Some great shots of the 6th and 12th on the Priors below

12th Green

6th Green

 A not so great shot of the vandalism on the 4th green Abbotts.  The wording says 'where's the hole ?',  for our normal moronic idiot it's spelt correctly and uses good grammar,  if any of these kids went to school i'm sure their English teacher would be proud. The holes further down the green were caused by the corner of a flat screen TV!!!.  I don't get it either.

!!!

The talk on the golf course at the moment is rough rough and more rough.  Whilst the rest of the course is looking good after prolonged rain the out of play areas continue to grow and finding a ball within the canopy is very difficult.  Three weeks ago all the managed rough was shaped and cut to boundaries set 4 years ago.  With continued rain 2 weeks ago some areas of the rough were again widened to allow easier ball retrieval.  

As the weather improves and the rough dries rough thickness should become less of an issue. However going forward this kind of rough should only ever be a half shot penalty and it's certainly not the intention to bring about the loss of golf balls just off cut rough areas, so we will be making some changes over the winter:

Firstly, and this has already started, crown lifting trees; raising the height of the canopy so our machines can actually cut below trees that are still in play allowing easier ball retrieval, this will also keep unsightly bramble and weeds away from the base.

Secondly, key areas are to be sprayed with a product that will kill much of the coarse grass within the canopy.  This will look and play badly in the winter season but by next summer these jungle areas should be much improved.  This product called 'Rescue' has been used with great success in improving fairways 7 through till 14 over the past 4 seasons.

Finally, Hollow tining takes place on the 8th and 9th of August.  Last year we scarified in August with great success leaving surfaces in great condition right through the winter.  This year the plan is to hollow tine down to 75mm with 12mm outer tines and somewhere approaching 30 tons of sand to fill in the holes.  We plan to begin on the 8th after 12(the course will be closed after 12 on the Monday) and continue through Tuesday weather permitting.