Today we have started some work to make some changes and hopefully improvements to the 3rd Hole.

 

Many of you who have played here in the last 12 months will have noticed that the 3rd Green after last summers washout has developed a tendency to retain water of a large portion of the green and that grass growth in this area has practically ceased meaning much of the green is unuseable for hole placement, meaning the pin is nearly always located at the front and during the winter time to save wear and tear we had to place it on the 12th Green at times with the Red Flag.

 

What we are now doing is removing the bunker between the two greens and then we'll join the two greens together to make a larger putting surface, which should offer some new pin locations and obviously a more contoured surface to test your putting ability. Whilst removing the bunker, we'll also be installing extra drainage to the 3rd Green to hopefully remove the problem of standing water. Obviously in certain conditions water will still form on the surface but hopefully once rain has ceased it will drain away as it does on the rest of the course.

 

Finally to also respond to some of the observations we've received from members over the years that the hole is rather easy and that sometimes a player who hits a bad shot (A thin or a top) can sometimes get a better reward then someone who pitches a ball onto the green. We are going to install a new Revetted Bunker in front of the Green to catch some of those mishit shots that in the past have turned out to be very lucky. For anyone unsure of what a revetted bunker is, think of how the bunkers on Links Courses and the most famous of those the Old Course at St Andrews look. They tend to be pretty flat bottomed with a face made out of stacked layers of turf or soil. This creates a laddered look to the face and ensures any ball hitting the face falls back into the bunker, and doesn't end up in the face. They also prove quite tricky to get out of in a forward direction as the faces are usually quite high. We're not too sure how high we're going to make the bunker as we start its creation. We'll probably try to keep it fair, but we obviously want people to be challenged for playing into it.

 

Hopefully we'll get some images of the work as it takes place and uploaded onto the site.

 

Obviously when the work is completed, for several weeks until the new turf on the green is established and the sand in the bunker settles, there will be a large area of 'GUR' and what we would ask is that all Members and Visitors take relief from newly turfed and seeded areas and from the bunker. Please be careful not to stand too near the edge of the bunker until the turf has knitted together. Hopefully weather permitting the changes should come into play for the end of June and beginning of July which would be nice for our Open Day Competition and Club Championship Weekend.