Regular updates on course conditions posted here, to include course booking info, course opening status and visitor restrictions.
Check here for regular updates on course conditions.
19th August 2025
Fully into the swing of season works. Both courses performing well, in and out of extreme weather conditions.
All tees have recently been triple seed and sanded. Early signs of germination on The Lakes tees that were done first.
We’ve never been so pleased to see two mornings of heavy drizzle. Even that, combined with extra hand-watering, has already made a noticeable difference.
With the weather set fair again, we’re taking the opportunity to lightly top-dress the Dawson greens on Wednesday. Conditions mean this will work in smoothly over Wednesday and Thursday. All being well, we’ll repeat the process on The Lakes next week, which will further improve the performance of the greens.
The courses are undoubtedly dry. While they may not look their usual striped and lush selves, they are still performing well despite what has officially been announced as the county’s second-driest summer in the last 30 years (the last being in 1996, during our construction year). Overall, we’re very happy with progress, and with just a little more rain we’ll be in a great position for full recovery.
As often happens during dry spells, questions have come in about irrigation, so here’s a quick recap:
Irrigation – With 36 holes, we normally irrigate greens and tees once each evening. In extreme drought, like now, we double up on the greens. This leaves no extra time for a second program run, nor for fully replenishing the tanks. Additional hand-watering is carried out during the day.
Tree damage – Recent high winds damaged several trees. Those affecting play or posing a safety risk were dealt with immediately. The remainder will be managed as part of our regular winter maintenance programme.
Top-dressing tees – Recovery has been slowed by the dry conditions and irrigation limitations. The sand/soil mix we use inevitably contains a few small stones, which quickly disappear. To our anonymous emailer: no, the mix cannot simply be sieved beforehand, as we use 60 tonnes. If you’d like to volunteer to start next year’s batch, please get in touch. And more broadly to the anonymous emailer: this place is our pride and joy. Every member of the team cares deeply about it. As mentioned many times before, we welcome feedback both good and bad, and are happy to discuss further.However, this cannot be done if we are contacted anonomously, with a no right of reply.
All in all, we’re pleased with progress. Other courses are experiencing exactly the same challenges, and we’ll continue to do the very best we can within the conditions.
Thanks again for the comments that we and the team are recieving, after a difficult start to the season, it is appreciated.
Top Tracer fully operational now at the driving range
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So lots to digest there, enjoy the rest of the week.
