The continued mild wet weather has made decision making  very difficult as the grass continues to grow but ground conditions are very soft .Our aim is to keep the course clean and tidy through the winter months but the need to mow on soft ground will cause damage and be dangerous for the operators. So we have to be protective and only use the small windows of opportunity that we get to carry out mowing. Greens have been hand mowed, and Tees ,Aprons and Fairways are cut when we can do so with minimal damage and marking up.Other  areas are not being mowed as the machinery is too heavy on the soft ground.

                                                               Buggy marking  up  ground
The Traffic control around the course is to help protect the course and keep it clean and tidy through the winter. If Golfers keep there trolleys on the paths around the greens and tees it will go a long way to helping in this respect.

Nick Roberts my Deputy has been successful in his interview to attend the TPC John Deere Golf Tournament in America 2016.He will join a British contingent to work there for a week in preparing the course.

Now after a long wait we have been able to get new tracks for our mini digger and this has been busy out on the course. We have extended some of the path areas identified last year as being very wet, these being the 3rd  green,5th tee and green,7th tee and 9th Tee Heron.

 

 

Path area marked out

Area dug out

Add road planings

Wacker plate in

Finished path

 

We have dug out a new ditch across the 7th heron in a particularly wet area after locating a drainage pipe to take away the run off.

       
                                                             located drainage pipe

 

dig out new ditch

ditch and new path completed 7th Heron

 

Another new ditch has been put in on the 4th Hawk on the right as this is a very wet fairway

 

 

Work has taken place on a number of bunkers to clean out the contaminated sand over the drainage and then flush out the pipes before adding new clean shingle, sand will be added at a later date.

Bunkers worked on include 2nd green ,3rd fairway7th fairway,8th green Heron 1st fairway Vixen

                                                              Geoff locating bunker drainage

 

New shingle added in bunker

 

The bridge near the 9th green Vixen has been repaired after careless damage by person(s) unknown

 

 

 

One morning it was a pretty picture view across the reservoir