Bush Hill Park
Course Update - 03 February 2023
It’s been great to see so many members out playing this week. The sunnier and drier conditions we have had this week have certainly had a positive impact on the course with it looking and playing the best it has all year. This does show the importance of protecting it at the correct times as we can quickly turn it around and get it to a suitable standard when the conditions allow. To overuse or miss use the course at these times would result in a longer period of recovery.
The 61mm of rainfall we recorded in the early part of January had unfortunately left us with no choice but to protect the course at that point, I would like to thank you all for your patience and understanding at this time.
The 17th hole was closed for an extended period, this was because of it being incredibly wet by the bell area meaning that it was unsafe to walk or play the hole at that point.
We will be looking to construct a path through this area this autumn so as we can keep the hole open for longer in future.
One added positive has been the fact that we can now allow trolleys on the course, whilst this is great, I would still like it if as many people as possible who can carry, would still carry for now.
Greens
The greens have come back brilliantly this week, it has been great to hear some positive feedback from members playing them.
We have cut them 3 times this week at a lower height than we had for the past 6 weeks resulting it a truer and smoother putting surface.
Going forward we will continue to maintain them as the conditions allow, but once again the fact that we protected them at the times it was required is the main reason we could make such a difference to them in a short time.
Tees & Approaches
We have managed to mow all tees and approaches this week and will look to give them another cut next week, we want to get this done whilst we have the weather on our side as if it turns wet again (and it will) we may be unable to cut them for a while.
The main positive now though is that even when the weather is bad it can now change quicker than it would have done over the past couple of months as we are starting to get longer days with more hours of daylight.
Fairways
Tyler has mown the majority of fairways this week, those he was unable to get on will be cut next week after another few dry days.
Projects
We have been busy starting to install our brand-new course furniture around the course, this is a time-consuming job as we want to do the job as professionally as possible.
The furniture looks extremely impressive and will raise the presentation of the course for years to come.
The new front lawn has been started though progress on this has been slowed down due to the topsoil being very wet from the rain we had just before the cold snap.
This must be allowed to dry out before we can turf it as the ground at this moment is very unstable, to rush this job at this time would result in a very poor finish, so unfortunately, I must ask once again for patience. The soil will dry out and then we can quickly progress with the completion of the lawn.
Leigh has been very busy this week and is very proud (rightly so) of the new path that he constructed at the halfway hut.
We hope to make a start on the new paths on the main course in the coming weeks, something once again I know Leigh is looking forward to getting his teeth into.
I hope you all enjoy the course while the weather is behaving and remember that Spring is just around the corner.
Thank You
Damien
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