I've done another short video for you this week, it was a bit blowy so the sound was not great but you will get the gist. And if you need a bunker lesson we're here to help. Click on the video to check it out.

I didn't expect my star pupil this year would be collecting his pension but Bill Jackson just keeps getting better. A fine gross 71 in the seniors competition gave Bill 42 pts and Bill's ambition of getting to a 7 handicap has been achieved, 6.5 to be exact.

Here's a word from Keith on the Seniors match vs Tylney Park at East Horton on Monday 7th July:

"We suffered a bit of adverse weather during this match, but the opposition really enjoyed the course.

The match was in our favour until the last game, but unfortunately this was lost, but the result was a good one, considering the strength of the opposition.

Result Match Halved 3 -3

We enjoyed a very nice Chicken and Ham pie at the after match meal, from Trevor and his team, that was enjoyed by all."

Regards

Keith 

I have just taken delivery of the new PING G30 trial irons ahead of their launch this month. If you want a fitting or just to try out of curiosity there in store and waiting to be hit.

I hope you all agree we have made some good, positive steps on the course, the hammer is down and we are all working hard towards the great potential that the courses here have to offer.

The woodsman is in this week taking out all the scrub behind the Greenwood 3rd hole to open up the green, next week the digger will follow in behind and tidy up the roots etc.

I'm sure most of you receive the emails directly from the club but if you don't here is the latest update from James the manager:

"Dear Golfers,

I’m emailing to give an update on what we have achieved this week, what we didn’t manage to get done and our plan for next week:

Achieved:

• We’ve had a gang of additional workers operating tractors with mowers, rakes, wrappers and balers, resulting in over 100 bales of grass being removed from the Parkland course, each bail weighs approximately half a tonne. The grass was taken from our deep-rough areas which will hopefully result in faster play, fewer lost balls, more enjoyment as well as more shape and definition to the course.
• We’ve carried out a considerable amount of weed spraying to tee’s, surrounds and fairways this week, so if you see that the weeds (mainly clover) are seeming more prevalent, it’s them reacting to the spray and showing their feelings. This is quite normal and it’s a case of the weed situation looking worst before it improves. By next week they will begin to die and disappear once mown.
• The ladies grass 15th Tee on Greenwood is back in play and has been top-dressed, fed and over sown. This tee will now continue to improve in condition.
• We have begun to fill and over-sow the hollows and worn areas on Parkland. We have concentrated on the sensitive areas near greens and will work our way outwards. We have used white spray paint to highlight these areas as G.U.R. rather than having masses of hoops all across the courses. Please be respectful of these delicate areas, as traffic through them will delay recovery.

Still on-going:

• The delivery of new ball washer is imminent and they will be installed right away.
• We just didn’t have time to begin the bunker drainage project but this is high priority and will be started asap.

Next week:

• On Tuesday and Wednesday we will be top-dressing all 45 greens.
• Starting tomorrow (Saturday 5 July) we have 2 tractors with state-of-the-art hedge/verge cutters beginning to cut every ditch line, hedge and scruffy area which we have. This will tie-in with the work already carried out in the deep rough and make the whole place look so much more neat and tidy. Saturday morning probably isn’t ideal to have heavy machinery on the courses but it may actually be pleasing for the weekend golfers to see the works being carried out.
• Continue to spray for weeds.
• Continue to remove and shape the deep rough but I’m hoping the majority is already complete and now it’s a case of fine tuning, with more focus on the Greenwood course. However, I thought we’d only be ‘fine-tuning’ the Parkland and ended up taking 50 tonnes away…
• We have a tree-surgeon starting work on Monday for 3 days with my priorities being to remove the fallen Ash tree near hole 17 Greenwood then we’d like 50 yards of our main stream completely opened and exposed behind the 3rd green Greenwood. This will completely change the appearance of this hole and is quite exciting.

There are many more jobs and projects on the high priority list which I haven’t put in this email, as I feel it’s important to complete all on-going jobs before getting ahead of ourselves. Also, I’m fearful of our green keepers reading this and quitting?"

Have a lovely weekend.

Regards,

Jim Bastian