Friday 8th February

Course Update

What a start to the year it has been for the green staff!!! You create a couple of before and after pictures of 10th & 11th bunker works and think 'this will be easy' but there is always a lot more to it than that!

We began works on the 7th January with the shaper Conor Walsh and our consultant Gordon Irvine on the left bunker on the 11th hole.

I feel that the best way for you all to see the progression through the past couple of weeks is thrugh some photos and captions. 

10th Green bunker construction

Conor creating heather bank which was originally nearly 100% gorse.

 Leveling up the right hand side of the collar to reduce severity of run off.

  

Soil (well, nearly 100% sand) extracted from turf nursery on 11th to help create new

                                                bunker left hand side of 10th green.                                                

                                                                              

                                                     

Lack of office work forced me to get stuck in on this day! 

 Front right bunker

 Front Right bunker edge ready for turf

Left hand side blending in beautify

View from fairway with a little turfing on the left to do

11th Bunker Construction

                                                  Conor starting bunker work 11th green                                        
                                         

                                          Only a few hours later a new master piece has
                                                              been created.

                                                   Gordon marking out edge of bunker

                                           Installing pipe into bunkers to improve drainage.

Cutting in freshly laid turf onto bunker bank

                                          Bunker front of green during turfing process.

                                          Getting Broadstone back to it's traditional bunker
                                                                             shapes. 

We would also would like to thank the majority of the membership that have given positive comments to the greens staff about the bunker work. I know that you can never please everybody but members can be assured that the work has been finished to a fantastic standard and we feel you will love the look of your approach into 10 and your tee shots into 11.

We are hoping to get the sand in the bunkers by the end of February. This will be done in stages, a couple of inches at a time.

Couple of other points about the course -

• I'm aware of the 5th winter tee condition being worn. We will be using the front summer tee for competitions but want to keep the main tees wear free for the start of the new season At present any teeing ground we use, especially high wear ones have very slow recovery. This winter has proved to us that whilst the work on the 6th tee has helped us avoid using a mat this winter and beyond, the 5th ideally would benefit from some additional teeing ground space, something we will look at in the future.
• With the weather being very wet, the greens are softer than usual. This means that pitch marks will be happening every time a ball hits the green. Please could you all repair yours and if you notice any others, could you please do them. When repairing a pitch mark, start at the back of the mark then work around. The better the mark is repaired, the quicker it will recover.
• During this wet period, can all members make the effort to carry their bags as this will relieve wear especially around the tees and greens. We are aware that some members cant carry but we it would great if you could keep your trolleys away from the greens.

Thank you again for your patience during the bunker works.

Kind Regards

Paul