May has brought some much needed rain to the course, 120mm of it! Some nice warm sunshine (although, not much towards the end of May) following the rain that we received in early May, has kept the couch grass growing towards the end of autumn and revived it in some areas and now we are observing plenty of cool season grasses germinating throughout.
Spare a thought though for the players competing in the Men's Invitational Challenge Trophy last week, would be fair to say they toughed it out in the worst 3 consecutive days of weather here for many years!
Course staff are working through a renovations program on many tee paths. Most paths only require a top up, the path of major concern is the 13th tee path, this path suffers very badly after heavy rain. The plan for the 13th tee path is to create a pathway with a gradual descent from the tee area, whilst shaping the path to allow water to run off without creating deep washouts. A long term solution is currently being investigated for this path and several other steep paths across the course. A permanent material may be the best long term solution to ensure damage after heavy rain is minimal.
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