This is where we let you know the exciting plans we have for our Winter work!
The main concern after last Winter was drainage. It was challenging to say the least to get the greens mower around the course to keep them in the best condition possible. It was and also tough for you to get around with a trolley and at times stay upright. Andy has highlighted a number of areas that he feels would benefit from some drainage work. As usual, we look to carry out this work ‘off-season’ but with decent ground conditions, so we plan to start September/October. Due to the cost, we intend to carry this work out in-house – we’ll try and make our lines as straight as the professionals did…..
The drainage work requires a lot of pea gravel and sand to fill the trenches where we place the drainage pipes, so we’ve also decided to purchase a new-to-us mini-digger. Now, you might wonder why a golf course needs a digger, but we’ve got plenty of jobs lined up for it:
- Drainage installations – moving pea gravel and sand – this takes up a huge chunk of staff time doing it manually, not to mention the effect if has on our backs and our souls
- Greens renovations – again we currently manually load the buggy with sand for 10 greens – even with a light dressing, we all certainly know about it after the first few greens
- Irrigation system leaks – we currently have to hire a digger in to help fix these – the hire rate and delivery costs make our eyes water (and we get a good deal!)
- Car park – scraping back to fill potholes on a regular basis – we are sure this one will make many of you a lot happier as a long term solution is a few years away
The last bit of planned work is to put some netting down the left side of the driving range. Since we put our brand-new Srixon balls into operation, we’ve lost a total of 1,886 golf balls! Yes, that’s right, and it’s an awful lot of golf balls to lose in just 6 weeks. We lose balls mainly down the left and beyond the 250 yard marker, so netting at the back may follow in the not too distant future! The rugby post ‘H’ was installed as a target to try and help people aim down the centre of the range, so please use that as your guide, and remember James runs free coaching on a Wednesday plus he’s available for individual lessons too if you continue to have any swing issues.
We aren’t totally sure if all the lost balls are in the long grasses/woods so we may still re-introduce the bag ban. We do still get our range balls returned from other courses and from people who have found them on our course, so we know theres still people taking them.
In summary, you can expect to see:
- More drainage
- A new mini-digger
- Netting on the left hand side of the range
