Hi to all members,

We can all be happy that the winter season has come to end! This week shows that we are on the improving. The 3 months of winter saw 771mm of rain fall which is a record number; almost above half of an average annual quarter! Fingers are crossed that we are past the worst of it and what we have seen this week is the start of a better run going forward.

I would like to thank everyone for their support and patience this winter; for everyone involved it’s been far from easy and the understanding shown has been much appreciated.

Drainage  

You will notice that we have started some of our drainage work out on the course. Earlier in the week we reinstated the 2^nd which washed out through the winter (sand bags have been replaced to help this area going forward). We then moved on to 15 which we thought would be a nice easy start but found that a new carrier pipe was needed as the old and original pipe was blocked with tree roots (only seed and turf required to finish here). These areas are G.U.R. While the digger was here we inspected what was happening and needed on the 8^th. What we found on the right-hand side of the green was 100-150mm of built up thatch covering existing drains with firm sub-soil underneath. On the left-hand side just short of the bunker we found much of the same with no drains under this layer. I believe this will be a lot of the cause out and around the course with years of saturated Kikuyu built up.

Before we go any further on the 8^th , more planning is needed with the extent of how much we strip and cut. On the left side we will be stripping what’s needed short of the bunker and cutting new drainage lines up past that and into the approach/fairway (something like the 7^th). One issue we have here is the lack of water supply on our fairways and keeping sand drain lines wet through the summer, but we could all agree that its better in the long run than a bog through the winter!?

Carts

With this spell of fine weather carts are open to the whole course. Please be aware of all the geo-fencing and take care out there.

Again thank you and happy golfing

Regards

Daniel Godek

Course Superintendent