The Course

The Course Team have had a busy winter and looking forward to more of the same as the season starts.

Damage from traffic *
Some damage, particularly following heavy rain, is just unavoidable when a vehicle is required to visit each green 12 times per week just for basic maintenance, but we are looking to reduce the travel around the course using the new pathways where possible. We will look to aerate the high traffic areas to aid resilience to wear, and more guided routes to limit the damage to certain areas.
The ‘flipping’ of the Course (starting from 9th during winter) has noticeably assisted overall general playing area on Holes 1-8 and we will likely do the same at the end of this coming season.
The course was kept open as much as possible over the winter, including the use of buggies and trollies for members requiring them, but it is appreciated very much where members carried. The positive impact to the course cannot be overstated where members help in this way, as well as replacing divots and pairing pitch remarks. Please continue to help me and the team ensure you have the best possible playing surface during the main season.

Drainage*
We completed over 300 meters in house along with redraining all the new bunkers. Hand digging drains in areas with irrigation wire and pipes. We have added gully pots on areas where water regularly collects. We will see the full benefits of this when bad weather (inevitably) returns.
Externally our contractors have sand banded walk offs and approaches totalling an area of over 3000 m2.

Bunkers *
The old bunkers still cause the most headaches and take up the most man hours of any areas on the golf course. We are trying to increase sand levels, improve sand distribution, remove stones and improve playability. The new bunkers have levels that are easier to maintain but the old bunkers are contaminated by soil and stones and each time it rains we are back to the beginning. They are simply past their sell by date and why the bunker program is a mainstay in our course improvements over the next few years.
Over the winter, we rebuilt 7 green side, bunkers 2 refurbished bunkers on 8 and finished 2 brand new bunkers on the short game area putting us over halfway to renewing the green side bunkers on the course. The builds were led by the greens staff, and I think they have done a great job learning and improving on the method created last year.

The Putting Green.
Clearly the green suffered during the wet weather at the back end of 2024 and this was followed by a cold spell giving the grass no chance to recover over winter so we will look to strengthen the sward going into next winter and protect it more until the green can mature over the next few years.
The recovery of the surface has already started and we have tined, seeded top-dressed and fertilised it already. This will be done most months along with a boosted fertiliser program.
Signs of recovery are already showing.

Teeing areas*
Following the early cold spell at the end of autumn for the most part our tees have not fully recovered. It is clear that the tees on holes that have, benefited from early resting on mats, winter tees and larger teeing areas are in better shape. To improve quality going forward we will introduce an aeration program and look to create more winter teeing areas at the end of the 2025 season.

Trees
Tree Removal- each tree we take down we do so with great care and consideration. We use sun seeker and second sun apps to see where and how we can best introduce light and air into areas without reducing the strategy required to play the course.
I trust members appreciate the Tree crowning work completed i.e cutting lower level branches to open up areas. This retains the hazard but makes balls more readily findable and keep play moving.

We take our ecological and environmental responsibilities very seriously and continue to work to best practice and the highest standards.

As always, I invite all members to raise questions and issues pertaining to the course and range, directly with myself. We continue to work under the guidance of the Course Committee and follow the Course Management Policy laid out and available to all Members in Club V1>Club Docs> Course>Course management Policy.

A pictorial presentation of the planned improvements on drainage and bunkers, as presented by Richard Baird at the Open Forum, is available for viewing in the Office. (file too big to store on Club v1)

You can also read about our ongoing work via the Greens Noticeboard and in the Newsletter.


Richie Stephens
Course Manager