Well I hope you are excited about your return to your Golf club next Monday. As I wrote to you all a few weeks ago we have been very busy when the weather has played ball!

The wet weather has continued through March up until last week. Thankfully we have had a good dry last 7 days allowing us to get on with some of the jobs i mentioned were being planned.

My staff have worked exceedingly hard the last few months during very difficult times and I hope you will all appreciate these circumstances have been challenging for us all.

I would like to welcome our new member of staff who has replaced Marc. Luke Herron joined us this week , some of you may remember him as he worked at Abridge approx 12 years ago as a junior Pro. Hopefully he will be a better Greenkeeper than he was a Golfer !

Most areas have now been cut, though there are some wet places that still need time to dry out before we can cut them.

Greens have been fed and top dressed, ( don’t panic like one of our Members did earlier this week! , they have not been smothered in sand, just a light dressing to help smooth them out, it’s far too early for any heavy sanding) and the greens are now at their normal March/ April height of cut and are starting to recover nicely from the wet Winter.

All Bunkers have been edged, weeded, heavily raked and put back in play. We have managed to get a few of the ‘fill in’ bunkers turfed and I ask you to please keep of all of the new turf.

The driving Range Tee has also been finished and the mats have been moved to the front of the tee while we let the turf ‘knit in’. The club and Jack have invested a lot of time and money to give you a great new practice Tee and I ask that you please keep off at all times until it’s ready to use. This applies to all of you !!

We are ahead of schedule on some of the Jobs and a little behind on others. Thank you to Del Morgan and Barry Francis who gave up some of their time last weekend to help out with some jobs. I would also like to thank Lol ‘Mr Abridge’ Green for all his help, he can be seen most days getting his daily exercise wandering around the course sorting little jobs out!

The Wildlife have been enjoying the peace and quiet, and as much as it’s lovely to see it and we often disturb their ‘private garden’ we are all really excited about re-opening and no doubt being told off by a few for disturbing you as Golfers!

It’s such a great time to be a Member of Abridge GC as there has been so much invested on the Course and in the Clubhouse in the last few years and so much more planned ! To have a waiting list to join us as a member now is a great sign that most of you appreciate what we are trying to achieve and we are getting a great reputation of the ‘place to be’!

I welcome all of our New Members that are joining , please make yourselves known to my staff as they are all quite friendly and always happy to answer any questions you might have.

I also welcome seeing all of you, our existing Members, back to our Club from next Monday. Hope you are ready ?

WE ARE!

Enjoy your Golf , Enjoy your Club………..It’s yours remember!

Geoff

Course Manager

Well I hope this update finds you all safe and well? Lockdown has been tough and its been quite tough trying to get jobs done in relentless rain and the odd week of snow! You only have to had walked around where you live and look at the excessive water on the fields until a couple of weeks ago to see how bad this Winter has been. 3 weeks ago we were covered in snow ! after yet another record breaking wet winter! The positive is that the last 2 weeks we have been dry and warmer and things are slowly drying out.

Those that like statistics, here are the rainfall details when comparing Winters the last 3 years.

October 2018 – 1st Mar 2019 226 mm October 2019 – 1st Mar 2020 503 mm October 2020 – 1at mar 2021 644 mm

I want to manage expectations of your return, we have had an atrocious Winter and please remember we ‘Locked down’ last year on the 29th March 2020 and ‘unlocked’ the 16th May 2020. This time we are ‘unlocking’ the 29th March 2021, we cannot rush surfaces, we are doing our best so please remember it’s only March. My staff and myself are fully committed to producing a great Golf Course as soon as conditions allow but please be patient.

As you all know we are approximately a year ahead of our Drainage installation schedule. On solid clay, as we are, very little drainage systems would cope with the persistent rainfall, but the drains we have installed to date are working and doing a noticeable job. As stated when we decided to install drainage we were never going to be able make Abridge dry as the summer, but, what we aim to achieve are quicker draining surfaces and more playable, but this will take time and we are certainly doing and trying our best! The 1st 5 holes have noticeably drained quicker these last couple of weeks.

On a positive note the Greenstaff have been trying to do as much as possible since December and are working hard to get things ready for your welcome return. Below are some of the jobs we hope ! to complete by the 29th March

New ditch at 2nd Hole to take water away from the 1st Hole. Cleared the existing ditch on the right hand side of the 2nd Hole. The sleeper wall at the 4th tee has been replaced and rebuilt where it was collapsing. Completion of the New Driving Range Tee.

A new fence at the back of the 4th Green. Extensive tree work between 6th and 7th fairways including ditch clearing. New winter mats at 7th and 8th Holes. Tree thinning at the 9th Green. Re-sealing of the leak in the 14th Pond All greens, tees and approaches verti-drained, seeded, top dressed and given a ‘starter’ fertiliser.

Completion of the new patio area Installation of several new ditches to help with the drainage. Installation of Main and Primary drains on either the 16th or 18th Further secondary drainage on some of the front 9 holes. Repainting and cleaning of all Course furniture Turfing some of the bunkers that we had started filling in

So hopefully you can see we are busy! and also as trying to get surfaces cut where possible as the course continues to dry. Obviously some of the above jobs are weather dependant but at least we have plans!

Click on the video below to see a summary of some of the work and conditions since December. Apologies its a bit disjointed but I put it together in limited time !

Moving forward into this year we are geared up and budgeted for doing the following Drainage and Course improvement works as soon as conditions allow us . These jobs will carry on throughout this year to continue to improve the playability and overall condition of the Course.

Continuation of the Drainage works on holes 10,14,16 and 18 New ditches to enable Pipe drainage and general water run off to drain off the Golf Course. Installation of pipe drainage to Greens 1, 7 and 13. Completion of the Bunker reducing programme and rebuilding of the bunkers at the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 11th holes .

The above represents significant continuing investment in your Golf club. Consider how much has been done the last 4 years:- Full coverage High Tech Irrigation . Paths around all 18 holes allowing Buggy’s and Trolley’s all year round Drainage of the whole course over the next 3-5 years A fantastic new Clubhouse incorporating ‘The Lounge’ with new patio. Great new catering and social events, ( when allowed!) by Tina and Paddy A great new Proshop, Caddy store, Fitting Centre and New Driving Range Tee all handled by our great Pro Jack Winer and his staff. . It just shows with what’s been done to date and whats planned why its great being a member here at Abridge Golf Club

FINALLY ALL OF THE STAFF AND MYSELF WOULD LIKE TO SAY A MASSIVE THANK YOU FOR ALL THOSE MEMBERS THAT HAVE SUPPORTED THE CLUB AND STAFF THROUGHOUT THIS LAST 12 MONTHS WE ARE SO GLAD TO STILL ALL BE HERE AND LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU IN A FEW WEEKS

Enjoy your Golf , Enjoy your Club………..It’s yours remember!