Course Notes 17.07.24

While we hope for at least another couple of months of Summer weather, mid-July marks a slight shift in early conditions with heavier dews and occasionally misty mornings. The greens welcomed the steady rainfall on Monday (20mm). Next week we will apply a liquid feed to the greens and approaches. With a verticut and light top dressing the following week, conditions permitting. 

All bunkers have received some maintenance and topping up of sand. The 7th greenside bunker is also now back in play which was long overdue. 

Golfers will notice that the out-of-play rough on the 1st & 2nd holes has been cut and will be collected in a day or two. The section between the first part of the 2nd & 11th fairway will now be cut shorter and maintained by the robot mower. This will allow us to start to use the back tee on the 2nd (blue).

We have pruned back all the shrubs on the 7th pond to improve the view of the green and overall aesthetic of the hole. Normally this would be undertaken late Winter but like many tasks we weren't able to perform this in Feb/March due to the poor ground conditions. With a long list of tree and hedge work we will continue to work though these tasks while we know we have firm enough conditions for using tractors and trailers to tidy up.

Finally, last week we had a visit from Wiltshire Golf representatives to assess our course rating based on our wider playing corridors. We have received a report suggesting that no change to the rating is necessary as although wider fairways in theory might make playing easier, the narrow semi-rough cancels this out. 

Happy golfing,

Keeper of the Green