Dear Members,

I thought I’d update you on several exciting developments that we are working on as we speak:

As you will be seeing unfold before your eyes if you’ve visited the Club recently, our brand-new academy green’s construction is well underway. From a distance it still looks like a big area of soil, but look closely and you can see shapes emerging within it. This is the first key stage of construction; the formation of the green’s contour shapes.

James Edwards (Architect) has been working with the contractor and I to make the 2D plan into a 3D real-life shape. Layers of gravel and sand rootzone follow, but it’s here in soil base the final contours must be produced and agreed.

The next stages that will soon unfold are the installation of drainage and irrigation to the green and its immediate surroundings. Timing here will take between a week to ten days before the gravel layer is then spread over the entire green. Finally, the sand rootzone layer will be added and the green seeded sometime in mid-May with emerging grass in the weeks that follow. Plan for opening remains late summer with the normal warning for extreme weather or uncontrollable delays that should be born in mind.

The rain has finally stopped, so both the greens department and the contractors have jumped into action. The contractor’s “snagging” list is being worked on with pace; refurbished pathways installed ready for asphalt topping, manicuring of all areas, and the maintenance work required to de-mothball greens and tees is proceeding. There’s infinitely more maintenance work than construction work now so a very good sign! We’re hoping for a mid-June opening. Impossible to say with all certainty, but a realistic goal as it stands today.

*This program above for both the academy green and Garden Course is dependent upon the weather, material supply chain, contractor progress and a few other minor caveats.

We’ve made good progress taking our first steps to achieve landscape changes recommended by RTJ Design aimed at restoring iconic views lost by planted and emerging vegetation over time. The areas we worked on are now free of this unwanted and obstructive vegetation and are in their grow-in stage. No more removal work will be completed until the autumn of this year, so we can concentrate on course conditioning for the main playing season ahead. Bruce Charlton of RTJ II Design will soon release his landscape management plan and I’m excited to share this with you.

In general terms, we are either replacing the blocking vegetation with either cut grass, or tall seedhead grass, or semi-mature trees, or introducing a new landscape planted border theme. The choice of what is used to replace what was removed depends upon the area in question. RTJ gave us recommendations for which option is appropriate in the identified areas to help enhance the course’s different themes, iconic views, or to enhance presentation and playability.

John Lockyer