Not much to report this week. The weather has continued its dreary path, with frequent rains - just 9 mm this week, but that and ongoing high humidity has been enough to keep the ground near saturation. We’ve been near to closure on several occasions. Other local courses have all had to impose course protection restrictions - most notably, one is now insisting on the use of personal turf mats for play off fairways. However, the immediate future looks much better, with little or no rain - let’s hope for some reasonable wind to get some drying.

It’s not been possible to run machinery over the soft ground, meaning the team have been limited to what is reachable on foot - mainly pruning and general course housekeeping. The conifer hedge at the entrance to the course has been topped off; the pruning had to be burnt more or less where they fell as we couldn’t get a trailer out to collect them. Anyone on the course last Tuesday can’t have missed the smoke!

Gavin was able to mow the new chipping green, which is well-rooted and looking good. He’s also given it a light feed of low strength fertiliser (3:0:3) to perk up the turf. He did the same on the new tees. On the course, new holes have been cut. Machinery and hand tool servicing has now been completed other than replacing the bearings on the rough cutter: the duty is so testing the old ones end up fused on and need to be cut off.

The window to complete other plans for winter is closing rapidly; there is still quite a bit to do. Four bunkers need emptying and their drains cleared out. The walkways need rebanding, and Gavin is keen to get some more fairway bands into the top of 15, which continues to be soft and wet. And the greens need vertidrainng before the spring. All of these need reasonably solid ground to cope with heavy machinery.

Course committee