We have adapted to the lock-down and have maintained both courses with a reduced staff to ensure sustainability.

I am happy to say there has only been a handful of 'golfers' jumping on but at the same time I cannot deny the weather has meant a lot of non-golf activity. We have had to be pragmatic about this allowing people to walk and only intervened if they are on bikes or likely to cause damage.

The rain today has been welcome to the overall condition of the courses, especially as we have had no irrigation at Thorpe Wood due to a catastrophic failure in the pump house. Philip Wright has worked hard to get this back and we have had contractors on site who will hopefully finish in the next few days after installing a new pump and overhauling the pump house. A necessary although unwelcome expense and slightly unlucky with the weather being so dry and hot!

We will be ready to get the courses back to the playing levels we expect when we are allowed to return to play golf, and back to full strength greens team - hopefully next month sometime, fingers crossed!

This is an interesting article written for the United States Golf Association about what happens if you just leave a golf course:

USGA Course Furloughed

Look forward to seeing you soon,

Simon Fitton