Bunker reconstruction

The bunker right of the 3rd green and the left hand fairway bunker on the 12th were turfed yesterday.  We'll keep these bunkers out of play until the turf has rooted.  In the interim period, please take great care when entering and leaving the bunkers to retrieve balls as the turf is fragile.

Danny and Neil laying turf on the 12th

Jerry working on the 3rd greenside bunker

River course bund

A bund has been constructed left of the 6th green on the river course to protect against flooding from the normal range of astronomical tides.  This is a temporary measure whilst we wait for a final decision on the future of Hazelwood marshes and sea defences in that area.  It is likely that a higher bund built to a higher specification will be needed to secure the low lying area from the 6th green to the 8th fairway for the long term.

The bund under construction

Machine fire

One of our battery powered, e-gator trucks caught fire today and the fire service were called out.  They arrived on site a few minutes after the call and the fire was put out very quickly.  The fire was caused by an electrical fault but the damage is quite severe so it's difficult to see exactly what happened. 

Many thanks to the Aldeburgh fire crew

The e-gator ablaze -
At this stage batteries were exploding so we were keeping well clear

Shortly after the arrival of the fire crew

Practice net

The practice net was dismantled today as the frame was damaged during the recent stormy weather and repairs are required.  The intention is to put up the repaired net on a new site about 30m away, closer to the woodland.

Taking down the practice bays

Digging out the base for the new site

Transplanting the privet shrubs to screen the new site

Weather summary for December

The average temperature for December was 7.1 degrees, the warmest December since we installed the weather station in 2000.  The highest temperature was 16.4 on the 19th, more than 2 degrees higher than the previous record.  The low of 1 degree on the 29th was the warmest minimum we've recorded.  38mm of rain fell during the month, bringing the annual total to 372mm, well below the 546mm average. 
The extremes of weather in 2013, particularly the very cold and dry spring and early summer, made it very difficult to meet our usual standards for turf quality, hopefully the weather will be more accommodating in 2014.