The meeting was convened to address issues around the Poplar tree that sits at the top of the hill on the left of the 2nd hole. Concerns have been raised by members that removing this tree would take away a feature of the hole thereby ruining holes character, it has also been said that the only reason for removing said tree was because senior members had requested this because ‘we keep hitting it’.
Let me explain the reasons for its felling; Poplar trees run out roots in excess of 100yds, many of these roots are just below surface level and some actually breaks the surface, if you care to observe this area when the project is complete you will see evidence of this where roots from this tree have already broken the surface on its right hand side and sooner or later they will encroach onto the fairway. Poplar trees are also prone to rotting from the inside and the first sign of this would be when the wind blows the tree over. All things considered the committee unanimously decided to stay with the original plans for this project. The resulting chippings from this work will be spread evenly under the trees on the slope to the left of the fairway.
We also discussed concerns that have been aired regarding the very wet areas on the 2nd fairway and the area to the left of the 11th green, to ease traffic in these areas we will be placing temporary tees adjacent to the path and just short of the ditches on the 2nd which should alleviate the need to play off the slope which many players have to do following their tee shots and the tee for the 12th hole will be placed in the area of the memorial post on the 12th hole. This is a temporary measure until such time as the course dries out in those areas. Please remember we are playing ‘winter’ golf and we believe your expectations of the course should reflect this.
I would also like to point out some of the projects we are currently pursuing. I am currently working with a charity called Groundworks who administer funds, such as the Tesco plastic bag fund which has to be spent in the local community on projects which have either environmental benefits or benefits the local community. Having met with a representative from Groundworks some time ago now to ascertain if Drax Golf Club would be able to access these monies, it appears that some of our future projects have a reasonably good chance. I was subsequently asked to put together an application for a small project, in terms of monetary value, so Groundworks could test the waters on our behalf. In consultation with the committee and head greenkeeper we put together a presentation for a grant which would allow us to resurface all the paths on the course and introduce new ones. I have asked for a link to this presentation to be placed on the website for members to view (please see below photos). It is worth mentioning that grant applications move in a slightly different time zone to the rest of us so it could be some time before we know if we have been successful.
We are also fully aware of the need to address the drainage problems on the course. A lot of work was done on the course last winter which alleviated problems in some areas, as time and resources allow we will carry on with this work.
As well as the above I feel it prudent to remind members of the huge amount of work that has been carried out so far this year, new tees built, medal tees reinstated of a far better standard than we had before and I must remind all that this work has restored the holes concerned to their original declared yardage. The work that is often invisible to members such as machine maintenance, leaf clearing, tree pruning and lake cleaning is carried out on a regular basis by a hardy and willing group of senior members.
I hope this report will help to dismiss many of the comments being bandied about at the club.
John Leonard
Greens Committee Chairman
