Golf Courses Update

Rob Surgey, Senior Course Manager r.surgey@burhillgolf-club.co.uk

The weather for the past few months has been testing to say the least. We have only had 26 dry days since the beginning of October with a total rainfall of 342mm up until 15th January. We have had one of the wettest October-December periods since our current records began (2004) with 277mm recorded. The rainfall is high, and the number of rainy days is also very high.

This is the worst combination as the course is not getting the time to dry out before the next rain hits. The ground is saturated, and the smallest amount of rain causes areas to flood up. The water level of the River Mole has been very high for several weeks.

A rainfall event of 6-7mm is causing the river to burst its banks. In an average winter we would need around 25mm for this event to happen.

This graph shows just how unlucky we have been this winter with the sheer volume of rainfall!

Oct Nov Dec Totals

2004 94 26 47 167

2005 71 38 45 154

2006 105 83 75 263

2007 34 71 41 146

2008 62 61 43 166

2009 43 139 71 253

2010 41 38 23 101

2011 19 72 105 196

2012 80 97 94 272

2013 100 54 122 275

2014 102 122 29 253

2015 36 40 51 126

2016 29 75 8 112

2017 18 36 83 136

2018 57 90 59 207

2019 97 72 110 279

2020 140 42 93 275

2021 147 7 38 192

2022 102 125 50 277

Traffic Management

Every year we put the post and rope up to protect areas from getting worn out close to greens and tees. Can I ask that these are adhered to so we dont get worn areas close to the greens. Unfortunately, we have had reported a number of the ropes being cut which then allows other golfers to walk through into wet areas. If you remove a post to play a shot can you make sure that it is replaced.

There are some areas on the New Course that are strugging around the greens. The 2nd and 13th are the main ones and we have layed rubber mats to help get golfers to and from the green. We also have mats down leading to the 16th tee on the New Course. This area is wet as it has been under the flood water for many days over the past few months. We plan to raise the pathway from the 15th green to the 16th tee as this stays wet causing golfers to walk on the grass verges which are getting muddy.

The issue we have is that we can’t get heavy buggy loads to this area at present as it would make more mess and we may get stuck.

The new pathway from the 5th green to the 6th Tee of the New Course is now complete. This has really improved this area, and we now don’t have a long diversion behind the black tee.

See some enlightening photos from before and after the work are down below!

Before After

Course Etiquette

Unfortuately, we have had further damage to the course over the past few weeks. The below shows the 15th apron on the Old Course having a number of divots taken out of it. Even more concerning is the divots out of the 11th green on the Old Course. If you get to a green which has this sort of damage on it that you report it to the pro shop so that we can narrow down the time that it occurred. We will also be stepping up our surveillance to help identify the culprits.

Planned Course Maintenance

Weather permitting, we intend to carry out greens maintenance on 13/14th March – New Course and 20/21st March – Old Course. We have diary dates planned for autumn maintenance on 24/25th July and 21/22nd August.

Turfing

We have continued to turf a few more areas on the Old Course. The 7th right-hand side fairway bunker has been renovated (see image). We have also turfed the walkway to the right-hand side of the 5th green.

Winter Frost

Many of you will have seen that the sustained cold weather has brought an extended period of frost to the course.

One of the few bonuses to frosty mornings at the course is that we can capture some beautiful dawn images. Take a look at the gallery below.