Greens staff at Leeds Golf Centre hollow tyning.

It’s been a very busy two weeks at Leeds Golf Centre. As a result of relatively dry weather this past fortnight, we have been able to complete much of the planned mowing – it won’t be too long before the new season is upon us and the soil temperature starts to rise so it’s essential we keep on top of this. At the same time, we have to acknowledge that wet weather governs this activity so it’s a difficult balance to strike.

Meantime, the course developments are coming along in leaps and bounds and are on schedule – let’s hope that the weather will be kind for the next few months to ensure everything stays at a good pace. The new ponds and lakes are all but completed, the new tees are looking fantastic, the new fourth green is having drainage installed and irrigation is being routed to all the newly laid surfaces. It’s incredible to see what’s happening out there.

A planned programme of vertidraining and slit tining is still very much ongoing – fairways and walk-off areas have already been done to help alleviate compaction and waterlogging – and the putting green has also been drained to prevent waterlogging in wet conditions. Connected to this, we are also glad to say the big fairway roller has been out to consolidate the uneven ground and rutting around the course.

As it happens, with today’s excellent weather, we’ve actually brought forward our plans to hollow tine the greens before adding fertiliser etc – please bear with us whilst we complete this essential maintenance so that we can focus on delivering some excellent greens come the start of the season in a little over a month’s time!

Brian D Carr
Head Greenkeeper

SOFT SPIKES NOW IN FORCE
In a new initiative to protect our fabulous facilities from heavy foot-flow, we are now operating a new ‘soft spikes only’ policy for golf shoes. Indoors and out, steel spikes can easily ‘scar’ greens or damage flooring – the decision to ban them has already been taken by thousands of golf clubs around the world and is commonplace at courses across the Yorkshire region.

Anyone reading this who would like to acquire new footwear for the forthcoming golf season should contact the Pro Shop on 0113 288 6000 – some great deals available while stocks last!

JOE FEATHER GOLF DAY – ENTRIES INVITED!
We are delighted to announce that Leeds Golf Centre is once again supporting the interests of Joe Feather, our greatest hope for stardom on the European Tour. The unique event, designed to raise money for Joe’s sponsorship as well as the captains’ charities, will take place on Sunday 20th May – tee times are available between 11am and 2pm with entries costing £80 per pair.

The day will start with breakfast served in Nineteen Bar & Grill before the competition gets underway with an 18-hole betterball Stableford event. Prizes supplied by Srixon will be on offer for first to fifth places, as well as for longest drive and nearest-the-pin – furthermore, a special competition will be hosted in the TruSim simulator as players arrive off the course.

Following completion of the round, players and guests will enjoy dinner in Nineteen Bar & Grill along with the added interest of a charity auction – hopefully hosted by a celebrity sportsperson or two!

For further information, please see www.joefeathergolf.com or call the Pro Shop on 0113 288 6000.

MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIES
Please accept our apologies – some of you may have received an email newsletter at the end of last week with details of membership category prices – this correspondence was not intended for members, the pricing of Full and 5-Day membership options were ‘public’ rates. We will be writing to you this week with details of renewals etc – please be assured that the information in the letter will set our clearly what your options are in terms of the forthcoming membership season. Apologies once again for any inconvenience.

WINTER WHEELS
The winter wheel rule for trolleys will remain in place until the end of March weather permitting. Having such a mild/dry winter has undoubtedly assisted Brian Carr and his greenkeeping team in preparing the course for the start of the new season, yet there appears to be unilateral agreement that the ‘hedgehog’ wheels have made a real contribution this year. We would like to thank members and guests sincerely for their cooperation in this valuable initiative.

Progress on the 13th green. Click image to view larger.

Our appointed construction team from White Horse (Northern) Contractors Ltd started work on 30 January and have unquestionably made tremendous progress, no doubt aided by the relatively mild and dry winter. Despite snowfall in early February, the pace of change is simply phenomenal – we are working towards a completion date in just a few weeks’ time with the intention that our magnificent new layout will be in play later this year.

A number of key changes to the design have been made since we first announced plans in November – these can be summarised as follows:

The tee for our new fourth hole – replacing our current fifth hole – will now be located on the mound of waste ground adjacent to the existing fifth tee. This will provide players with a tremendous view up the fairway towards our new three-tier green.

A new championship tee for our sixth hole will be constructed at the rear of the current fifth green – this will largely be used for major competitions and scratch team matches but will see players teeing off over the bridleway down into the valley towards the beautiful new cascading water features which have superseded our plans to create one large lake. Furthermore, the introduction of an authentic ‘Scottish burn’ will provide yet further challenges on this heavily revised hole.

Given that our current eighth green performs extremely well, we have improved our plans and elected to retain the existing green. This has obviously accelerated the construction project somewhat and will ultimately result in play on the new course earlier than was originally anticipated. To ensure that the eighth hole still feels ‘new’, we are introducing natural featuring between the first landing area and the green, especially down the left-side of the fairway – this effectively making the hole a tricky three-shotter for many golfers.

The formerly-proposed lake in front of the ninth tee has been replaced by the new Scottish burn which actually links much of the ribbon of water originating from the cascading ponds in front of the sixth green. Players will need to take note of this as the burn may not be totally visible from the tee – beware of mishit shots here!

Our tenth hole – despite being free of significant changes in the original proposals – now has water in play as a result of the Scottish burn once again crossing the fairway but also as a result of a large lake extending closer to the fairway from the back of the current thirteenth green. What was once a fairly straightforward hole is now a real test of nerve and accuracy – regular players will of course note that the tenth green is already a stiff two-putt!

In addition to the principal design changes above, the bunkering has been further revised to give a total of 43 new hazards – indeed, each hole on the course will see new ones being added or existing ones remodelled. Furthermore, we are creating a new buggy path/walkway from the sixth green to the seventh tee – known as ‘the woodland walk’ and yet further tree transplanting is due to take place very shortly to provide greater definition on the seventh, eighth, ninth, eleventh and twelfth holes.

NB We wish to stress that members will be able to enjoy a full 18-hole handicap qualifying Wike Ridge layout in time for the start of the competitive season on 7th April. Whilst there will be GUR locations across the course (notably part of the thirteenth fairway) and occasional temporary teeing areas, our expectation is that all 18 main greens will be in play and that the course length will be consistent with the current measurements. Standard scratch scores will not be affected.

In conclusion, we are delighted that the course redevelopment work is being met with significant and hugely encouraging support from our members and other customers – if you haven’t witnessed it yourself, we’d urge you to get out there soon and share the excitement!