Finally a month with plenty of dry days in which to make some progress.
There was still plenty of rain but all in only a few days, giving us at least the bulk of the month to make hay (quite literally in one case!).
Timing couldn’t have been better either with an extensive schedule of project work ahead of us.
Course Conditions
Firstly, it’s great to have had a decent run of drier weather, which has prolonged the excellent conditions out on the course.
Greens, aprons, fairways etc are all just as good as during the main season and it’s great to receive the regular compliments from golfers both members and visitors.
We have now moved onto all of the winter tees, as unfortunately with the new world handicap system we have to offer a measured course everyday.
Ideally we would remain on mostly main tees with only a handful of winter tees being necessary. However this would compromise the course length and therefore we have no choice but to move to a full winter course.
Rough Grasslands
Such is the size of our course, we have large areas of long grasslands. These are an integral part of our course, offering definition to the holes and providing vital habitat for a wide range of wildlife as well as allowing us to focus more time on the important areas.
Even though they are not in play from a golfing perspective, they still require ongoing management. In this regard we have managed to arrange an agreement with Terrance Welford (a local pastoral farmer) for the last three years. Terrance has the equipment to be able to cut, rake and bale large areas in only a few days and he is very grateful for the grass to support his herd through the winter.
This annual operation helps us to retain the valuable stands of grassland as well as encouraging more varieties of plants to get a foothold as the sward thins down each year.
If we didn’t carry such work out periodically, the natural process would always result in unmanaged land becoming woodland and you will see this as you move around the course, with many more areas of dense woodland than there were in the past.
In order to maintain a balance between differing areas of the landscape, we have to tailor our approach to maintain the range of habitats that make our course so unique a maximise the multitude of benefits.
Ponds
Working alongside the Tees Valley Wildlife Trust, with funding from natural England, we have been able to create 2 new wetlands on the course.
These are funded to help protect and increase Great Crested Newts, for which we have an excellent population on the course at Hunley.
Its not just the success of its primary objective either, the real beauty of these projects is the added benefits that come with them.
The first pond is located behind the tee on Davy’s which will provide an attractive feature in what previously was a bland area.
The area before the new pond is also a very wet part of the course and the new pond will help to move water into the new pond and away from playing zones.
The other pond is on Catersty in an area where a drainage ditch previously existed.
We have had to retain the stream separately, as the stipulation on the construction of these ponds is very precise, and one of those is that any flow of water cannot become part of the pond. This made the construction a little tricky, but the result is more than satisfactory.
Another huge benefit from this pond, was being able to utilise the soil to fill in the ditch that ran adjacent to the fairway.
A 10 inch culvert has been installed to continue to allow drainage, but now an area that caused issues for golfers locating a ball, is now going to be manageable for the Greenkeeping team, making ball retrieval much more straightforward.
This was a large project and as such the whole area has had to be marked as ‘Ground Under Repair’ with the use of black stakes, as using white paint wasn’t really feasible.
Walker’s Gully Tee
Having had a number of issues with the Tees on Walker’s for some time, a new, much larger tee has been created.
Being able to shape the area to shed water and to cap the tee with quality rootzone, will provide a greatly improved surface from which to play.
Moving the tee forward slightly also improves line of sight to the fairway, which will help follow and identify the location of wayward shots.
Driving Range
Without doubt the biggest task we have ever undertaken is underway on the range.
Reshaping has begun well, with about 20% of the field so far completed.
A raised target has been achieved at 50 yards, as well as mounding at the sides to create a border to the field. This won’t stop every ball but should greatly reduce the number of range balls running onto the hole on Pennington’s.
The target area has had sand spread over as well as the surrounding area.
The dry weather has helped enormously and progress is, so far, keeping us on schedule.
Whilst this is slow and laborious, we look forward to reaping the rewards next year, with the prospect of more straightforward management and operational efficiency.
November
The teams time will be split in November between working on the driving range and on the course.
Ropes have begun to go out to help protect the turf from heavy wear and tear, so please don’t cross the ropes with buggies or trolleys.
Thanks for your patience and support as we continue our efforts and we look forward to completing disruptive work just as soon as we possibly can.
Despite the challenge still ahead, we are very excited at the future benefits these works will bring.