The clouds don’t seem to be too threatening at the moment – which is not only a great reason for golfers to rejoice but undoubtedly a welcome relief for our heroic greenkeepers! After working tirelessly through a wet winter to keep the course open when others were forced to close, the greenkeeping team are now revelling in the positive feedback we receive from golfers every day.

“Given the relative height of the water table, waterlogging is going to be a big problem for golf courses this year; there’s simply nowhere for the water to drain to. However, using our guile and ingenuity, we have recently drained the greens on holes 3 and 6 of the Wike Ridge course and will soon be tackling hole number 9 on The Oaks.

Limiting play to winter greens is something we wish to avoid as general policy but some disruption is likely – at the end of the day, making sure we have superb putting surfaces come the start of the season is high on our list of priorities. Like all other parkland courses around the UK, this will prove to be a major challenge this year but we think we have an excellent strategy to achieve this. Other tasks for the coming week include installing the new timber edging on the 16th hole buggy paths and laying the gravel if it stays completely dry for a day or two.

Other regular & additional work that we will be doing this week is:

• De-plug the range
• Machinery maintenance
• Cut and divot club lawns
• Check 8th bunkers and de-stone

May I take this opportunity to wish everyone at Leeds Golf Centre a happy New Year as we look forward to a wonderfully successful golfing season ahead.”

Brian D Carr
Head Greenkeeper