.
One final thing I’d like to bring to the attention of the Directors and members, we seem to have a lot of divots appearing on the fairways, can I remind people that winter fairway mats are in use or pick up and play from the semi-rough. Also playing from winter tee mats is not optional, yet again some members feel that it is acceptable to tee up on the grass at the 6th instead of using the mat provided! Could I please ask members to adhere to the Winter Playing rules and refrain from causing unnecessary damage to the course, especially when grass recovery at this time of year is ZERO !
Regards David
December 2022 (Click to Expand)
With the heavy rain and the snow that we have encountered over the last couple of weeks it has given us a bit of time to catch up tidying the main shed and to start cleaning the machinery down in preparation for their winter servicing.
While we were burning the rubbish we also noticed the “ boiler room “ at the clubhouse was in a disgusting state and was like a dumping ground and posed quite a few issues regarding health and safety. There were tins of paint, thinners, wood stain and multiple flammables, not only that but with Joanne having to pressurise the boiler on a daily basis she was having to clamber over a jet washer, hoses and garden tools. It has now been completely emptied and access is easy with no hazards.
The pitfalls on 12th and 13th have now been completed and the Coal Board have been sent all the relevant information regarding the repairs for them to then release the funds upon completion.
We have brought in all the course furniture and washed it all down in preparation for staining and repairs. We have also had a delivery from Harelaw sawmill with the 6ft x 3in round posts to make 108 new tee markers for the start of the new season. These posts are drying out and will be completed over the next few weeks.
After digging the 1st and 18th path out in preparation for the laying of the new path it was discovered that we needed to do a few more alterations. These alterations were discovered after the digger we hired had gone back. I contacted Paddy ( ACE Engineering ) and we managed to borrow their digger for 2 days, free of charge to allow work to commence on time. All the gravel and hardcore that was removed was spread out on the road behind the clubhouse that connects the main car park to the overflow car park. Once it was levelled we used our “ wacker plate “to consolidate the surface and it has proved to be a great quick fix at minimal cost.
After storm Arwen last year we managed the best we could to tidy up the devastation that was caused. All the loose and dangerous trees were removed and fallen limbs chopped up. Some of the trees that had snapped in half were left standing as they posed no safety issues until we could get them removed. Over the last 2 weeks we have completely tidied the rear of the 4th tee that was badly damaged, all the snapped trees in question have been removed ( tree No.30-44 )
We have also started part of our forestry plan and thinning of health wood between 7th and 9th fairway. Due to our quoter we can take an average of 13 trees a quarter and with the work we have done we have 9 more trees to fell before end of January and then “phase two” will take us to April.
Finally I’d like to thank the Directors for their continued support. As we all know at times it can be a thankless task and you all give your personal time to the well-being of the Golf Club and to support myself and the staff which is much appreciated. Can I take this opportunity to wish you all and the members a very Merry Christmas and a healthy, happy New Year
Regards David
October 2022 (Click to Expand)
Last month hasn’t really seen much change from the previous months regarding different work, the priority has been to keep the course tidy as we come to the end of competition golf. We have started to raise the height of cut ever so slightly on the greens and will continue to do so over the coming 4- 6 weeks depending on the weather, until we get to our desired winter height of 5mm. The reason is to get as much healthy grass coverage on the greens to help protect them over the coming colder months where we get no recovery due to shorter, colder and frosty days.
Following our ‘ hollow coring ‘ the results have been great with very little disruption. We have continued to sarel roll the greens on a monthly basis and this will continue throughout the winter months when weather allows.
I have applied another application of wetting agent and seaweed, again this will continue throughout the winter months on a monthly basis when weather allows.
Following the application of ‘wetter’ I applied a winter stress buster liquid which has had a great effect and result on the green. Our autumn/winter granular fertiliser was delivered last week and will be applied next week.
I hope that over the next 10 days we will get all the semi rough and fairways cut which will probably be the last full cut of the year, areas will be monitored and cut accordingly if and when needed.
Since the last meeting I have identified and done a full report for our tree felling programme, I have number tagged the trees and logged them in species and approximate cubic meter for Phase 1 of our plan. If anyone wishes to see this report please just ask.
Turfcare had borrowed our hollow corer and in return I borrowed their Harvey Auto rake. As we all know our 15th tee is pretty poor regards grass coverage and ground levels. Before Turfcare borrowed our hollow corer I double passed the 15th and removed the cores. With Turfcare’s machine I have ripped the top surface off and used it to grade the tee level as best we could, we will add some divot mix and rake it level as best as we can as a quick fix and over seed it. It will be interesting to see the results as we have nothing to lose!
The wet area at the first fairway next to the 150yd marker has now been fixed. We were not sure of the source of water as that area has been a problem area ever since I joined as a junior member in 1987. All we think it can be is a natural spring. Anyway we have unearthed an existing drainage network that was installed in 1998 and uncovered the pipe. We cleaned off the plastic pipe and put 50 litres of water in to ensure the system was working correctly. Within minutes the water was flowing into the drainage ditch at the ‘holly bush’ 3rd open ditch. So we have dug out by hand across the 1st fairway and tapped into the existing system and connected with a Y-joint. We have piped, backfilled with gravel and topped the drain line up with hollow cores and over seeded. I’m quietly confident that this will rectify the issue for good.
As I’m sure you’re all aware we sustained a couple of acts of vandalism recently. First incident they attacked the 7th green badly, gouging out several old hole change cores, smashed bunker rake teeth into the putting surface until they broke, then with the hollow handle proceeded to use the hollow handle to stab 100+ holes. They destroyed the flag pole, pinched all the markers from 8th tee, 9th tee and 13th tee. They also removed and threw down the back of the tee the nice anodised tee marker with the hole lay out on. It was repaired as best I could on the Saturday and we rectified it properly on the Monday. Then sadly the following Tuesday/Wednesday they did the same to the 11th but not quite on the same scale. Again we repaired that immediately and put the ‘ thatch-away ‘ units over the greens to assist in recovery of the damage. With doing this and then the liquid fertiliser I mentioned earlier the damage is hard to see. For the last couple of weeks I have drove down on a night. The Police were informed but were not sure to what extent they can do. For the last couple of weeks on a Friday and Saturday night I have sat down the 8th hoping to deter or catch them, luckily nothing has occurred.
I have also phoned A.V Irrigation to get a system close down for the winter. They have given us a provisional date of Thursday 27th October, I also mentioned to them that we had reported the 18th valve assembly has a leak on ever since they replaced it in 2020. We will dig that out for them to inspect while here.
Finally we had a demo of the new Kubota RTV at the start of the month, we had it for 2 days and it was a great success. This wasn’t a surprise as we have had 2 previous RTV machines. Our current machine is 10 years old and was in need of replacing. Luckily we managed to secure the machine and took delivery of it on Thursday evening. I would like to thank the Directors for the investment into the course and machines, it is much appreciated and needed to continue moving forward.
Regards David
September 2022 (Click to Expand)
September has been another extremely busy month. We have continued to try and keep on top of cutting and to keep the course as well presented as possible.
We have continued to keep up with our monthly feed, pencil tining and wetting agent programme on the greens in-line with our annual maintenance plan. I plan for 5 applications which started in May with the first application and ending in September.
While some areas of the course have been burnt off due to the months of drought conditions, this has saved us some time on cutting and more so saved us diesel. We have taken this opportunity to catch up on some pruning and tidying up jobs. On the left side of 7th fairway there was a hawthorn choked up with ivy and leaning at a dangerous angle, for safety reason we removed it as well as some low limbs up 10th avenue that were damaging the machines.
Our Kubota RTV is on its last legs. Although it’s been a work horse, it is now past due replacement! We have had a demo machine and are looking to test others before making a final decision on the best way forward.
Hollow coring and our annual Maintenance Aeration programme was scheduled for the week beginning 5th Sept. Without being picky this was really a week that we could have done with being “bone” dry…….. it wasnt, but we had some much needed rain, 84mm actually over 3 days !!! All 19 greens were hollow cored at 5-1/2 inches deep with ¾ inch tines and cleared off by 2.00pm. This was a great achievement by the green staff. We got the attachments swapped over and top dressed the 5th to make sure everything was in place to continue first thing Tuesday morning. We were pleased to be able to have use of some equipment from Turfcare to assist the work, which saved a huge amount of time.
Good time was being made before then the rain hit. The sand was laid and after a few weeks the greens are showing great signs of recovery. In total we have approximately applied 42 tonnes of top dressing and over seeded with approximately 100kg of fescue seed.
The winter work programme has been agreed with the Greens Director, which the team will begin following the end of the competitive playing season.
As the season comes to a close, grass is starting to slow down, hopefully the weather will be kind over the autumn to assist us with some of the jobs we have left remaining and allow some germination of seed as the days get shorter and cooler.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank all the members that help out as volunteers, especially the divot fillers, as well as to Paul Charlton of Turfcare, but mainly to “ the lads “ for what has been a really physically demanding 7 to 10 days. Finally thank you to the Directors for their continued support.
Regards David
August 2022 (Click to Expand)
The end of July leading into August has had its challenges, mainly the lack of rain! This prolonged dry period has all over the country had or is having an effect on most. To try and save or reduce the stress to the grass mowing of fairways, semi rough and tees has been monitored and kept to a minimum. The greens have still been continued to be cut daily, but are monitored every day and are assessed accordingly.
Leading up to Tully cup we eventually got some well needed natural rain which perked the course up outstandingly well. During this damp period we sarrel rolled the greens and applied our monthly programme of seaweed, wetting agent and foliar feed, the timing was perfect and also were the results.
While grass cutting has been slow, it has allowed us to drop onto some jobs that normally we would struggle to do in the playing months. We have divotted all the fairways ( along with the help of the volunteers ), we have also been tidying low branches in the copses and the main impact area of the beech trees to the rear of the 6th green have been pruned and tidied. The whole surrounding area of the 5th medal tee has been brashed back and pruned along with the lane along to the cottages to allow deliveries.
It also allowed us time to spend some much needed time on maintenance of machines, from mid season oil changes, power washing down and re-greasing them all.
The irrigation system on the greens have been working overtime and has proved that investing money into the system has paid huge dividends to us as a club.
Some adjustments have been required on the greens side of the system where old heads have been replaced and some of the older heads had the wrong nozzles in, so after a day of investigation the heads were removed, stripped down and larger nozzles were fitted, this came at no cost other than time as I did the repairs in-house. The results have been promising.
I have just ordered the top dressing in preparation for our “maintenance week” at the start of September and I have also just ordered some new hollow tines, let’s keep our fingers crossed for some decent weather to allow a quick recovery.
Finally we have had a few incidents recently on the course from the local children, one such ongoing area of vandalism was the 7th green and 8th tee area but after catching them and having a chat with them it seems to have done the trick.
The other problem area was the 15th tee 14th green where the kids from the farm complex have caused damage and theft of markers etc and stabbing the pin into the greens. After a call last week from several members I chanced my luck and went door knocking and found the culprits, whose parents were only happy to help and have been brilliant in their approach to help stop such incidents. The father was happy enough to give me his number and if ever we have bother to phone him, this was greatly appreciated.
One more thing, I would like to thank “ the lads “ for all there help over such a tough time to be working outside, in such heat, they do it without complaint and I feel that they need a mention on my behalf as I’m only as good as the workers that support me….. and its cost me a fortune in ice lollies !!!
Regards David
July 2022 (Click to Expand)
Hello Everybody,
The month is mainly focussed on course maintenance as we are in the height of the season, preparing for monthly medals, mid-week medals, weekend competitions and club team games and of course general day to day play.
We are now into our 3rd application of our annual 4-6 wk liquid fertiliser and seaweed programme which has been in place for the last 4 years. The programme is providing fantastic results. We have a rooting system which has never been healthier, and in addition we are re-introducing a hollow coring programme.
We in the past have suffered massively from localised dry patch, compounded by the poor state of our irrigation system resulting us not being able to irrigate the greens when needed. Over the past few years our intention has been to increase the sward on the greens. Unfortunately, as the greens were so weak, moss started to invade these areas. Applications usually used worked against us due to the stress within the greens, therefore the addition of iron has been postponed temporarily. Further to the addition of iron, we would generally verti-cut ( remove lateral growth and unwanted top surface organic matter ). After issues with the machinery used to do this were resolved, verti-cutting began in the early part of the month, the first time in four months, with fantastic results. We aim to verti-cut several times each season. Watering routines are now in place regularly towards the end of the day and are producing superb results.
With the greens health and sward improving greatly, a working irrigation system and now these units functioning correctly I’m hopeful the moss will reduce and the finer grasses will flourish.
Jack Shotton who was with us throughout the winter months has been employed over the summer job and is currently taking courses in pesticide and fungicide spraying funded through the Government Kickstart scheme. Our cutting cylinders are in the process of being sharpened over the next few weeks, allowing a better quality of cut and stronger, healthier grass.
We have also taken delivery of our new Green-keeping Welfare units to replace the old Green-keeping Accommodation damaged by the winter storms. These are absolutely fantastic and will last the club for many years to come.
We would also like to thank John Davidson and Matty Searle for helping out with the divotting and also to Gary Kennedy for his work on the decking at the 10th tee where the halfway house once stood.
Many Thanks
David Stokoe
Head Greenkeeper