Greens Update June 2012

In future I hope to give members a regular update, once a month as a minimum, during the summer.

Well, we have finally had a bit of dry and warm weather for all of six days which has meant that the grass has started to grow probably two months later in the year than normal. Combine this with the wet ground and we immediately have a challenge to keep the rough under control. The challenge is like painting the Forth Road Bridge in that we need nearly three people full time just cutting grass in these conditions and at least one person full time maintaining and improving the greens. Then there are a host of other jobs so you will see that at times we can be very stretched. So when we get bank holiday weekends and weeks when the course is near fully booked the staff can struggle to get jobs done.

At this point I would like to remind members that up until 9am the green staff have priority on the course. This means that they should not be expected to stop what they are doing to allow you to play and you must play around them, which may mean you actually not playing a hole and walking through. This courtesy and rule is essential to allow the staff to be productive in the time they have available. You may think that all members would know of this rule but based upon evidence to date, I think it is worth re-stating .

Again I would like to bring up the matter of divots and especially those on the tee boxes. When myself and other volunteers are out divoting we get a number of members commenting that it is visitors who do not repair the divots. Well based upon the evidence on the tee boxes it is not just visitors but members as well. When repairing divots on the white markers after a Saturday competition we can fill in approximately 30-40 divots which is getting on for 20% of the field. To combat some of this the 200 club kindly gave us funds to purchase additional divot mix boxes. Despite these being out on the course for over two months some of them have not even been touched by members and guests. So when you are on a tee box please check for divots and fill in not just yours but any others you may find in the vicinity. If each member filled in at least three on each visit it would make our lives much more productive on other activities.
Filling divots on our course is more than a full time job and without the help of members I would need to ask Council for additional monies to employ a person to do this in order to keep the course to the standard that we need for members and guests.

Very soon you will also see divot bags appear for you to use on the fairways. The Captain and others have seen this used to great effect on other courses, so I would appreciate it if you could help by using them correctly.

The next month or so will also see the Green staff dealing with both maintaining the course and tidying areas that we have not been able to do due to the poor Spring weather conditions . In addition we will be commencing building a small enclosure for a replacement toilet to the rear of the 12th white tee box.

John Dixon - Greens Chairman