Dear Member,
I hope that this report finds you well and that you had a happy and enjoyable Christmas.
RAIN RAIN RAIN
I don’t think in the 16 or so years that I have been coming to PDR that I have seen rain quite like we have experienced in the last 3 weeks – over 250mm has fallen, much of it in deluges. This equates to a normal 3 months of winter rainfall. Add in the warm, humid weather and you can see why the courses are saturated, the ground is dangerously slippery and why is has been necessary to ban buggies on occasions and sadly cancel a number of competitions for the safety of the members and the protection of the courses.
Bernardo and his team are to be congratulated on doing an amazing job to keep the courses open during this time.
GREENS
Despite this wet spell, green conditions have been very good – last weekend green speeds were measured at 10.7 and trueness at 7.7 at PDR. Readings of 10.8 and 7.9 were taken at WC, exceptional numbers given the weather and time of year.
Between 10 and 11 is the target at PDR and around 10 at WC for green speeds and a target of 8 for trueness on both courses.
DP World tour venues would be looking at 13 and 8.5 respectively. In terms of trueness this is exceptional at both PDR and WC. I don’t think any member, however good they may be at putting, could cope with green speeds of 13!!
We do need to continue to remove thatch from the greens. 15-20 tonnes of sand will be applied (normally 5 tonnes) and the greens will be micro-erificated – small hollow coring to most of us. Disruption will be minimal as it is not a heavy top dressing.
The greens strategy remains to provide firm true greens with good grass coverage and a healthy strong root system.
AUTUMN PROGRAMME
The Autumn programme remains very much as I reported last month but the weather has meant that some works have slipped back into 2023 as we quite rightly focus on drainage.
Most of the hollow coring and verti draining of fairways has been done and I am sure that you are pleased to see how well nearly all of them have recovered.
DRAINAGE
Fairway 1 has had new lateral drainage put in – this will really help.
Nearly all of the fairway drains at PDR are 15 years old. Many are broken, damaged and collapsed. This causes wet and boggy fairways and is not helped by the fact that they were laid at 15cm depth and we hollow core to 30cm now. These drains were poor by modern day standards, so we need to gradually replace them on many fairways.
This week fairway 18 will be done with wider, deeper set pipes, better connections and I am sure a positive result. This will mean much of the fairway will be closed for a couple of days and free drop areas will be in place. Other fairways will follow. Please follow any rerouting whilst this work goes on and take free relief where identified.
Fairway 10 is a big project. This may necessitate a change in soil profile as well as replacing all lateral drainage. It may be that the fairway is shut completely for a period of time, and it will be played as a par 3. This will likely be a winter 2023 or 2024 project with more sand slitting this winter to try and improve conditions for 2023.
My apologies for any disruption that is caused this winter, but I hope that you understand how important it is for PDR to have better drainage.
Please continue to help the green staff this winter by observing all roped off areas, blue stakes and white ground under repair marks.
If you can walk, please do, if you use a buggy please stick to buggy paths and keep to the higher ground. Respect areas that are roped or fenced off.
Fairways
At this time of year fairways are cut twice per week, less so when they are so wet as heavy equipment will damage them. Members may see fairway grass cut slightly higher than the normal 13mm – it could increase to 20mm cut.
Other Matters
New signage, replacement signage, repairs to fencing and other projects are awaiting sign off for 2023 from our owners. The main one will be the construction of a new 200m path from the back of 16 green to tee 17, speeding up the game and avoiding the need to go past the 14th tee. Other matters mentioned in my last report will continue to be worked on – new steps are already in on tees 6 and 9. More will follow – 16 next.
Works at West Cliffs remain as per my last note.
Local Rules
We are in the process of reviewing the local rules at each course to ensure they are fit for purpose.
They will be reissued shortly and will include rules on tractor and buggy tyre tracks, plugged balls in marked areas, plugged lost balls and waste areas at WC.
I hope this update brings you up to speed with the courses and the works planned at both courses during the winter and into next Spring.
My thanks to Bernardo and his team for their hard work during 2022.
Enjoy your golf and do have a fantastic New Year.
Kind Regards,
Geoff Newton
