Good morning all We are heading into our Captains’ Days with genuine confidence that Simon and Heather will enjoy sunshine and fun on their special days. We are also confident that you will notice some subtle changes to the course aimed at improving the playability for all of our members. We are grateful to the sections who have provided feedback on the course. This is a vital part of our ongoing wish to provide a fair course. 2025 was described by the R and A's Chief Agronomist as the worst type of year for green keepers. Cold North Easterly Winds followed by extended drought conditions left us with bare fairways, minimal rough, (as it never regrew after a trim in the Spring) and very little growth throughout last season. This led to quite ridiculous scoring to win competitions as 50 points became “the norm” in better ball competitions. And so, not knowing what to expect this year, we kept the grass a little higher and with warmer South Westerly Winds, sunshine and rain...we are blessed with growth again. And we can now return to the more usual mowing patterns of the 2024 season. Thanks to your feedback we have made immediate adjustments to the following holes as the additional growth rates have made the carries unfair. Hole 3. Widened the area in front of the tee to the left and shortened the carry distance to the fairway. Hole 13. We have trimmed the heather back in front of the tees. Hole 14. We have trimmed the heather back in front of the tees. Hole 15. We have widened the fairway “landing” zones back to 2024 levels. The F Word... Yes, along with many courses who were fearful of losing their rough as happened to us in 2025, the weather has created perfect conditions for the growth of Fescue, and the thicker grasses that grow with it. We have measured the fairway widths on those holes with longer fescue, and in proportion to the length of the hole, they are very generous. However, to get ahead of whatever 2027 may being, this Autumn we will undertake a programme to remove the thicker grasses that can hamper ball searches. It will involve permitted chemicals, scarification, and collecting up the cut grasses. The Heather Thank you to those who continue to acknowledge that the sharp trimming of the heather in 2025 has helped to restore the heather to its former glory, and we know it is just getting ready to look superb again. We hope that the trimming of the carry distances on 13 and 14 will take pressure off feeling a need to “force” your shot from the tees. We will repeat the overall trimming this Winter. Our Bunkers We are well aware of the issues with a number of bunkers that have damaged edges, and as a result lose sand in windy conditions. We continue to identify bunkers for immediate repair this Winter and will publish this year’s list shortly. Thank you for your feedback on the new bunkers on the 18th hole. They are a big improvement on the previous arrangement. The sand will take more time to settle down, and we will take the height of the surrounds down a little lower on a gradual basis. The “Eyebrows” on some bunkers have had lovely reviews, and the odd rude word when players have struggled to find their ball in them. Our issues with the edges of many fairway bunkers are, with minimal sand, a shot that did deserve to land in a well placed bunker, may skip over the bunker. Happy days for the player! And this was certainly the case in 2025. The grass is intended to have two purposes, firstly, the heather, (or wispy grass) is a beautiful heathland feature, secondly, if you do bounce out or over the bunker from a crooked shot, a rough lie is a reasonable result. But, we appreciate it should be easy to see your ball and delays looking for it hold up play. Next week, we will take down some of the excess rough in these areas to help with this. By 2027, we want the “Eyebrows” to be wispy grass only and as with the Fescue, will treat the areas we want to retain. We have mown the approaches to some, greenside bunkers this week, and will do more next week. The New 5th Hole. We are really excited about the new 5th hole which we want to have in play by next Spring. This development and the new practice area, are funded by Billy Foster’s marvellous fund raising initiatives. Once finished, this area of the course will be so much better. New elevated tees on the dog-leg right design will make a brilliant change to this hole. The new tee takes you to right of the 4th hole, and away from being between the 4th and 7th greens, so the flow of play will be improved too. Next week, our bunker contractors Ecobunker are back to construct 3 New Bunkers and to fill in the existing bunker on the hole. The hole will be closed on Monday and Tuesday, and reopened on Wednesday. Once re-opened, the areas being worked on will be free relief No Play Zones, so will not impact on the playability of the hole. The areas will be turfed in September to ensure they will be open next Spring. Our Greens They continue to roll well. We managed to verti-cut, cut and top dress them on Monday and Tuesday of this week. Vital work to maintain the root strength in the coming hot conditions. Our Tees Many of our exposed Tees on Par 4’s and 5’s have really improved from the Winter’s rest and over-seeding earlier this Spring. We cannot say the same for our 4th and 7th holes. Improving these 2 tees is a priority this Winter. Our New Practice Green and Bunker. The preparatory work is well underway, sincere thanks to everyone who has helped here. Ecobunker will be starting the Bunker installation work next week, and our irrigation company will also get to work in advance of any turf laying. Competitions Following a number of constructive comments regarding our competitions, we are delighted to announce that in addition to the usual White Tee events for our experienced golfers, we are introducing mixed tee Yellow and Blue Course Stableford competitions for gentlemen golfers on competition days. Ladies will continue to be able to play in these competitions from the Blue tees. The system will work out your playing handicap for the tees you elect to play on, thereby enabling golfers to compete against each other from tee sets of choice. And finally Last weekend we noticed quite a number of bumble bees lying on the putting green. Unbelievably, a beekeeper happened to be attending to our hives at the same time. Apparently our Lime Trees are the cause as the bees overdose on the nectar and this can make them overly drowsy, or not very well at all...on a positive note, the bees who make it back to their hives produce top quality honey. That’s all for now. Thank you for reading, all the very best to our Club Captains, Heather Rothera and Simon Smallwood for a great weekend. The Greens Team