Work in progress ...
To whoever is interested …
Many of you will have seen the work that has been ongoing for the past 18 months now.
An overview of what has been done and still to be done …
Clubhouse
Solar Panels installed and working, saving us around €1,200 a year on electricity and hot water
Clubhouse painted inside, new carpet, roof cleaned and fixed, new TV, curtains and blinds, upgraded furniture, improved internet, all lighting changed to more energy efficient and very important, if not most important … Guinness on tap.
Caddy Shack in operation for all players to register and put in their scores, new terminal bought, new software working and members actively using the app and epurse
Around the Clubhouse
Benches for outside eating and drinking bought
New outside lighting installed, floodlight for putting green and new emergency access lighting
Practice area getting there, new putting green (should be playable in a few weeks), practice bunker and practice nets.
New concrete sand pit installed and area where sand was kept getting tidied up
Next to concrete sand pit, area cleaned to create a buggy parking and easier access for green keepers to fill machinery with diesel
Some trees were tidied up and made safe
Course
New machinery arrived, fairway mower and greens mower, results are showing with more tightly mown fairways.
Bridge almost ready on men’s 2nd tee, ladies 2nd tee to be built
New tee box on hole 5 / 14 with wall separating the two. Teeboxes built and sodded, will be back in play in a few weeks. Area to the right of it has been filled in with excess soil and will create a flat area that can be mowed. It was hard to keep that little ‘cove’ tidy.
Hole 9 completely redesigned, trees taken out, fairway moved more to the left. Final piece of that puzzle … 9th tee box is now lowered more than 7 feet and made smaller and tighter to the edge of the course. This will prevent golfers trying to ‘go over the corner’ … tee box sodded and should be in play in a few weeks. Area surrounding the tee will be seeded so should take a bit longer to settle.
Lots of tidying work has been done around the course, edge of the 4th fairway cleared. This will be ongoing …
Millennium tree (Oak) moved to the top of the hill where it can grow to its hearts content and be a landmark for future generations.
(old) greenside bunkers top of the hill between H3,4 and 5, two bunkers filled and the bunker near the 5th fairway will be opened up and fairway mowed up around it.
Fairway bunker top right when approaching green, the fairway will be mowed more towards the right so the landing area between the 100 mtr and bunker gets bigger and more fair.
Several greens are being made larger in places to allow for additional pin positions.
Fairways are being shaped slightly different to give more character to them
Still to be done in the next 12 to 18 months
Redevelopment of the 10th Men’s tee to make it level and in general, look at all tees to see where improvements can be made.
Looking into a sprinkler system for our greens, currently it takes a lot of voluntary manpower during hot weather to keep them ‘hydrated’ and given we are destined to see more hot spells in the coming years, something we need to cosider
Over the winter, all the drains will be looked at and cleared. There are some addtional drains required in certain areas that are prone to become very wet in the winter.
The ‘sumps’ in front of greens will be looked at to make them level as they are sinking and are becoming a hazard in their own right now.
We’re looking at designating the lake as a ‘penalty area’ to make sure people know the exact rules when hitting their balls into it.
General tidy up of the green keeping area, possible seperation between sheds and course with some greenery
Flower bed between tee 2 and 12 as there is rock showing so it doesn’t need to get mowed which then prevents possible machinery damage.
Triangle between Holes 3,4 and 5 - create wild flower area to encourage wildlife and bees
Woodland bottom right of the 4th fairway will get cleared of shrubs etc to bring out the bigger trees and show the lake. There is an ancient round wall in there and we would like to bring that out a bit more prominent as a landmark.
Woodland behind the 15th (par 3) will also be cleared so it shows the lake from the tees and creates light.
As members (and visitors) can see, a lot of work has happened and will still happen so we can achieve our ambition of becoming the best 9 hole parkland course in Ulster.
Needless to say, none of this work would have been remotely possible without the help of several volunteers, members, committee members and everybody supporting our golf club … so thank you all.
The Captains and Committee.
