"The Beast from the East" followed by Storm Emma have certainly brought some very cold and wintry conditions to both the course and the whole country. Usually this means we have to change our plans from what we thought we would be doing out on the course, to actually what we can do.
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| 2nd hole at dawn |
The planned renovations on the greens, which consisted of scarifying the top 20mm or so, followed by solid tining and topdressing has had to be postponed for obvious reasons. We will still need to carry this out, but it will have to wait a while until conditions approve.
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| Scarifying to be carried out soon |
Also, having the course full of snow and frozen ground, the drainage work at the 9th and 10th has also had to be stopped for a short while. Most of the major works in that area has been done but there is lots still to do to complete the process.
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| One of the drainage ditches going in |
The trenches dug across the 9th fairway and in the 10th rough have all been piped and stoned. These will be filled up to the top with rootzone and then turfed. The trench on the 9th fairway has had added pipework installed which will be fitted straight into the main culvert running across the fairway.
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| A sample of the thatchy turf found in the wet rough areas with clay underneath |
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| A sample of some of the large rocks found under the surface when digging |
The area near the trees on the right of the tenth has had drainage installed. This has gone straight through the double bunker, then into the main trench across the 9th. The bunkers have been filled in and will be shaped and turfed to contain the original design features.
Although all this work is being carried out, the condition of the very heavy clay subsoil will dictate that it needs much more work in terms of aeration and dressing in the years to come to help the drainage to work fully. However much of the standing water will hopefully find its way much more quickly to the culvert below. There is a lot of compaction in the whole area due to the amount of traffic that it receives and we must spread the wear by driving and walking in different areas.
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| High traffic area means much compaction, especially on clay |
Since the turn of the year, members of the greens committee and greens staff carried out two course walks, front nine and back nine to discuss areas of the course that need to be finished, or problem areas that need solutions as quickly as possible. When the weather is like it is currently, it is a chance for us to try and work through some of these areas so that the playability for the members and visitors is at its best possible level when you can start playing again.
Right at the very start we focussed on first impressions and it was clear that standing on the first tee you are not able to see a pin on the right hand side of the green, or the right hand greenside bunker due to the trees that are surrounding the pond. Players driving the ball to the right have no idea where the ball is landing as the trees block out the landing zone. It was deemed necessary to take out some of the trees to give the player a much clearer view of the hole. This work has been started and we will keep cutting back until we can see the bunker from the tee.
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| The right side of the hole has closed in so you can't see the green |
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| Trees being removed around the pond |
From the second competition tee, it was clear that overhanging branches were interfering with golfers' ability to drive down the left of the hole. Those branches were removed, along with a couple of dead trees to aid play in that area.
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| View from second tee without the interference |
I'm sure you will have all seen by now the trees and scrub taken out between the left of the 5th and the 6th holes. Having carried out the work it came to our attention that many times buggy users had caught a particular tree that was leaning over the path leading to the 6th tees. This became a health and safety issue and so it was decided to take it down.
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| Tree at the path near 6th tee |
Also during the course walk, when stood at the back of the 14th tee on the left hand side, it was clear that no tee shots could be played from the very left, due to overhanging trees on the out of bounds line. We have removed a couple of trees to improve the sight line. There was much discussion about the 14th hole in general and how we can improve matters and several ideas were brought up. However for now no major works will be carried out until further planning is discussed and budgeted for.
The dangerous trees that were leaning near the 16th tees have been felled and removed. There are still some stumps to come out but at least now the area has been made safe. There is also a snapped branch further up near 17 which needs to be dealt with to make that area safe. This will be done as soon as possible.
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| Area to left of 16th with dangerous fallen trees |
The area behind the 5th tee has had some material placed there in order to carry out some shaping. This will then be added to with topsoil and turned into mounding so that heather can be imported from other areas of the course and planted there.
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| Recycled material used to create mounding |
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| Early shaping before new material added |
The staff are working hard to carry out all the tasks needed to be finished, sometimes in very poor, wintry weather conditions so that our focus can turn towards the course in general and preparing it for the upcoming season. Hopefully we will have a drier year and we can all look forward to forgetting about this winter in a hurry!
